Art & Music in the Big City

As mentioned in the last post, after Mass and lunch yesterday, the students, prefects, chaplains, and a few tutors boarded four buses for Los Angeles and the Getty Museum. There they viewed world-renowned paintings, ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, illuminated manuscripts, and other works of art, including some by Monet, Van Gogh, and Renoir, as well as sketches by Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Students were especially impressed by Power and Pathos, an exhibit of rare, Hellenistic bronze sculptures of great emotional intensity. They also found time to take plenty of pictures around the museum’s beautiful gardens, fountains, and outdoor patios.

At about 5:00 p.m. the group re-boarded the buses for a trip to the Hollywood Bowl, stopping briefly at a nearby park to consume a dinner of 60 pizzas. Upon entering the storied amphitheater, the students settled in for a concert by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, A Midsummer Night with Dudamel, named for the orchestra’s conductor and music/artistic Director, Gustavo Dudamel. The performance featured two works by Felix Mendelssohn, his Violin Concerto in E-minor and his score for William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Students delighted in the spirited performance — which included a dramatic reading of key lines from the play by Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard — while relaxing under the stars on a hot summer night in the Hollywood Hills.

The concert ended fairly late (about 10:30 or so), at which time students returned to the buses. On the way back to campus, they prayed the Rosary, slept, and caught up on their reading. Then it was off to bed for some much-needed rest before Wednesday’s classes on Euclid’s Elements and Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy.