Courses – Fall 2025 / Old Courses / MODERN OPERA
Coordinators: Steve Koenig, Frieda Lipp, Victor Brener
At each session, we view a different opera and engage in a lively discussion of the text, staging, medium and score.
Opera has developed along many paths and styles over the last two centuries. In each session, we will view an opera and discuss that opera’s libretto, staging, orchestration, singing, and historical context.
Composers might include Richard Strauss, Alban Berg, Benjamin Britten, Kurt Weill, Leoš Janácˇek, and some you’ve never heard of. We’ll include electronic, jazz, multi- media, and conceptual opera.
B WEEK / TUESDAY / 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Other Classes:
- GREAT EXPECTATIONS
- CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- WOMEN LEADERS
- THE TWILIGHT ZONE
- OLD TESTAMENT AS LITERATURE AND IN THE ARTS
- HEALTH AND MEDICINE
- POWER: THE GLORY OF IT
- JAZZ: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
- IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE, CAN IT?
- FLAWED GREATNESS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
- PORTRAIT OF A LADY
- STAR-CROSSED LOVERS
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A BRAVE NEW WORLD?
- WOMEN SPIES
- DAISY MILLER & WASHINGTON SQUARE
- BEETHOVEN: THE MIDDLE YEARS
- ALL THE KINGS MEN
- JAZZ AT NOON
- WORLD OF THEATRE
- THE SCARLET LETTER
- THE GREAT GATSBY
- TOCQUEVILLE'S DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
- MEXICO: SOUTH OF OUR BORDER
- HISTORY OF MEDICINE
- HARLEM RENAISSANCE
- CONSTRUCTION: BEYOND BRICKS AND MORTAR
- ACTING WORKSHOP I
- THEATER TALKBACK
- BOOK CHATS
- ADVENTURES IN DINING
- SCIENCE CLUBHOUSE
- FOOD: BEYOND JUST CALORIES
- TONI MORRISON: THE LEGEND
- INVISIBLE MAN BY RALPH ELLISON
- SIXTIES
- ELIZABETH GASKELL
- WEEK IN PARIS
- CLASSICAL MUSIC
- CREATIVE WORKSHOP
- MUSIC OF THE HEART
- EMILY DICKINSON CIRCLE
- SYMPOSIUM
- NYC AND ITS ENVIRONS: PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS
- RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY
- WATER
- FOLK MUSIC AND MELLOW ROCK
- CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CULTURE
- AUSTRALIA – THE LAND DOWN UNDER
- HUCKLEBERRY FINN
- AGING
- FASCINATING ISLANDS
- BLACK WOMENS VOICES
- THE NOBEL PRIZES
- READING EDITH WHARTON
- WOMEN IN GREEK DRAMA
- THE NEAR EAST
- HISTORY OF GERMANY
- A PASSAGE TO INDIA
- INDIE FILMS
- SLAVERY'S ROLE IN U.S. CAPITALISTIST DEVELOPMENT
- RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
- READING THE RABBIS
- RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT
- MYTHOLOGY
- LITERARY HEROINES
- HOWARDS END
- HOUSE OF MIRTH
- FABULOUS FIFTIES
- COMEDY CENTRAL
- READING BLACK LIVES
- BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES
- MOZARTS WOMEN
- ANTISEMITISM: PAST, PRESENT, FACTS, MYTHS
- AFRICAN CONTINENT
- PRESENTERS SHOWCASE
- INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
- ACTING CLASS
- FOREIGN AFFAIRS
- LAW & ORDER
- POINT OF VIEW
- MOVERS & SHAKERS
- SOCRATES AND THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY
- FASCINATING NONFICTION
- GREAT CONVERSATIONS
- ORAL INTERPRETATION OF POETRY
- SHAKESPEARE: CYMBELINE