Reasons To Be Cheerful: Free/Low- Cost Adventures in the Arts and Culture
Things which cheer me up during these outlandish times: free, cheap or online arts and culture events…An ongoing series….🎈
🎈British Library Events, or Aragorn Reads T S Eliot
British Library events are in-person and mostly livestreamed too. £5 to attend online and you get 48-hour access after the event if you can’t make it on the night. It does take a gadget, Internet connection and electricity, so some hidden costs. (Plus, email to get the links…)
This week Viggo Mortensen aka Aragorn both read and sang me The Waste Land by T S Eliot. Still not a fan of T S Eliot, but hearing Aragorn go Michael Caine and say ‘Ta Ta’ was something! Plus, he really got the cadences right — the rhythm, the languages, the singing, the musicality — the horror and the beauty. As any good reading does, he really opened this poem up for me.
Lots to choose from — Events — The British Library (bl.uk)
Very free — past event recordings — BL Player | Homepage | The British Library
🎈Free Music: LPO (London Philharmonic Orchestra): Exiles and Dreamers
Tonight, I’m watching the LPO perform their Exiles and Dreamers concert, for free, on Marquee TV. Haven’t even had to sign in or create an account to listen. Beautifully filmed in the Southbank, (it’s a recording from last month); fantastic sound quality and amazing music.
It does again need gadget, electricity and Internet, and is only available in real time…. Worth signing up to LPO emails and socials to find out about more of these events….
In case you wonder, tonight I’m watching/listening to:
“DIRECTOR
Nathan Prince
STARRING
Edward Gardner (Conductor)London Philharmonic Orchestra
Principal Conductor Edward Gardner launches the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s season-long exploration of the music of identity and displacement with music drenched in longing, in hope, in the boundless horizons of the human heart. Hear Tchaikovsky’s impassioned Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture and Dvořák’s Symphony №7, inspired by the culture and aspirations of his native Bohemia.
Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture)
Dvořák Symphony №7”
The Dvorak Symphony No 7 is something else — quite wonderful. What a treat! 💥💥
And more free’s to come — https://www.lpo.org.uk/what-s-on/streamed-concerts-on-marquee-tv.html
🎈National Archives
Have some really great events and speakers, for free, that you end up paying for elsewhere…I’ve heard Lucy Worsley on Agatha Christie and Clare Jackson on the 17th century (sounding very like 21st century UK in some ways!)
Talks are online, booked via Eventbrite and accessed via Microsoft Teams. You don’t need Teams installed or create an account to access the event. You also get a recording to watch for 48 hours after the event. If your money don’t jiggle, but folds — then you can make a donation with your ticket purchase — Online events — The National Archives
Again, a hidden cost of electricity, Internet/data and gadget….Also email to get the links sent to….
🎈Gresham Lectures
Learn for free! You can watch via their website, listen as podcasts or watch on YouTube. Lots to choose from….and really great speakers.
Lecture Series 2022–23 | Gresham College
Again, a hidden cost of electricity, Internet/data and gadget…
