MUSIC Bearing Witness: Postwar Musical Depictions of the Shoah (Lucas Hung)
Theodor Adorno once said that “to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric”– is this also true for music? Lucas’ presentation explores the musical responses of Jewish composers Arnold Schoenberg (A Survivor from Warsaw) and Steve Reich (Different Trains) to the Holocaust, converting their grief into harrowing and poignant pieces of music.
PHILOSOPHY Man’s Search for Meaning (Dr. David Chandross)
Victor Frankl endured the hardships of the holocaust, losing his mother, his wife and his sister. His best selling book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ showed how he found the will to survive and how we can triumph over adversity. Join Dr. David Chandross as he looks at the stories of heroism and humanity that emerged from a time of madness.
MUSIC We Shall Overcome: Music in the Civil Rights Movement (Lucas Hung)
Music has played a fundamental role in the success of the American Civil Rights Movement. With spirituals, gospel, and folk music, organizers galvanized the public through song like “We Shall Overcome” and Mississippi Goddam” and drove them to action.
VIRTUAL ONLY CULINARY ARTS For the Love of Food (Kate Compton)
“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate” (Alan D. Wolfelt) Sometimes delicious food says it all! Join chef Kate to find out what food is sure to impress on Valentine’s day. Learn some food history, tasty ideas and easy tips for including more ‘feel good foods’ into your life and relationships. See what miracles can ingredients like avocado, oysters, bananas, and asparagus work (And no, we haven’t forgotten about chocolate!)
MUSIC Operatic Love Arias and duets – The romantic, the tragic and the weird
From the seductive Don Juan, to the grave duet of Radames and Aida, to Serse’s love aria to a tree (!!!) – Explore the many shades of love – the lifeblood of the opera.
PHILOSOPHY The Abridged History of Love (Dr. Christopher DiCarlo)
How was the concept of ‘love’ defined, used, and celebrated throughout recorded time (and potentially, pre-recorded time). During the festive season of St. Valentine’s – when “love is in the air” – let’s consider the nature of this most perplexing, yet wondrous of human emotions.
MUSIC Jazz Heroines (Lucas Hung)
From star vocalists to talented pianists, women have played an integral role in the history of jazz. This presentation traces the lives and legacies of female jazz musicians Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simon who overcame prejudice and racism to become renowned masters of their crafts.
CLASSICAL MUSIC Women Composers
It’s a men’s world – certainly when it comes to creating music. Yet, through history we encounter talented females who dared challenge this belief and create music. In this presentation we will meet not just “wife of…” or “sister of…” but great artists in their own right.
FASHION Coco Chanel (Dr. David Chandross)
xplore the fascinating world of Coco Chanel, the greatest fashion influencer of all times. Beginning in her humble start as an abandoned 8 year old girl in France and rising to become a fashion empire, Coco Gabrielle Chanel redefined beauty and changed the role of women in society! Dior, Yves St Laurent and even Estee Lauder owe their success to this trailblazing woman from the roaring 20s!
HISTORY Queen Victoria (Dr. Gordon Bannerman)
After Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria is the longest-reigning monarch in British history. As Queen from 1837 to 1901, her reign was marked by great political, social, and economic change. Victoria was made “Empress of India”, reflective of Britain’s imperial power and prestige. Explore Victoria’s personal and political life and legacy.
HISTORY The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) (Dr. Gordon Bannerman)
From grocer’s daughter to Downing Street – This talk examines the life, career, and legacy of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female Prime Minister. The Thatcher governments made many fundamental and controversial changes to the British economy and British society. Even today, after her death, she remains a highly influential, controversial, and divisive figure.
HISTORY Irish Immigrants in the New World (Dr. Andrew Lindsay)
In the late 1840’s both Canada and the United States became the destination of tens of thousands of Irish, victims of a catastrophy- The potato famine – which was one of the most intense and tragic natural disasters in history, reducing the nation to a state of terror and desperation. But Ireland’s loss was our gain, as multitudes risked the Atlantic voyage and faced the unknown to start new lives for themselves.
MUSIC The Fierce Genius of Irish Music and Song (Michael O’Brien)
From fierce Irish humor to heart-melting Irish beauty to good old rousing Irish fun – Join Irish-Canadian playwright Michael O’Brien as he walks you through the central role Irish music and song have played in his own life and career. From Brendan Behan, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, to The Chieftains and The Dubliners, to Shane McGowan and The Pogues right up to Enya and Sinead O’Connor. Iconic melodies, laughs, good times, and a few tears.
ART Three Outstanding Mexican Women (Mariana Arámburu)
Explore the art of Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varo, and Leonora Carrington and learn how life in Mexico in the mid 20th century inspired these artists to create feminist art with a whimsical touch of surrealism.
TRAVEL The Markets of Mexico City (Mariana Arámburu)
Join Mariana in a journey to discover her native town, Mexico City, through its markets – from the most touristy to its rarest. Learn where to eat the best street food and shop for the most original crafts, But also find the hidden markets where to get insect tacos, exotic flowers, bizarre antiques, and black magic items.
