- Tate Britain Collection / Free LGBTQIA+ TourTate Britain, London
*FREE event, no tickets, very limited, only RSVP if sure you can come*
Tours are run by volunteers and subject to cancellation, I will check at 10:00 and leave a comment.
14:00 to 14:45 / General Tour
Each tour is different and packed with fascinating insights, information and stories. Tate's guides come from a wide range of backgrounds and their tours reflect their passions and interests.
Meeting point at the top of the Rotunda stairs and entrance to the Duveens.15:00 to 16:00 / LGBTQIA+ tour
The tours are aimed at exploring the Tate Collection through the lens of gender identity and sexuality.
Tours meet at the top of the Rotunda Stairs at Tate Britain.TICKETS
Tickets are NOT required.
General Tour
LGBTQIA+ Tour
Price: FREESOCIAL
An optional gathering after the exhibition.
Where: Djanogly CafeSee comments below for updates or use the meetup app for live notifications.
- Bizet's Carmen @ The ROHRoyal Opera House, London
*You will need to purchase a ticket in order to attend this event - see below*
Join us at the Royal Opera House for the Culture Lovers' first opera outing in nearly 7 years to see Damiano Michieletto's production of Bizet's forever popular opera, Carmen.One of opera’s most notorious free spirits, Carmen is a rebel with a passionate cause – she wants to live and love in her own way. Though Carmen warns Don José not to love her, he gives up his job, reputation and girlfriend Micaëla for her. Soon bored of Don José's obsessive nature, Carmen moves on to celebrity toreador Escamillo. What she doesn’t anticipate is the searing jealousy that will be unleashed in her former lover.
Olivier award-winning director Damiano Michieletto's searing new production evokes all the passion and heat of Bizet's score. Conductor Emmanuelle Villaume leads a stellar international casts, headlined by Vasilisa Berzhanskaya.Approx performance time: 3hrs 10mins, with one interval.
TICKETS
Tickets for this performance can be purchased here.
https://www.roh.org.uk/checkout/interstitial/54760
Prices range from £13-£245. Due to the popularity of this opera, I would suggest purchasing a ticket sooner rather than later. I will be sitting in the Amphitheatre, Row C, Seat 49 if anyone wants to sit nearby.SOCIAL - Opinions wanted!
This will happen, but I am debating whether to hold pre or post drinks for this event due to the running time. Will after 10pm be too late for some? Or 5:30pm too early? I will make a decision nearer the time, but if you want to help me decide, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!On the day itself, I will be providing live updates in the comments section. I would recommend you download the Meetup app to your smartphones, so you can access these quickly & easily.
- Wildlife Photographer of the Year / ExhibitionNatural History Museum, London
*TICKETED event, book early before you RSVP*
Explore the planet’s habitats, from sprawling urban metropolises to the deep polar seas, and meet the creatures that rely on these places. Come face to face with species at risk of extinction as well as those we’ve brought back from the brink. See first-hand how human activities, both good and bad, are shaping the natural world we rely on.
With soundscapes, videos, expert insights and stunning photography, you’ll leave not only awe-inspired by the beauty and diversity of nature but also hopefully with a renewed drive to do what you can to protect it.
TICKETS
Tickets are required, BOOK HERE for 14:00, big queue to enter museum.
Price: up to £17.50SOCIAL
An optional gathering after the exhibition.
Where: The Bunch of GrapesSee comments below for updates or use the meetup app for live notifications.
- Lost Victorian City: a London disappeared / Free ExhibitionLondon Metropolitan Archives, London
*FREE event, no tickets*
Rarely seen photographs of Victorian London will be displayed in a free exhibition this spring, at the City of London’s archives building in Clerkenwell.
Presenting a wide range of forgotten views, the exhibition will feature photographs, prints, watercolours, and documents of buildings, horse-drawn transport, docks, artists’ views of the capital, and varieties of entertainment.
Highlights include photographs of the Oxford Arms, a 17th-century coaching inn and the move of the Crystal Palace from Hyde Park to Sydenham.
TICKETS
Tickets are not required, more info here.
Price: FREESOCIAL
An optional gathering after the exhibition.
Where: The WilmingtonSee comments below for updates or use the meetup app for live notifications.
