Performances

Actor Christopher Kent and pianist Gamal Khamis present a dramatic re-imagining of Shakespeare’s early narrative poem, Venus and Adonis. Edited and adapted by Christopher Kent and directed by Georgia Brown, the poem is interspersed with selections from Felix Mendelssohn’s hauntingly beautiful Songs Without Words. The interplay of Shakespeare’s verse with Mendelssohn’s music infuses human passions into this mythological tale. 

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Professor Michael Dobson, Director of the Shakespeare Institute - part of the University of Birmingham located in Stratford - provides an authoritative overview of the forces that helped make Shakespeare into the international icon that he has become. 

 

This talk will be introduced by Paul Higgins, Trustee of SIM.  

After their success at the King’s Gallery in London, the Renaissance Recorder Consort of the Royal College of Music presents an eloquent selection of pieces by Shakespeare’s musical contemporaries from England and abroad. Played on original instruments, composers include Dowland, Harding, Coprario and Ferrabosco. ​

 

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Ella Blair (soprano), India Harding (mezzo), Joe Yates (tenor) and Oliver Barker (bass), provide an enchanting evening of extracts from operas inspired by Shakespeare’s work. Singers accompanied by Jon French on the piano.

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The evening will be introduced by Robert Lloyd, Patron of SIM.