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THE CONNECTED BRAIN
4 FEBRUARY
Gresham College, founded in 1597 in London, is an independent institution that provides free public lectures on a wide range of academic subjects. It was established through the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, a wealthy merchant, and has no students or degree programs, focusing solely on disseminating knowledge through expert-led talks.
A group of us went to a lecture led by the mathematician Alain Goriely. We found out that the brain is mostly organised into small modular regions connected to each other. Typically, each region performs different cognitive tasks, from image processing to language. This organisation leads to model the brain as a network, “the brain connectome”. This fundamental view of the brain as become a central paradigm for neurosciences. The lecture presented ideas from graph theory to study this network and understand the way that the brain learns and operates.
We ended our challenging and interesting lecture with a dinner in a charming, historical gastropub “ The Lady Ottoline”.
ANGELA HEWITT @ WIGMORE HALL
23 JANUARY
On Thursday 23rd January a group of us met in The Wigmore Hall bar before attending the Angela Hewitt recital. Angela is a Canadian pianist of extraordinary authority and renown, best known for her Bach interpretations. She has won many awards and performed all around the world.
Before her performance we took a bit of time to admire the wonderful venue. Wigmore Hall follows the Renaissance style, using alabaster and marble walls, which furnish a flat, rectangular hall with a small raised stage area complete with a cupola above, depicting the Soul of Music. This distinctive mural was designed by Gerald Moira, who was responsible for a number of contemporary public art works. Wigmore Hall is considered to have one of the best acoustics for classical music in Europe and we were not disappointed!
The spirit of dance was never far from the heart of Angela's recital and she dazzled us with her phenomenal performance. Her programme included two contrasting suites by George Frideric Handel (Suite No.2 in F and Chaconne in G, Handel at his most Gallic) and Johann Sebastian Bach (French Suite No.6) and then built towards Johannes Brahms's mighty Variations with Joseph Hayden's entrancing Piano Sonata in E flat.
EPIPHANY@HOME
6 JANUARY
We kicked off the New Year with the celebration of the Epiphany at the cosy home of one of our members in Richmond. It was a lovely way to gather again after the festive winter break and indulge ourselves with some delicious finger foods and bubbles before sharing the traditional French Galette des Rois.
Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we might do it again next year!