- Rachmaninov Paganini Variations & Elgar Falstaff @ RFH - All tickets £15!Royal Festival Hall, London
*You will need to purchase a ticket in order to attend this event, see below*
Join us for a performance of Rachmaninov's 'Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini' with Alexander Malofeev at the piano and a fairly rare outing of Elgar's tone poem 'Falstaff'. Vasily Petrenko conducts the RPO.A concert of two characters, equally icons to be explored just like the composers within this series. Written in the twilight years of his career, Rachmaninov first put pen to paper in the summer of 1934 for what would become one of his most beloved works.
Pitting piano against orchestra, Rachmaninov takes all the hellish fire of dazzling violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, turning his little melody on its head to create something entirely new, with the magical Variation 18 being the stand-out movement.
And then the concert takes a Shakespearean turn with Elgar’s symphonic poem Falstaff. In what Elgar considered to be one of his finest orchestral works, he paints a vivid musical portrait of the anti-hero of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, with colourful orchestrations and characterful depictions.Performers
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Vasily Petrenko conductor
- Alexander Malofeev piano
Repertoire
- Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini;
- Elgar: Falstaff
Please note, there is no interval during this performance.
TICKETS
All tickets are £15, with fairly good availability at time of writing. Book your tickets here:- https://tickets.southbankcentre.co.uk/select-area/128905
I'm sat in the rear stalls in seat AA20 if anyone wants to sit nearby.We'll head to the BFI riverfront bar, just a quick stroll from the RFH after the show for a drink or two.
- Portraits to Dream In / Pay What You Want PhotographyNational Portrait Gallery , London
*Please book your ticket before RSVP*
Photographers Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron are two of the most influential women in the history of photography. They lived a century apart but explored portraiture beyond its ability to record appearance – using their own creativity and imagination to suggest notions of beauty, symbolism, transformation and storytelling.
Showcasing more than 160 rare vintage prints, the exhibition spans the career of both artists – and suggests new ways to look at their work, and the way photographic portraiture was created in the 19th and 20th centuries.
★★★★★ The i Paper
★★★★★ The Observer
★★★★ The Daily Telegraph
TICKETS
Tickets are required, BOOK HERE for 17:30.
Price: Pay What You WantSOCIAL
An optional gathering after the exhibition.
Where: The HarpSee comments below for updates or use the meetup app for live notifications.
- 500 Years of Black British Music / ExhibitionThe British Library, London
*TICKETED event, book early before you RSVP*
For centuries, Black communities have created music in the UK, melding global influences into a Black British sound that has echoed through generations.
Beyond the Bassline at the British Library, the first major exhibition of its kind anywhere in the world, is about more than music. It’s about the places where these sounds were born: the clubs, the carnivals, the stages, the kerbside auditoriums. It is the voice of community, resistance, culture and joy. It is a celebration of the trailblazers and innovators that brought new music to the UK, and the layered Black experiences that have birthed a thriving musical culture and history.
TICKETS
Tickets are required, BOOK HERE for 14:00.
Price: up to £15, I can +1 a guest half-price, message me if interested.SOCIAL
An optional gathering after the exhibition.
Where: Skinner's ArmsSee comments below for updates or use the meetup app for live notifications.
- Fragile Beauty: Photography / ExhibitionVictoria and Albert Museum , London
*TICKETED event, book early before you RSVP*
An unparalleled selection of the world's leading photographers, telling the story of modern and contemporary photography. Discover iconic images across subjects such as fashion, celebrity, reportage and the male body.
This exhibition contains adult themes, including depictions of substance use, death, nudity and sexual intercourse.
TICKETS
Tickets are required, BOOK HERE for 14:00.
Price: up to £20, I can +1 a guest 50% off, message me direct if interested.SOCIAL
An optional gathering after the exhibition.
Where: V&A Garden CafeSee comments below for updates or use the meetup app for live notifications.
- Mozart: Piano Concerto No.21 + Requiem (RFH, Royal Philharmonic)Royal Festival Hall, London
Mozart's choral masterpiece crowns a sublime concert of his greatest works, including his timeless Piano Concerto No.21.
Programme
Mozart: Overture, The Magic Flute
Mozart: Piano concerto No.21 in C, K.467
-- interval --
Mozart: RequiemPerformers
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir
Lee Reynolds conductor
Daniel Lebhardt piano
Rhian Lois soprano
Idunnu Münch mezzo-soprano
Anthony Gregory tenor
Edward Grint bass-baritoneYou can buy your ticket here: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/classical-music/mozart-requiem?eventId=984782. If you'd like to sit near me, I'm in rear stalls BB-38. Please only sign up after you've bought your ticket.
We will meet at the Royal Festival Hall before the concert, and go for a drink nearby afterwards. Details TBC nearer the time.