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Click here for future lectures

17 June 2026The Three Great Game Changers of 19th century opera
20 May 2026Celebrating the Centenary of Winnie-the-Pooh
15 April 2026Brave New World: how the arts and culture shaped Post War Britain
18 March 2026Paradise Lost and Restored: 400 years of garden design through the lens of the Oxford Botanic Garden
18 February 2026Monopoly - a game we know so well, or do we?
21 January 2026A Piece of the Auction: behind the scenes at an international auction house
17 December 2025Ghosts of Ice and Fog: investigating the landscape of Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'
19 November 2025The Elgin Marbles: a history of meaning
15 October 2025Creating an Imaginary World: theatre design from temple to playhouse, into the picture and out again
17 September 2025Ashcan Painters: founders of New York realism
18 June 2025London Bridged – 3500 years of crossing the Thames
21 May 2025Dame Laura Knight
16 April 2025Faber and Faber: 90 years of excellence in cover design
19 March 2025The History of the English Cook Book
19 February 2025The Art of the Japanese Garden: from tradition to modernity
15 January 2025Vaux le Vicomte "Fit for a King". The inspiration behind Versailles Palace: a tale of misplaced ambition and betrayal
18 December 2024That Pretty German Toy - musings on the Christmas tree
20 November 2024Renaissance Paintings in the Collection of Charles III
16 October 2024Huguenot Silk Weavers of Spitalfields - riches to rags
18 September 2024Making Sense of Modern Art
17 July 2024The Origins and Evolution of Chinese Imperial Silk - Heaven's embroidered cloth
19 June 2024The Culture of Ukraine
15 May 2024A Child's Life in the Middle Ages
17 April 2024Gaugin, Gaugin, gone ...
20 March 2024From Errol Flynn to Bottles of Gin: writers' portraits and their after-lives
21 February 2024The History of Opera
17 January 2024The Architecture of the British Raj is remarkable - let's celebrate it!
20 December 2023Musical Magic of Christmas
15 November 2023Grace Darling and the fine art of saving lives at sea
18 October 2023A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body - how the Victorians made us jolly good sports
19 July 2023'She loves you' - Music of the 60s
21 June 2023Sir Christopher Wren and the rebuilding of London out of Disaster
17 May 2023Lunaticks, Slavers & the Genteel - portraits by Joseph Wright of Derby
19 April 2023The Men who made Menswear
15 March 2023Cursed Objects of the British Museum
15 February 2023The Subtle Science and Exact Art of Colour in English Garden Design
18 January 2023Banksy - Fraud or Genius?
21 December 2022A Very Ceremonial Christmas
16 November 2022Land of the Monkey God - Art & Architecture of Sri Lanka
19 October 2022The Art of Sea Bathing
20 July 2022London Underground: 150 years of design
15 June 2022Oak trees, The Royal Navy and the shipyards of East Anglia
18 May 2022'Marathon' !
20 April 2022Salvador Dali: draughtsman and designer
16 March 2022Tea, Opium & Hong Kong : the China trade 1600-1900
16 February 2022Knights in the Sky : chivalry, art and reality during the Great War
19 January 2022Three Artists and their Gardens
15 December 2021Canal History and Architecture
17 November 2021Faces of the Steelyard: the life of the Hanseatic merchants and their portraits by Holbein
20 October 2021One Hundred Years Down Under: a general overview of Australian painting
22 September 2021The Post War New Towns: Stevenage and Harlow to Milton Keynes. Heroic architecture or a concrete mistake?
06 July 2021The Hazards of the Journey: pilgrimage and travel in the Middle Ages
01 June 2021Harems, Hookahs, Odalisques and Ottomans: a passion for th Oriental in 18th & 19th century art
04 May 2021Caithness Glass: Loch, Heather & Peat
06 April 2021English Women and the French Revolution
02 March 2021Feast and Food in the Decorative and Fine Arts
02 February 2021A Decorative Art: a history of wallpapers
05 January 2021The Land of the Midnight Sun: Norway's golden age of painting
01 December 2020Icons: exploring their history, power, and enduring mystery
03 November 2020Gertrude Bell - traveller, archaeologist, orientalist, imperialist
06 October 2020The Age of Jazz
07 July 2020Pots and Frocks : the world of Grayson Perry
02 June 2020Women Artists of the Second World War
05 May 2020Personalities in Art -Dali: draughtsman and designer
07 April 2020History of Cartoons: from William Hogarth to Private Eye
03 March 2020Gold of the Gods : Treasures of South America and the search for El Dorado
04 February 2020Temples, Tombs and Treasures - in search of the Queen of Sheba
07 January 2020The Awkward Bodies: a defence of British Modernism
03 December 2019From Venice to Sheffield - John Ruskin's passion for art, craft and social justice
05 November 2019Foreigners in London 1520-1677: the artists who changed the course of British art
01 October 2019The Art and Culture of Fin-de-Siecle Vienna
02 July 2019Dame Zaha Hadid
04 June 2019From Leonardo to the Bauhaus - the rise and fall of the artist-scientist
07 May 2019The Imperial Easter Eggs of Carl Fabergé - before the Revolution
02 April 2019Three Great Families and their Gardens: a history of the Astors, the Rothschilds and the Sackville-Wests
05 March 2019From Opera to Oratorio - how George Frederick Handel changed the musical life of Britain
05 February 2019Inspiration - Artists and their Iconic Muses
08 January 2019The Sculptures of Henry Moore and Anthony Caro
04 December 2018Food and Art through the Ages - from Renaissance sugar to 3D printing
06 November 2018The Queen of Instruments: the lute within Old Master paintings
02 October 2018Artists and Espionage - The Lawn Road Flats NW3: Modernist living in mid-20th century London
18 September 2018New Evening Event for The Arts Society Gade Valley
03 July 2018Climbing Buildings
05 June 2018Let the Games Begin! The Cotswold Olympics rebound
01 May 2018Angels from the Realms of Glory: The Wilton Dyptych and the Roof of Westminster Hall
03 April 2018Les Parisiennes: how women lived, loved and died in Paris, 1939-49
06 March 2018The Renaissance Art Market
06 February 2018A Bit of Slap and Tickle: the materials and techniques of Constable's Brighton paintings, 1824-28
02 January 2018Fakes and Forgeries: the art of deception, insight into the methods used by criminals to dupe the art market
05 December 2017The Christmas Tree - from forest fir to festive feature
07 November 2017Women Behind the Lens - outstanding female photographers and their contribution to the art of photography
03 October 2017The Scottish Colourists
04 July 2017Modern Art and the Old Masters: the new approach to familiar themes in 20th century art Lecture preceded by the AGM
06 June 2017Imperial Purple to Denim Blue: the colourful history of textiles
02 May 2017The Art & Science of the Lunar Society
04 April 2017"A View from the Plinth": a critical look at public sculpture
07 March 2017Lecture 'Habitat Catalogued' followed by MARCH LUNCH
07 February 2017Thomas Heatherwick: "The Leonardo da Vinci of our times"
03 January 2017Guildhall and Guildhall Art Gallery - Hidden Gems in the Heart of the Square Mile
06 December 2016Children’s Book Illustrations
01 November 2016Undressing Antiques
04 October 2016Vivaldi to Venice
05 July 2016‘Drink thy Wine with a Merry Heart’: a Pictorial History of Drinking Glasses
07 June 2016Wimples to Wellingtons: a History of Dress and Fashion
03 May 2016The Angela George Memorial Lecture: JMW Turner and the Day Parliament burned Down
05 April 2016A Little Paradise: Laos, from Historic Buddhist Temples to Modern Silk Weaving
01 March 2016The Gears of Conquest: the Norman Knight, his Armour & Weapons, and the Bayeux Tapestry
02 February 2016Founders and Treasures of the Wallace Collection
05 January 2016‘in paynted pots is hidden the deadliest poyson’ : English Deftware Drug Jars

