Program for 2009-2010 Taking Shape

It’s too early to announce all our plans for the fall, since the program is still very much in preparation, but we can tell you that our plans include a four-session course by Humphrey Tonkin on Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night, beginning on Tuesday, September 15, with a showing of the film version directed by Trevor Nunn (with Helena Bonham Carter, Imogen Stubbs and Ben Kingsley) and ending with the Hartt School’s production of the play, directed by Robert Davis, on October 15-18. After the presentation of the film on September 15, the course will continue for three subsequent Tuesdays at 4:30 pm. The course will follow preparations for the production, with updates from director Bob Davis.

Archaeologist and historian Richard Freund will once again offer a course on Archaeology and the Bible, beginning on Wednesday, September 30 at 5:00 pm and continuing on the two following Wednesdays. Last year’s course was a sell-out.
We do not yet have dates for Catherine Stevenson’s four-session course on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, but it promises to be something of a sensation. The course will focus on the writings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris and will include two guest lectures – by none other than Patrick McCaughey on Pre-Raphaelite painting and Michael Lankester on the music of the period, including the work of Granville Bantock and Frederick Delius.

Kathleen McGrory will return, this time with a course on the poetry of faith and doubt. She is also talking about offering a course on Dan Brown in the spring – a figure who generates faith and doubt all by himself….

Our Fridays at the Mortensen Series will open on September 25, with subsequent sessions probably on October 16, November 13, and December 4.

We hope to announce the full program soon.

Historian David Hopkin - Hertford College Lecturer

Monday, October 12, is the likely date for this year’s Hertford College Lecture – an annual event bringing a member of the faculty of our sister institution Hertford College, Oxford University, to Hartford. The teaching of this year’s lecturer, David Hopkin, focuses on European and in particular French history from the Enlightenment to the First World War. By training he is an historical anthropologist and by inclination he is a folklorist. His research concentrates on the social and cultural life of rural communities, military and maritime institutions, popular and oral culture. His first book, Soldier and Peasant in French Popular Culture was joint winner of the Royal Historical Society’s Gladstone prize in 2002. In addition to his afternoon lecture, Dr. Hopkin will attend a luncheon hosted by the President’s College. Save the date!

Theatre in London with Morrison and Tonkin

We have received quite a number of expressions of interest in a possible London theatre trip in November, led by Malcolm Morrison and Humphrey Tonkin. At the moment we are negotiating with hotels and hope to be able to announce plans shortly, if we are successful in coming up with a manageable program and good accommodation. Likely dates: November 11-18. The trip will include visits to the theatre on most evenings, backstage visits, and visits to places of theatrical interest in the London area – under the guidance of two knowledgeable Brits, one of them a former President of the University and the other a former Dean of the Hartt School. You can’t do much better than that…. If you would like to be added to the list of people interested in participating (no obligation, of course), please let us know. To express interest, use the form with this newsletter, call 860-768-4269, or e-mail pcollege@hartford.edu.

Web Site URL

All the latest information regarding programs for the President's College is maintained at this web site. To register for classes, use this convenient form.

Showcase 2009

Enjoy a day at college with our finest professors
Date: September 13, 2009
Time: 9:30am - 4:30pm

For details, check our website:

New Course Offering

A Passion for Opera - A five-session course by Willie Anthony Waters
An excursion through the history of opera, beginning in Italy and France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, proceeding across the mountain tops of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Italy, France and Germany, and landing in the America of our own day – with particular emphasis on the history of interpretation. Illustrated by video and audio clips and by reference to productions that Maestro Waters has been associated with over the years.
Session 1: The origins of opera in Italy and France
Session 2: The flowering of Italian opera
Session 3: Opera in France
Session 4: Wagner and German opera
Session 5: Opera in America
General and Artistic Director of Connecticut Opera from 1999 to 2009, Willie Anthony Waters has been a guest conductor for numerous opera companies in the United States, including the Boston Lyric Opera and New York City Opera, and opera companies in Canada (Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal), Germany (Cologne), Australia, and South Africa (Cape Town, Pretoria, Durban). He has conducted a wide range of Italian, French, German and American operatic works, among them Porgy and Bess in South Africa and Germany. His orchestral engagements include performances with the Florida Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orch. (Munich), Essen Philharmonic (Germany), Norwegian Radio Orch., Brucknerhaus Orchester (Austria) and Indianapolis Symphony. He is a regular guest on the Metropolitan Opera Quiz during the renowned Metropolitan Opera live broadcasts.
Dates: Monday-Friday, June 1-5, 2009.
Location: TBA
Time: 10:00 am-12:00 noon.
Cost: $120 (Fellows $100)