The organist librarian

 According to New York Times Simon Rattle was going to conduct Chineke at the Proms with 4 outstanding Black singers. The work? Beethoven 9. Maybe 2021?St George's cathedral, zoom Caterham and much about reopening next Sunday, Fisher House. Upper Norwood and some of Caterham on you tube. Cendrillon from Met saw it at the cinema. Joyce DiDonato and Alice Coote superb. Finished reading Necropolis by Catharine Arnold about London's burials. Highly recommended. St John Caterham back to worship next Sunday 10 a.m. No singing. Started to think about prelude and postlude. Thinking joy and pieces I know well as I have not played since March! Nun danket Karg-Elert as postlude. Ode to joy is tricky. Watched 2 Nelson Ferreira sessions and a live one. Excellent |Ensemble 26 concert on zoom featuring a good tenor Alexander Arsen. Not so impressed by the soprano. Spring sonata accompanied by lovely photos. 

Liein. Fisher house, Timothy Radcliffe and Bishop Paul Mason on Thu kingdom come. Don Giovanni 1978 very static. Varady out sings Sutherland. James Morris looks perfect - he sang at the Met for 50 years. More boxes cleared and study floor now clear. Cendrillon from ROH di Dinato and Alice Coote very funny. Morecambe and Wise.

On Monday the last day of the 3 day SPIDIR refresher course was led by Chris Chapman who was most inspiring. To 1125th and final meeting of Norwood circle and dinner. Liz came later after Maths. It was an excellent evening.  Henry had fun! To Bromley picture house to see Agrippina from the Met. Finally got going with subtities an hour late! A stunning cast with Joyce DiDonato and Eistyn Davies. Liz stayed on to see Riverdance live. I came home and watched Great pottery throwdown.  Mass at Addiscombe and coffee and then took my organ shoe to be mended at Traditional shoe repairs, Wallington. To West Norwood picturehouse to see Parasite which is fantastic! Liz still in a lot of discomfort from hurting her shoulder when she slipped on the stairs. Watched Vietnamese boat people and how well the younger generation have done in UK, Alan Bennett diaries, University challenge, Asian railways. 

To Mass at Thornton Heath. The new pp celebrated. Art and Mind, body, spirit started late and not a full hour. Liz to Prom as we only got one ticket. Dennis popped in. We now have a new car seat for Henry. Watched John Wilson prom and Bavarian radio SO Sibelius, Prokofiev and Strauss. Listened to prom Rach and Brahms 2. Watched Joyce singing Berlioz with Pappano.

Mass, to Glyn Close - Henry not well and Dennis in strange mood so meeting and car seat purchase delayed. Enjoyed the tango prom on TV, Berlioz with Joyce Didonato, Proms extra, Antiques roadshow. Uploaded first lot of photos from trip. Watched Versailles and University challenge. Bruce arrived.

Loved Cendrillon by Massenet from the Met with a fine cast Joyce DiDonato, Alice Coote and Sarah Kim absolute delight. Good meal at Johnnies Dulwich. A busy morning showing Emma how to catalogue. She is a natural. I am to attend a staff meeting. I chucked out more baby books and old stock so the piles are going down!To Quiet day at Hinsley room with Jill Benet on Emmaus.Popped into the National Gallery to see Still Life curated by Tacita Dean. She chose some interesting paintings but her own videos were unimpressive. I liked Sickert's Hare. What do we make of Tacita Dean? I am not going to pay to see her Portraits at NPG.  Train to Sevenoaks for meeting with Sussex Catenians! Learnt a lot at the meeting especially about central council. Lovely pub The White Hart. Home by 10,30.

No bells Patronal Feast St John. Played Bach prelude for New Year, Gordon Phillips The holly and the ivy, Le Beque Noel Pier nobis and John Cook Paean on Divinum mysterium for which I got some applause! I walked to Norwood Junction as there was a match and got buses back as train was cancelled.  To East Dulwich playhouse to see the Berlin Philharmonic New Year concert live which will be Sir Simon Rattle's last. An enjoyable programme with Joyce Didonato singing Strauss and Bernstein superbly although subtitles would have been helpful. Dvorak, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Bernstein and Brahms. Great to see Sue Carroll there - we missed this last year as we were flying to Singapore. Enjoyed 2 hours of Victoria.

