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
- Introduction to acting
Course start date: Fri 16 May 2025 (and 4 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Cara JenningsA fun one day intensive encounter with the acting process. Increase your confidence and discover your potential in a safe and supportive environment.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £55.00 - Great albums: Kind of Blue Course 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. - Recorder ensemble: study dayCourse start date: Wed 23 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Caoimhe de PaorLearn to play ensemble music for recorders, with repertoire ranging from early to present day. Suitable for recorder players who have been learning for at least a year and can read music. - 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 Farrenc Course 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.Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00 - Opera appreciation: an introductionCourse start date: Thu 24 Jul 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneWhat is opera? And how do you approach watching and listening to it? Explore the ostentatious, sometimes overwhelming, world of opera through study of two major works and styles.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £69.00 - 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 - Music history bookclub: My Tango with Barbara StrozziCourse start date: Fri 1 Aug 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.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00 - Music theory: score reading and analysis level 6Course start date: Fri 1 Aug 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Learn to navigate the musical scores, analyse basic structures (harmonic, motivic, and contrapuntal), and identify several baroque stylistic characteristics through the study of Bach: Partita no. 6 in E minor, BWV 830.
NB: this course has a scheduled lunch break of 1 hour
Tutor: Dr Cheryl Tan [external website].Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £59.00 - Great works: Beethoven's Symphony No 9 "Choral" Course start date: Tue 5 Aug 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Katy Hamilton, Trish ShawBeethoven’s monumental ninth symphony, first performed in 1824, has had an enormous impact on western classical music and on wider European culture. How did Beethoven come to write this work, and what does this symphony still mean to us two centuries after its first performance?Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00 - Great composers: Gilbert and SullivanCourse start date: Tue 5 Aug 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Katy HomdenCreators of arguably the most popular and enduring opera in the English language from the 19th century, this course will introduce you to Gilbert & Sullivan’s musical legacy via biographical study and operatic highlights. tutor: Katy HomdenFull fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £59.00 - Comedy writing and performing: tasterCourse start date: Tue 30 Sep 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Alan NixonExplore your comedy writing and performance potential under the guidance of an Emmy-award winning comedy producer/director. Alan Nixon shares an introduction to the skills behind creating powerful comedy using classic and modern techniques.Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00 - Great works: Mendelssohn's OctetCourse start date: Tue 2 Dec 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Katy HamiltonStudy the history and form of this famous work in a short, enjoyable music history class.Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00 - Great musicians: Berio and BerberianCourse start date: Tue 2 Dec 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Trish ShawComposer Luciano Berio and singer-composer Cathy Berberian were the power couple of contemporary music in the 1950s and 1960s, collaborating to discover new sounds and musical techniques and structures in works from Tema: Omaggio a Joyce and Sequenza III to Stripsody.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £59.00
Can't see a course you want?
Add this category to your waiting list to set up alerts and we will update you when new courses are released online.
Add me to waiting list