I have a little blessing to share with you guys. And it was so nice to receive it exactly on the week of my 7th anniversary here in London.
Audrey, my Singaporean colleague called me one afternoon at work out of the blue asking if I were keen to accompany her to the Lang Lang concert at the Royal Albert Hall. She said she literally just received two free tickets from a colleague who couldn't make it last minute. In order not to let it go to waste, this colleague gave her the two tickets for free.
Omg. I've always wanted to watch Lang Lang in concert. To watch his expressive style of playing the piano and seeing how he enjoys each piece is amazing. "Hmm let me think about it…" Clearly that didn't happen. Of course I'd love to go! I think I said YES! before she finished her question.
We left work at 6pm on the dot and had about 30min to grab a quick dinner at South Kensington before walking to the Royal Albert Hall. When we got in through door 11, we saw that we had "arena tickets". Not quite sure what that meant but when we got in, we both each were VERY pleasantly surprised. We had row 2 tickets! The grand piano was right in front of us!
I found a pic taken by a random stranger on Instagram that night to show you the bird's eye view. See the ground sitting area? We were in the middle section, row 2. I got real excited and pumped as we took our seats. I kept thanking Audrey for asking me along and she was so kind. She kept saying "no, not at all, thank you for coming with me. Otherwise I would be alone tonight."
Restricted view aside, it was an enjoyable evening of Lang Lang's live recital. For his encore pieces he played two Chinese pieces which were really nice actually.
What a blessing it was that night!
Audrey, my Singaporean colleague called me one afternoon at work out of the blue asking if I were keen to accompany her to the Lang Lang concert at the Royal Albert Hall. She said she literally just received two free tickets from a colleague who couldn't make it last minute. In order not to let it go to waste, this colleague gave her the two tickets for free.
Omg. I've always wanted to watch Lang Lang in concert. To watch his expressive style of playing the piano and seeing how he enjoys each piece is amazing. "Hmm let me think about it…" Clearly that didn't happen. Of course I'd love to go! I think I said YES! before she finished her question.
We left work at 6pm on the dot and had about 30min to grab a quick dinner at South Kensington before walking to the Royal Albert Hall. When we got in through door 11, we saw that we had "arena tickets". Not quite sure what that meant but when we got in, we both each were VERY pleasantly surprised. We had row 2 tickets! The grand piano was right in front of us!
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| From our seats. Yup no zooming in required |
I found a pic taken by a random stranger on Instagram that night to show you the bird's eye view. See the ground sitting area? We were in the middle section, row 2. I got real excited and pumped as we took our seats. I kept thanking Audrey for asking me along and she was so kind. She kept saying "no, not at all, thank you for coming with me. Otherwise I would be alone tonight."
The lights dimmed. Suddenly we hear cheering and this man walked down the aisle where we sat. It's Lang Lang. He bowed and started playing.
Ok I have to be honest here. I soon found that our seats had restricted view because we were sitting facing the piano dead straight ahead of us. So we couldn't see his expressive face the whole time except for the few moments where he was so intoxicated in the music that his head bobbed from the extreme ends of the piano. Rather we saw his legs the whole night lol. Yes I observed how his legs worked the piano pedals! I am not complaining here, don't get me wrong. I thought it was pretty funny cos my team mates asked me how was it the next morning and I said "It was great! He had nice brown leather shoes."
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| Acknowledging his audience all round |
We were sat beside a Chinese family (Chinese parents and their daughter). During the intermission an elderly English lady came forward and tried shaking the hands of the Chinese mum asking eagerly "Are you Lang Lang's mum?" The Chinese daughter looked at her and said "No, she is my mum." The English lady looked embarrassed and said "Oh sorry, you look a lot like his mum." Wow she must be such a fan to even know how his mum looks like!
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| He was quite a ladies man. This lady proceeded to give him a big kiss on his cheek making him blush. |
Restricted view aside, it was an enjoyable evening of Lang Lang's live recital. For his encore pieces he played two Chinese pieces which were really nice actually.
What a blessing it was that night!
Programme
J. S. Bach Italian Concerto BMV 971 in F Major 11’
I. Untitled, in F Major
II. Andante, in D minor
III. Presto, in F Major
Tchaikovsky Seasons 40’
January: By the fireside
February: Carnival
March: Lark's Song
April: Snowdrop
May: White night
June: Barcarolle
July: Reaper's song
August: Harvest
September: The Hunt
October: Autumn song
November: Troïka
December: Ballroom waltz
Chopin 4 Scherzos 37’
No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20
No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31
No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39
No. 4 in E major, Op. 54
I. Untitled, in F Major
II. Andante, in D minor
III. Presto, in F Major
Tchaikovsky Seasons 40’
January: By the fireside
February: Carnival
March: Lark's Song
April: Snowdrop
May: White night
June: Barcarolle
July: Reaper's song
August: Harvest
September: The Hunt
October: Autumn song
November: Troïka
December: Ballroom waltz
Chopin 4 Scherzos 37’
No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20
No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 31
No. 3 in C-sharp minor, Op. 39
No. 4 in E major, Op. 54
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