Humanities

Following the blockbuster Vermeer Exhibit at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, we’ll examine the details and remarkable beauty of Vermeer’s work and consider the Holland of his time, the factors that made him unique and his remarkable sensitivity to the world of women.

Take your seat in the Century Room, Tucson’s only dedicated jazz club and enjoy a special performance featuring local jazz musicians. Proceeds benefit the Tucson Jazz Festival.

Celebrate the movie musicals that starred the greatest dancers of the 20th Century. We’ll explore the rich history of dance in movie musicals and toast the directors, choreographers, and stars who created dance works of art on film. Put on your dancin’ shoes! It’s lights, camera, action for an all singing, all dancing spectacular!

Britain has had a long-standing connection to the Middle East in the modern era. The Ottoman Empire was long supported by Britain in the 19th century and the 1917 Balfour Declaration marked British interest in the politics and oil of the Middle East. The current conflict between Hamas and Israel is just the most recent event that has forced Britain’s choices in foreign policy.

Monet and Debussy, Renoir and Ravel. 

Taken from the title of a Monet painting, the term was first used for the visual arts, but soon included the musical arts as well. Examine the use of the term Impressionism with a focus on painters, Monet and Renoir along with composers, Debussy and Ravel, all contemporaries of one another. Enjoy both visual and musical masterpieces as you learn about the social and political environment that influenced these cultural giants.

Delve into the stories and sounds of lyric legends such as Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, Carole King, Jim Croce, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and more with musician Khris Dodge and friends. Blending lecture and performance, these three sessions will focus on the music that defined a decade.

Khris Dodge, Executive Director of the Tucson Jazz Festival and conductor and Music Director for the Tucson Pops Orchestra.

Listen in on the innermost thoughts of Shakespeare’s larger-than-life characters. Read beyond the famous first lines and take a closer look at the passages that continue to inspire us more than four hundred years after they were written.