ONE TIME ONLY - ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT OPERA!

This fast moving lecture series charts opera from its classic 17th century beginnings to its evolution in the 18th (brocade, high voices, happy endings) and on through war and revolution to the 19th (nationalism, grand opera, and dead sopranos).

As we hit the troubled 20th century the genre begins to spin out of control but, to everyone’s surprise, it’s landed in the 21st in good shape, with more festivals and opera houses than ever; it's popularity growing. 

On our colourful journey, we discover how closely connected opera is with the politics and the tastes of the people who pay for it. What an insight!

Sarah Lenton has spent her working life in the theatre:  the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Garsington Opera.

This talented lady provides a wide range of lectures all over the world,  writes programme articles, theatre and radio scripts, and broadcasts regularly for BBC Radios 3 and 4. She is also a cartoonist. 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL Programme description at  Opera the Melting Pot of Culture S Day[8981].pdf (theartssocietyisleofwight.org.uk)

Booking form at Opera Study day form.pdf (theartssocietyisleofwight.org.uk)

Further information from Sue Giles, Vice Chair

A Study Day has been arranged with Douglas Skeggs on Wednesday 19th October 2022 at The Lakeside Hotel. Our day will comprise 3 lectures, each about an hour long, 2 in the morning then a break for lunch and final lecture in the afternoon.

He will talking to us about The Medici “ Bank Rolling the Renaissance." Booking form can be found at Special Interest Day Oct 22 updated.pdf (theartssocietyisleofwight.org.uk)

The Medici were in many ways an unattractive family. Ruthless in pursuit of profit for their Florentine bank, which had branches in every city of the known world, they were greedy for success, merciless to those who opposed their ambition and vicious in their own internal squabbles. And yet without them we wouldn’t have Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”, the Fra Angelico frescoes in San Marco, Donatellos “David” or the majestic Michelangelo sculptures in the Medici chapel. The Platonic Academy wouldn’t have been founded and the doors for the Baptistry would never have been cast. This Study Day, composed of three talks, looks into the turbulent history of this extraordinary family.

Douglas Skeggs read Fine Art at Magdalene College Cambridge and has been a lecturer on paintings since 1980. In that time he has given over 8000 lectures to universities, colleges and art societies. He was the director of  The New Academy of Art Studies for three years and is presently a regular lecturer at The Study Center, Christie's course 'The History of Art Studies' and other London courses. Among his more improbable venues for lectures are the bar on the QE2, MI5 headquarters, the Captain's Room at Lloyds, and an aircraft hanger in a German NATO base. Overseas he has lectured in Belgium, France, Germany and Spain, and has taken numerous tours around Europe.

As this season is our 40th , a special event will take place Thursday 26th May 2022. Details will be released as soon as they are available.