It was an amazing night of celebration in London last night. The opening ceremony, under the direction of Danny Boyle, was full of spectacular visuals, integrated social media, tech, doused with delightful surprises and humor.
And of course, MUSIC.
It was a great mix of pop and classical music. I loved hearing two children’s choirs (were there more?) and the London Philharmonic under the direction of Simon Rattle. It was wonderful to see conductor and musician extraordinaire, Daniel Barenboim, carrying the Olympic flag with seven others.
I also loved that happy, energetic drummers stood on the sidelines as the athletes marched in. The drummers kept the atmosphere upbeat and moved the marchers at a fast pace.
Music, once again, played a vital role in the opening ceremonies. Congrats to Danny Boyle and the people of the UK. You have a great wealth of creativity. Thank you for sharing with the world.
So if you were looking for a list of music heard during the entire ceremony, here it is (thank you, Spotify)! My absolute favorite is Elgar’s Nimrod. What’s yours?
(N.B. I started watching the ceremony a bit late so if I missed something, let me know. I know there were some things I missed due to commercial breaks, too. Leave me a comment below!)
~ Yoon (PS. I absolutely love sharing world events with friends from all over the world. Tweeting during the ceremony was memorable!)
sing imagination 
I’m from Brazil and absolutely loved the opening ceremony! I was trying to find the set list from the children’s choirs across UK, the only one I could recognize was “Danny Boy”, from Northern Ireland. Do you happen to know the names of the other songs? Thank you for your help!
Hi there! Thanks for visiting my blog.
I missed the very beginning so I had to search for what I had missed. Here is what I found– The Children’s Choirs sang Jerusalem, Danny Boy, Flower of Scotland and Guide Me Oh Thou Great Redeemer (sung to the Welsh tune of Cwm Rhondda). Apparently sung by each children’s choir representing, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Now I’m really sorry I missed the other two!
This is a great post, Yoon!
I felt the same way about the opening ceremonies…the drummers immediately caught my attention. How cool that music is such a driving force for world events!
Great playlist as well! 🙂 Nimrod is my favorite too!
-Lindsay
Thanks so much, Lindsay!
I just love the Olympics! It’s such a wonderful way to see the world. I’m thankful for modern technology and being able to watch live streams/videos of each event.
Cheers!
Yoon