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The Three Great Game Changers of 19th century opera Jamie Hayes Wednesday 17 June 2026

The world of opera is full of remarkable contributors, great game changers who leave the stage in a completely different place from the one they found. In the 19th century three such men revolutionised the art form; in three very different ways; Verdi, Wagner and Puccini. From the romantic heart-breakers of La Traviata and Rigoletto via the mystery and magic of the The Ring Cycle to the breath-taking melodramatic tear jerkers of Tosca and La Bohème. Enjoy their remarkable journeys and innovative, dynamic and thrilling theatricality which highlights so much of their work. This illustrated lecture will highlight the great opera productions which have graced the worlds opera houses.

After training at RADA Jamie graduated as a Stage Manager and subsequently worked for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Bristol Old Vic and the BBC. He became an Assistant Director with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Kent Opera and English National Opera and soon began directing productions of his own. He has directed many new opera productions in the UK whilst other new opera productions overseas include Reykjavik, Malta and Melbourne. Jamie was Associate Director on the original production of the hit musical Miss Saigon in the West End and on Broadway. He has directed productions in all the major UK conservatoires and was Director of Productions for British Youth Opera for over a decade, a company devoted to promoting the talents of our finest young opera singers in the UK. Jamie is a regular enrichment programme lecturer for various leading cruise ship companies. He is married to the mezzo-soprano Jean Rigby and they have three sons.