Previous Lectures:

A Musical Phoenix: glorious Orthodox choral music

This lecture traces the development of Russian music from Kondakarian notation and Znamenny chant to the beautiful music of Pavel Chesnokov.

Hansa and Musical Patronage

Wonderful instrumental and vocal music by Bruhns, Reincken and Buxtehude. In this presentation we examine the music of the mighty Hanseatic cities and Bach's stylistic debt to some of the composers who worked there.

Pink bonbons filled with snow? A miniature Viking as Ibsen's Orpheus

Norway's most famous composer: Grieg. We look at his creative partnership on Peer Gynt with Ibsen, his manuscripts and details of his domestic life.

The Golden age of the Symphony

We trace the development of symphonic thought through the way the great composers approached the solution of symphonic 'problems'. Starting with Mozart we follow the evolution of the symphony to the time of Franz Schmidt.

Symphonic Forges: the legacy of the musical north

As symphonic inspiration began to dry up in Austria and Germany, so the focus switched to Russia and Scandinavia. We listen to music by Tschaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Nielsen, Sibelius and Shostakovich.

Singing for Supper

Settings of the mass from Gregorian Chant to Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

Musical Rainbows

In 2008 we celebrated the centenary of the birth of Messiaen. Isn't about time we heard some of his most beautiful music?

From Berlin to Broadway

The life and music of the great composer of songs and musicals, Kurt Weill. We examine his early years in Germany and his later success in America.

Sugar, Silver and Silence

The Hispanic and indigenous influences upon the vibrant church music of Latin America from Columbus to the expulsion of the Jesuits in the eighteenth century.

All lectures are delivered by Powerpoint or Keynote. Musical examples are heard using the laptop's sound-out facility into the theatre's sound system. Simon uses Apple Mac G4 12" Powerbooks and also a Macbook Pro 13" running Keynote

In addition, there is a light-hearted and entertaining classical music quiz, for which we require the use of a CD player.

Bon voyage!