AUTUMN 20010 EVENTS PROGRAMME
September: Meet the director in Edinburgh – an invitation for students in Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews to meet the director at the start of the semester – date and times to be confirmed.
Saturday 2 October: ‘Welcome meeting’ for students new to London and nearby campuses. Meet the director and other colleagues to discuss academic and social matters, finances, work and travelling, safety and security. The meeting will start at 1.30pm at Birkbeck College, London WC1, close to the Centre. RSVP by 27 September
Sunday 3 October: The first theatre event for the semester is the very last performance of the 2010 summer season at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on the south side of the Thames, near Tate Modern. It’s ’Henry IV, Part 2’, and our £5 tickets are for standing places in the yard. The performance starts at
Saturday 16 October: ‘Welcome meeting’ for new arrivals in Oxford (and Cambridge too!). We’ll meet at St Peter’s College at 2.30pm, where we’ll talk about academic and social aspects of Oxford life, travelling and working, finances and safety – tea will be served after the meeting so RSVP by 11 October.
Thursday 21 October: We’ve booked tickets to hear the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy play Sibelius ‘Pelleas and Melisande’, Greig’s ‘Piano Concerto’ (soloist Nikolai Lugansky) and Rachmaninov’s ‘Symphony No 2’. It should be a great evening of music stating at 7.30pm – tickets cost £10.50 as we have a group reduction.
Wednesday 3 November: For our opera this semester we’ve chosen Puccini’s well-loved ‘La Boheme’, a great favourite with regular opera-goers and a perfect introduction to people who haven’t been to the opera before. This production by Jonathan Miller was premiered by English National Opera a couple of years ago – and was quite a hit! With a group reduction, tickets cost £17.85p each. The performance at the Coliseum of St Martins Lane starts at 7.30pm
Friday 10 December: A traditional start to the Christmas season for lots of you seems to be the ballet ‘The Nutcracker’ and this year the English National Ballet’s season starts just in time for us to book tickets for you – we’re at the Coliseum on St Martin’s Lane again and tickets cost only £15 each.
Look out for more plays!
We usually buy 20/25 tickets in advance for each event and open booking about two weeks before each show. Tickets are allocated to the first students who apply for them and the cost is deducted from the cultural bonus. If you're not eligible for the bonus then we ask for cash payment in advance instead.
SPRING 2010 EVENTS PROGRAMME
Wednesday 20/ Thursday 21 January: Meet the director in Edinburgh! A meeting for students newly arrived in Scotland to answer any questions you may have and talk about the next semester. Meet at 55 George Square at 4pm on Wednesday. RSVP BY 18/1 SO WE KNOW WHO I S COMING.
Thursday 21 January: The first event in our ‘cultural programme’. English National Ballet brings their Christmas season to a close with the classic ‘Giselle’ at the Coliseum, St Martins Lane, WC2 off Trafalgar Square. The performance starts at 7.30pm and we have pre-booked tickets at the group rate of only £15. SOLD OUT!
Saturday 23 January: ‘Welcome Meeting’ for all other newly arrived students to meet the Centre staff and other guests and talk about academic matters, finances, travelling and working, safety and security. The meeting will begin at 1.30pm at Birkbeck College, London WC1 and finish about 3.30pm. RSVP BY 18/1 SO WE KNOW WHO I S COMING.
Tuesday 2 February: The Royal Shakespeare Company performs Shakespeare’s comedy, ‘Twelfth Night’ at the Duke of York’s Theatre on St Martin’s Lane. The RSC offer education group rates so our tickets cost only £12. The play starts at 7.30pm. SOLD OUT!
Thursday 11 February: Alan Bennett’s new play about Benjamin Britten and W h Auden premiered in the autumn … we have education group rate tickets again at £15 each. The play starts at 7.30pm and will be in the Lyttleton theatre at the National Theatre on the South Bank. SOLD OUT!
Wednesday 3 March: We have selected Donizetti’s “rom-com” ‘The Elixir of Love’ for our opera visit this semester in director Jonathan Miller’s new staging, which relocates the action from 19th century rural Italy to small-town America in the 50s. The performance starts at 7.30pm and finishes about 10pm. Generous discounts from English National Opera mean the tickets cost only 10 pounds 40p each. SOLD OUT!
Friday 12 March: To finish the term, come to the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank to hear the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gunther Herbig. The concert programme is Ravel’s ‘Mother Goose’ Suite, Schumann’s Piano Concerto with soloist Helene Grimaud and finally, Brahms’ Symphony No 2. The concert starts at 7.30pm and with our group reduction, the side stalls seats cost only £9.60p SOLD OUT!
Saturday 8 May: We’ll end as we began the year, with Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre. The 2010 season has just opened and we have tickets for Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish play’ … that’s ‘Macbeth’ if you’re not superstitious! The performance starts at 2pm to give out-of-London students plenty of time to come into London for the day. And the tickets cost only £5 as these are standing places in the Yard – a true 16th century experience as a ‘groundling’! SOLD OUT!
This is the last group event for the 2009/2010 year – we hope you’ve enjoyed them …