Royal Opera House

Went to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden for the first time ever and when I got in there, I wondered why I haven't been taking advantage of the fact that I live in London to visit these amazing places as much as I can.

It was so grand and pretty, it was a shame I didn't have my camera with me. But no flash photography was allowed anyway. I did, however, manage to sneak a [poor-quality] picture with my mobile.

It was Bartok's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung and my, it was gripping opera. The stage was so beautifully crafted and I was in constant awe at the power of the human voices. On a slightly different tangent, an old friend once told me that good singers were fat because you had to be of a certain size to be able to reach a certain volume. I never really believed him, but when I was thinking about it tonight, I don't think I've ever seen a skinny opera singer.

So I haven't seen an opera in ages, and just being there brought back so many memories of the days we used to go to classical concerts in our school uniforms [because I studied O and A level Music] and sit restlessly for hours listening to orchestras. I did enjoy it, but I do vaguely remember being told off once for dozing off because I had been sailing in the day earlier and was absolutely exhausted. I was mortified and embarrassed. But not as much as when I got a coughing fit in the middle of the second opera performance tonight. I felt like I was gonna die, I had to cough so desperately but everything was dead silent and I was getting dagger looks, it really took me every effort to try and calm my cough. I never want to go through that again, honestly.

*

It amazes me how the look and feel and sound of the orchestra always stays the same in my mind, there's something inexplicably soothing, refined, calm and cultured about being near that many instruments.

I loved every minute of it and I've resolved that I'm going to watch as many concerts as I can in the next few months before I leave.

I would write more but I'm so exhausted and my work still looms over my every living second.