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DateLecture
05 November 2019STUDY DAY - The Royal Opera House: an insider's view
10 October 2019The Magic of Prague: Czech art and culture
19 September 2019Eric Ravilious: a Life in Pictures
11 July 2019The World of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
13 June 2019The Hands of Leonardo da Vinci
09 May 2019Harlots, rakes & crashing china - an accidental introduction to ceramics and Hogarth’s world
11 April 2019The Beauty & History of Frames
19 March 2019STUDY DAY - Artists in the Garden
14 March 2019The Honourable & Dishonourable Art of Acting
14 February 2019Lawrence of Arabia: excavating a legend
10 January 2019A Decorative Art: the history of Wallpapers
08 November 2018Food & Art through the Ages: From Renaissance Sugar Sculpture to 3D printing
16 October 2018STUDY DAY - Victorian Jewellery
11 October 2018Played in London – charting the Heritage of a City at Play
20 September 2018The Splendours of the City Churches
12 July 2018The Magnificence of Persia: the art of Isfahan, Shiraz and ancient Persepolis
14 June 2018The Masterpieces of Russian Opera, from Boris Godunov to Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
10 May 2018Zaha Hadid – architectural superstar
12 April 2018The Age of Jazz
22 March 2018STUDY DAY - Johann Sebastian Bach
08 March 2018Shakespeare: the Birth of Modern Show Business
08 February 2018Galla Placidia: the Empress and the Fall of Rome
11 January 2018Vienna Secession 1918-2018: Gustav Klimt & Egon Schiele
09 November 2017Basingstoke and its Contribution to World Culture
12 October 2017The Horse and Modern Art from George Stubbs to Mark Wallinger
14 September 2017David Bowie
13 July 2017Wonders of the Roman Empire – Off Limits
08 June 2017Indians, Buffalo and Storms: the American West in C19 Art
11 May 2017Let there be Light
13 April 2017Foreigners in London 1520 – 1677: the artists who changed the course of British Art
09 March 2017Hidden Canvasses – Street Art and the City
09 February 2017Treasures and Curiosities from the Royal Library at Windsor Castle
12 January 2017David Hockney – The Old Master of Modern Art
08 December 2016The Art of Illusion
10 November 2016Bernini and Baroque Rome
13 October 2016Frank Matcham’s Masterpieces - Theatre design and Architecture in Britain
08 September 2016The Sacred Art of Angkor and Living Arts
14 July 2016Beautiful, Beastly, Bizarre: the Art of Hieronymus Bosch
09 June 2016Lancelot 'Capability' Brown (1716-1783): Landscape, Art and Dame Nature
12 May 2016Charles Saatchi - a Modern Medici?
14 April 2016Empire's Architecture: Celebrating a Rich Legacy Colonial architecture in India - the buildings, their History and their future
10 March 2016Mars and the Muses: The Renaissance Art of Armour
11 February 2016Pissarro and his Artistic Family in London
10 December 2015Is Christmas in good taste?
12 November 2015Thomas Heatherwick, "The Leonardo da Vinci of our Times”
08 October 2015Discover the Paintings You Own
10 September 2015Art & the Napoleonic Wars
09 July 2015And so to Vauxhall: music & culture in the celebrated gardens
11 June 2015Dumfries House - saved for the nation
14 May 2015Titian, the Supreme Painter’s Painter
09 April 2015The “New” Berlin - Art and Architecture
12 March 2015Temples, Tombs and Treasures: In Search of the Queen of Sheba
12 February 2015INAUGURAL LECTURE Great Tarts in Art: High Culture and the Oldest Profession
30 September 2014TASTER LECTURE The Boy Who Bit Picasso

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STUDY DAY - The Royal Opera House: an insider's view Nigel Bates Tuesday 05 November 2019

This Autumn Study Day has as its subject Covent Garden Opera House. Our lecturer Nigel Bates, describes himself as a musician, speaker, manager, presenter and consultant. He started his musical career in the Band of the Scots Guards, then went on to join the Orchestra of Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet and to hold an appointment as a Professor at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. After a freelance period working with most of the London orchestras and ensembles, Nigel was appointed to the Section Principal Percussion of the Royal Opera House Orchestra, in 1993. Alongside that appointment, he was involved in many other projects for the Royal Opera House. Nigel left the Royal Opera House in 2009 in order to emigrate to Australia, undertaking a number of lecture tours across Australia and Tasmania, and working to establish a community orchestra in Central Queensland. He returned to the UK in 2011, and continued to work as a performer, producer and creative leader. In 2012 he was appointed Music Administrator of The Royal Ballet and continues to perform with all the major London orchestras.

During our study day Nigel will look at the history of the Opera House and the architecture of the building. We will also learn about the tribulations and triumphs of working with the Royal Opera and Royal Ballet companies. We will see several performance video clips with an additional focus on set design, production values and how the digital age has been embraced by the opera and ballet worlds. In addition we will discover the way that daily performances and rehearsals of opera and ballet all fit into this elegant Victorian theatre, the workplace of more than a thousand people. Finally we will look at the way artistic inspirations, the people involved and the unique building all function together to create world class opera and ballet in a unique environment.

The cost for the day is £35. The booking form can be downloaded here.