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
- The music of fin-de-siècle ViennaCourse start date: Tue 16 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Karen BetleyVienna in the late 19th and early 20th centuries acted as a musical magnet, attracting to it composers as diverse as Mahler, Schoenberg and Richard Strauss. Join us as we explore the music of those who were living and working in Vienna at this time, and the ideas that influenced them. NB: This course has no scheduled break week.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Exploring classical music: module 4Course start date: Tue 16 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Edward HendersonThis course offers a (very) brief history of Western art music during the 20th century. Suitable for classical music enthusiasts as well as near beginners. Each week we will look at a key work of classical music from the twentieth century and use it as a jumping off point to discuss the important historical and aesthetic developments that affected composition in the modern era. NB: no break week term 2, 2024. - Exploring opera 2Course start date: Thu 18 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneJoin us to explore the history of opera over three enjoyable terms. In this second term we’ll explore the innovations of Mozart, the impact of the French Revolution and the early Romantics. NB: This course has no break week. - Haydn: string quartetsCourse start date: Thu 18 Jan 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Karen BetleyIn Haydn’s hands the string quartet came of age, becoming a genre able to convey intimate and complex thoughts. Come and explore the ways in which Haydn adapted the quartet to such a task. NB: no break week.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - The symphony: a short historyCourse start date: Tue 23 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Edward HendersonExplore the history and development of the symphony from JC Bach to Beethoven and into the twentieth century. Break week: 28 May 2024.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Music notation: a brief historyCourse start date: Tue 23 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Edward BreenHow did our current system of Western staff notation develop and how have manuscripts, printed scores and software all contributed to its versatility? Suitable for those with only have basic notation-reading skills. Scheduled break week: 28 May 2024.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Exploring opera 3Course start date: Thu 25 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneJoin us to explore the history of opera over three enjoyable terms. In this third term we’ll explore Verdi, Wagner and the early 20th century. Break week: 30 May 2024. - Operas in productionCourse start date: Thu 25 Apr 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneLooking at five of the operas coming up in the 2023-24 season, we will discuss their composition, context, controversies and style, and then hear the story of the opera through musical examples. Break week 30th May 2024.Full fee £219.00 - Handel: politics & patronageCourse start date: Thu 21 Sep 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Karen Betley'Why do not British trees and forests throng To hear the sweeter notes of Handel's song?' so wrote a poet in 1740, comparing Handel to Orpheus. Come and explore the rise of Handel to classic status that took place here in London in the early 18th century. Break week: 26 Oct 2023.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00 - Exploring opera 1Course start date: Thu 21 Sep 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Pauline GreeneJoin us to explore the history of opera over three enjoyable terms. In this first term we’ll explore the ideas that fuelled origins of opera and the wonderful world of Baroque opera seria. NB: break week 26 Oct 2024.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00
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