Performing Arts Courses & Classes in London and Online
City Lit offers performing arts courses in the heart of Covent Garden in Central London during the evening, daytime and at weekends. Explore our range of subjects including acting, (including accredited acting courses), dance, radio and screen, and voice, speech and communication as well as a full range of music courses, such as piano, singing, strings and wind instruments to jazz and pop, music technology, music theory and history
Our courses are labelled clearly for beginners or those with previous experience and you can speak to a specialist advisor to help you choose the right level. If you would you like some help or advice:
For music courses email music@citylit.ac.uk. You can also view our music auditions and advice page.
For drama, dance and speech courses email drama@citylit.ac.uk
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- Great works: Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilègesCourse start date: Wed 2 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Trish ShawThe fantastical opera L'Enfant et les sortileges, by Maurice Ravel, was first performed in March 1925 at the Monte Carlo Opera. Come and explore this delightful work, with plot and libretto by the novelist Collete, and its magical characters and even more magical music.Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00 - Great composers: Puccini
Course start date: Thu 3 Apr 2025Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneEveryone knows at least one Puccini tune, even if they’ve never seen a Puccini opera. Football fans, for example, can sing ‘Nessun dorma’, and there are plenty more where we know the tune even if we can’t sing all the words or know which opera it comes from. What is it about this composer that made him so famous in his own time and in ours? In this centenary year of his death we look at his operas, his bohemian lifestyle, and his reputation. Is he a ‘great’ composer? How can we decide?Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £49.00 Concession £49.00 - Great works: Allegri's MiserereCourse start date: Thu 3 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Edward BreenExplore the history of this most famous choral work and trace the story of the famous high C from the castrati of the 18th century to today’s professional early music vocal ensembles.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00 - Great works: Smetana's Ma Vlast Course start date: Wed 9 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Katy HamiltonAmong the numerous operas, piano pieces, choral and chamber works composed by Bedrich Smetana, surely the best known is his depiction of the river Vltava from his cycle of symphonic poems, Má Vlast. This session explores the origins of Smetana’s six-movement cycle composed across several years, the stories that he conjures in such vivid orchestral colours, and its meaning for Czech national identity in the later nineteenth century.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00 - Great works: Bizet's Carmen Course start date: Thu 10 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneBizet’s Carmen is one of the most performed operas world-wide. We know it as a thrilling drama involving love, betrayal and death, focused on a charismatic character who brings about her own destruction at the hands of the man who loves her. Bizet never saw the popular version of his opera and died thinking it was a flop. We explore the story behind its composition and how it became a super-hit.Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £49.00 Concession £49.00 - Music history bookclub: The Thorn of the Honey LocustCourse start date: Fri 25 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Edward BreenThe music history book club meets towards the end of each term to discuss novels and biographies with musical themes and references relevant to the music history programme.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00 - Great albums: Kind of BlueCourse start date: Tue 8 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Albi GravenerDiscover everything you have always wanted to know about this extraordinary recording, one of the most critically acclaimed but also commercially successful in the history of jazz.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £23.00 Concession £20.00 - Classical music: an introductionCourse start date: Mon 21 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneAre you interested in finding out more about classical music but not sure where to start? This taster course will introduce you to the history of music through a careful choice of works. - Jazz piano: introductionCourse start date: Thu 24 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Della RhodesMeet the jazz idiom as you explore time feels and harmonic progressions at your piano. For pianists at grade 5 and above, with some knowledge of chord structures (triads and 7ths), this session in our pianos room will give food for thought and practice.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00 - Great composers: Louise FarrencCourse start date: Thu 24 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Trish ShawDiscover the musical life and work of Louise Farrenc (1804–1875), the celebrated French pianist, composer, teacher and scholar. Learn about her delightful chamber music, her important piano etudes, and her impact on French music and culture in the 19th century.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00 - Folk and pop guitar tasterCourse start date: Sat 26 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tony RowdenLearn the essential chords that will begin your guitar career, and develop the motor skill to strum pop songs. Please bring an acoustic guitar.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00 - Classical guitar tasterCourse start date: Sat 26 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Tony RowdenEnjoy this introduction to playing classical guitar. Please bring a nylon-strung guitar.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00 - Drum kit tasterCourse start date: Sat 26 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mark HuggettSpend time with our drumming tutor, meet the drum kit, sticks and practice pads supplied. Come and play.Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00 - Sing jazzCourse start date: Sat 26 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Laura ZakianLearn essential tools to sing jazz, including what to listen for in the piano accompaniment and the importance of pulse, groove and vocal technique. This day is for singers with musical experience who are new to the jazz idiom. - Piano taster Course start date: Wed 30 Jul 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ana Claudia MagalhaesA fun introduction to the piano: learn the basics about the instrument, names of the notes and where they are, and how to play some simple tunes. Find out whether piano is the instrument for you!Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £20.00
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