Measure for Measure - better than getting a seat....

Last Sunday I went to a free concert at the Yale Museum for British Art in New Haven, called Measure for Measure - the Music of Shakespeare's Plays. The Ensemble Chaconne performed about 24 songs on period instruments: Peter Bloom on flute, Carol Lewis on viola da gamba, Olav Chris Hendriksen on lute, and finally a guest artist Pamela Dellal, a mezzo-soprano.

The room was "at capacity" as they say. We arrived before it began but still too late to get a seat, so we went up to the forth floor where there is a gallery or mezzanine-type opening in three of the walls. I peaked over a bit, but mostly I sat in a big comfy chair reading while the music spilled over into the gallery from below.

This was a very relaxing way to hear a very excellent concert. I could get up and stretch, look at paintings on the wall or check my email all  without disturbing anyone or enduring scathing looks from earnest concert-goers. I think in the future, I would prefer to be part of this spill-over crowd on the forth floor.

As a bonus, I found a wonderful painting I liked very much:A Grotto on the Gulf of Salerno, Sunset painted by Joseph Wright of Derby around 1781. It seemed so cool and relaxing to be out of the brightness of the sun and hidden away - almost like hearing a concert from the mezzanine!

Afterwards we visited a nearby Thai eatery where we had small bowls of miso soup $3.50 - a bargain! A friend also had fried green tea ice cream which arrived in flames. Couldn't resist taking a picture. Nice presentation with the drizzled chocolate.