Monday swam 20. To mosaic and finished Sean only needs grouting now. Tai chi we stood for 30 minutes while Tony wittered on and on! Got petrol and went back to Norwood Junction to ask about ym mobile phone which disappeared yesterday. Got home and emptied boot of car and there it was! What a relief! Phoned up about Catenian cups and they are ready. Practised Panufnik.  Really enjoyed Werther live from ROH at Clapham Picturehouse. JoyceDiDonato and Vittorio Grigolo very moving and Pappano superb. Horrendous journey home from Balham to Clapham Junction then to East Croydon no trains so walked to Whitgift centre and 75 bus to Selhurst to get the car!

Packed cases and cleared up ready to leave. To Gate picturehouse to see Met production of La Donna del lago by Rossini. Good audience. Joyce di Donato was stunning and so was Florez. Standing ovation. To Vic and A cast room and drew 2 lions one by Donatello! To oil painitng and the first part is done and shellac is on (3 coats). Fish and chips when Louise and Tom came home and Sean popped out of bed! We got up at 5 a,m, and drove to terminal 5 where the valet parking took the car and we had breakfast at Giraffe. The flight BA was smooth and as we were in a group with Bishop Richard we sailed through passport control with diplomatic support! We then waited for the Luton flight to come in and all got on the coach.to Jerusalem. Views of the walls and the divisions are very clear. Very warm welcome at St Georg'e college and a very pleasant room. Excellent meal and orientation session.

Friday watched the Placido Domingo Royal Opera house tribute with Joyce DiDonato and Stefan Popp. Liz brought Ciarán over and we went to bed happily in Bruce's room and slept well. We set off for Sheffield Park in good time and were on the first train to Horsted Keynes. Father Christmas gave him a Coronation Scot board game which we enjoyed. There were mirrors, model railway, games and Ciarán got a sweet! It was great. He enjoyed the carousel roundabout and a lolly. We ate at nearby Stables restaurant. Drove to Acton but I got out at Earls Court. Anthony served and was impressed by the servers. Eugene was smoke. Advent wreath candles lit before Mass again! Liz still not well. Worked on Christmas letters and cards. Byzantium and Michael Portillo on the Continent.

Friday took Liz to St John's for 9 a.m. in pouring rain for Walsingham pilgrimage until Sunday. Servers pilgrimage is tomorrow. To Streatham medical centre and saw very nice Indian audiologist. He said right ear is bad and worse so I am to have new Siemens aids on October 1st. Left is also poor. No wonder Liz has to repeat everything! To hall for 2.30 p.m. and got queue number ticket No. 11 for Last night at 4. To Royal Academy to revisit Richard Rodgers exhibition which is most interesting. On way back bought sandwich and tea at Pret - alas the tea leaked and the bottom of the paper bag collapsed - result tea all over bus floor! To Pre Prom Poetry competition results - most interesting. At the Prom we had Bach played by Klaus Sonnleitner who is organist at Linz where Bruckner played. His approach was more Baroque than Romantic. His encore was very quiet! Vienna Phil and Maazel played Bruckner 8 beautifully but somehow it was not as impressive as the 4th the other evening. Saturd...

On Bank Holiday Monday we went to the Odeon Beckenham to see the ROH production of La Donna del lago live from Covent Garden. Adrian, Terence and Graham were there and it was full. The singing was stunning especially Joyce Didonato, Juan Diego Florez and Colin Lee. The production was wierd with Walter Scott and Rossini (sung by a woman) staging the opera for a Caledonian society. I kept dropping off in the first act but the second act was much better. The wierd juxtaposition of warriors bathing themselves in blood and haggis and then umbrellas appearing.... at one point the heroine was on stage while everyone was bemoaning her absence - she was a foot away! Still we enjoyed it especially the finale with stunning runs.