Brahms: Inspiration or perspiration?
Poor old Brahms sometimes finds himself facing undue criticism. Despite being widely recognized as one of the greatest composers in history, some people encounter challenges when trying to connect with his music. Is it due to its complexity? Or perhaps … More details …
Poetry and the Passage of Time
The passage of time is a theme explored by many poets. In this three-week course we’ll read and discuss poems from the Bloodaxe anthology, Being Human (2011), which includes a wide variety of poetry from this and the previous century, … More details …
Music from the Movies
This course is now fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be added to the waiting list for any cancellations. Join Ben England, award-winning conductor and educator for a day exploring the origins of film music, presented … More details …
From Kaiser to Führer
This course is now fully booked. Please contact us if you would like to be put on the waiting list in case of any cancellations. An exploration of the history and politics surrounding the creation of the Weimar Republic, the … More details …
David Copperfield – The Personal History of…..by Charles Dickens
This five week course will study Dickens’s most autobiographical novel – The Personal History of David Copperfield. Serialised between 1849 – 1850, it only emerged much later that so much of David’s life has its roots in Dickens’s own early … More details …
Everyone can draw
Learn to draw with line and shading to capture form and texture. Get depth into your drawings by using perspective and a range of different marks and materials. Build your confidence and develop drawing skills in a relaxed and supportive … More details …
Ukraine: understanding the country and its people
This short course will focus on the way that history, social history and geography have determined the Ukrainian experience. The 2 half days will look at the constituent parts of today’s Ukraine, their different histories and how this complicates the … More details …
Modern European Poetry
Since the second World War a number of poets have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. These include the Polish poets, Czesław Miłosz and Wisława Szymborska, the Italian poets, Salvatore Quasimodo, and Eugenio Montale. And many European poets have been … More details …
How big is infinity and other questions
Many people approach mathematics with fear and trembling. They remember it as a subject from school that was boring, pointless and difficult to understand. This course will take you down some mathematically less travelled roads. In particular, we shall look … More details …
Discussing short stories
Are these stories a form of armchair time-travel? We begin our journey in 1706, with Daniel Defoe, and finish it with Anthony Trollope, in 1864, discussing one, possibly two, stories per session from The Penguin Book of the British Short … More details …
Mozart: a life in choral music
Mozart is a legendary composer whose legacy and influence continues to impact on our lives today. Join us as we take a unique look at Mozart’s life through the lens of his writing for choir, from his earliest works to … More details …
Objects of wonder
In the Renaissance, kings and dukes, wealthy merchants and rich scholars developed a passion for collecting and studying exotic objects, animals and – sometimes – human beings. Prepare to be amazed as we unlock cabinets of curiosities and study prints … More details …
Three Thomases: politics, faith and power in the Tudor court
This course will focus on the lives of three men with immense power in 16th century England which has been retained in their legacies and memories through the centuries. Thomas Wolsey, the Alter Rex; Thomas More, canonised by the Catholic Church … More details …
Doris Hatt and Evelyn Dunbar
Doris Hatt spent most of her life in Clevedon. A fine artist who kept apart from the establishment, she engaged with European Modernism and the use of strong colour. Her life story is equally fascinating including her politics, life partner … More details …
Religion and Ritual in Ancient Rome
We shall be looking at Roman state religion, including the Olympian gods “imported” from the Greeks and also the “home-grown” deities with the rituals and ceremonies enacted by the Romans to both honour and placate their gods. If time permits, … More details …