Not quite synchronised bowing

For a certain type of Edinburgher, there's no doubt that the cultural happening of the weekend is the opera Dido's Ghost, being performed in the biggest tent (see extra for the scale) I've ever seen, located on a playing field at the Edinburgh Academy Junior School. We were on Row L, and this is the best my phone could do. I can only imagine how little the people at the back could see. But they will certainly have been able to hear.

It’s an amazing piece, with many layers of performance, music and lyricism. And highly emotional at the end, with a marvellous twist that sees Aeneas perform Dido’s lament. In terms of the outcome, you can really see how  the composer (who was in the audience), the librettist, the director, the conductor, the musicians and the singers were all working together to carry it off. The bowing seemed a little tentative and not very well synchronised. Perhaps they’ve got out of practice. I also noticed that the artist playing Anna/Dido was not the same person who played her in the Barbican and Buxton Festival performances, but I am not sure who was a substitute for whom. I was most struck by the characters of Lavinia and Aeneas, as it happened. I found Anna/Dido a little bland, but then in the end she wasn’t actually the central character.

A grey, mainly wet day. We managed a (dry, but sweaty) walk first thing to go and see the tram cable wheels unearthed as part of the (new) tram wheels. It wasn’t possible to photograph them, but it was none the less interesting to see. We also popped into the Rosebank Cemetery, which is always interesting. Some Salvesens buried there, along with lots of other Leith shipowners and sundry worthies. And of course, it’s best known for having the Gretna memorial. I’m not sure why we don’t go in there more often.