HISTORY Queen Victoria (Dr. Gordon Bannerman)
After Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria is the longest-reigning monarch in British history. As Queen from 1837 to 1901, her reign was marked by great political, social, and economic change. Victoria was made “Empress of India”, reflective of Britain’s imperial power and prestige. Explores Victoria’s personal and political life and legacy.
HISTORY The Trial of Louis Rail (John Huston)
In 1967 the City of Regina commissioned a play about the trial of Métis leader Louis Riel from Irish playwright John Coulter. Métis actor John Huston, who has performed nearly a dozen roles in the show over 40 years, talks about the history of the Riel trial, the Northwest Resistance and how it affected Canada for nearly a century after, the writing of Coulter’s play and how we see one of Canada’s most controversial characters 125 years later..
HISTORY The Founding Fathers: John A. Macdonald and Wilfrid Laurier (Dr. Andrew Lindsay)
After almost three centuries of European settlement, Canadians ventured tentatively into the status of their own nationhood in 1867. Today, more than 150 years later, our status as one of the most livable and stable nations speaks to the contributions of our two greatest early prime ministers, Conservative John A. Mcdonald and Liberal Wilfrid Laurier. Who were these two historical giants of the Great White North and what did they contribute to our nation’s heritage?
VIRTUAL ONLY CINEMA Going to the (Canadian) Movies (Ryan Uytdewilligen)
Celebrating the Canadian motion picture industry, cinema expert Ryan Uytdewilligen explores the early years of film production in the Great White North, how the National Film Board came to be, and why the industry ebbed and flowed during the Hollywood Golden Age. Ryan discusses how eager Canadians like Mary Pickford and Louis B Mayer ended up creating Hollywood, why canucks like Donald Sutherland and Christopher Plummer found success down south, and looks at some of the most important Canadian films, including Goin’ Down the Road (1970), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), and One Week (2008).
CINEMA Laughter in the Dark: Finding Humour in Fear (Aidan Attali)
Not all scares are meant to terrify. Films like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and Young Frankenstein (1974) show how laughter can make fear a little easier to handle. We’ll explore why audiences sometimes choose to laugh at their monsters, and what that says about resilience in scary moments.
VIRTUAL ONLY – TRAVEL Haunted Places (Jennifer Merrick)
From a haunted coal mine in Wales to the historic site of Fort Henry at Kingston, to the ghost who wanders the Elgin Theatre in Toronto, join me as we learn the spine-tingling, otherworldly tales of famous attractions around the world.
HISTORY Massachusetts 1692: The Salem Witch Trials (Dr Andrew Lindsay)
For centuries, Humans in almost every society have believed in witches! In early American history, this belief caused a horrific, tragic episode that still scars this country’s memory. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 have been recorded by novels, stage plays, television and movies. What made Americans so willing to give in to their fears, costing 19 women their lives, with the full approval of the criminal justice system?
HISTORY Canada in World War One (Dr. Andrew Lindsay)
In 1914, Canada went to war, but it did so still seen by much of the world as an appendage of it’s mother country, Britain. Even 47 years after Confederation, Canadians chafed at the perception of being a junior partner following the lead of London, a small player on a big stage. Burning with a desire to announce its place among nations, Canada would blaze a path on the battlefield, emerging from the crucible of war as a real country with its own identity in four short years.
PHILOSOPHY Code of Honour: The Philosophy and Psychology of Courage (Dr. David Chandross)
What is honour and what is valor? This lecture explores the history of “honour”: Great incidents of courage and determination in the battlefield and outside it, of setting aside one’s own desires and uplift the lives of others.
MUSIC Benjamin Britten – A War requiem
Lt. Wilfred Owen was a soldier and a poet who lived the horrors of WWI. His apocalyptic poems are set to music in this beautiful outcry against the inhumanity of war.
HISTORY The Evolution of Memory: 100 Years of Remembrance Day (Dr. Gordon Bannerman)
With the mass casualties of the two World Wars of the twentieth century, the consequences of ‘total war’ affected large sections of the population in the combatant countries. The loss of so many people prompted moves to officially recognize and commemorate The Fallen. Remembrance is now a vital part of our mental landscape and plays a role in teaching the present and future generations of the nature of sacrifice and loss, as well as the horrors of war.
HISTORY Yuletide, Christmas and Mistletoe! (Dr. David Chandross)
An ancient Roman holiday, a Celtic mistletoe tradition, the different St. Nicks who were combined to create the original Santa Claus, the Norse reindeer – See how all that came together to form the holiday we all celebrate this time of the year around the world and have for over 2000 years. And of course, we will sing a carol or two to bring in the cheer.
PHILOSOPHY Redemption on the Silver Screen (Dr. Christopher DiCarlo)
Nowhere more creatively is the theme of redemption played out than in the movies. We shall look at this theme In Gran Torino, Good Will Hunting, the Pianist, the Shawshank Redemption and others and consider whether something akin to a redeeming spirit dwells within each of us.
MUSIC G.F.Handel: Messiah, an Oratorio (Joseph Sharon)
Although by far the best known work by Handel, Messiah is his most untypical oratorio – rather Than a drama with characters and plot it is a narration of the birth, passion, resurrection and second coming of Christ – a work with theological, philosophical and even political agenda.