Culture Club | Thomas Hardy: In Words and Music
For November’s Culture Club, we’re joined by the Hardy Annuals for an evening of Thomas Hardy in Words and Music. Come and enjoy readings from Hardy’s poems and novels, interspersed with performances of Dorset folksongs and country dances. Take a stroll around our Thomas Hardy Gallery after hours with our Hardy guides, and see Hardy’s own violin as well as the family’s precious hand-written music books and manuscripts in our collections.
Thomas Hardy was fascinated with music; again and again it exerts influence over the characters and action in his poems and novels. With the help of a violin (in homage to Hardy’s own instrument), the Hardy Annuals will immerse us in Hardy’s musical world, and explore this fascination through music and readings both serious and comic, tragic and farcical.
The Hardy Annuals consist of Jan Wyd, Dr Richard Hall and Richard Willetts.
Jan Wyd is an actor, wordsmith and piano teacher. Her roles have included Mary Shepherd (Lady in the Van), Susan (Bed Among the Lentils), and the female characters in Two, for which toured the South West and the Isle of Man with Churchill Productions.
Dr Richard Hall studied at Dartington College and the University of Durham. He returned to Dorset where he pursued a varied musical career: teaching at Weymouth College and Bournemouth University as well as the Dorset Rural Music School where he was Director for 18 years. Richard has also been an examiner for the Associated Board, a choral conductor and a chamber musician.
Richard Willetts graduated the Birmingham School of Music in 1967 and was a violinist with the BBC Training Orchestra. He continued his career with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra as sub-principal viola, leaving in 1975 to teach violin for the Dorset Music Service. Richard also established the Cornel Music Group, performing mainly Baroque music touring the UK and America.
Culture Club is a seasonal programme of events, workshops and more taking place at the start of each month. Become a Culture Club member and enjoy discounted tickets to all four events included in the seasonal programme.
Autumn Culture Club Programme
(Event Passed) September – Sir Grayson Perry: How He Became A National Treasure
October – Wildlife Photography: A Look At Dorset Naturally
November – Thomas Hardy: In Words and Music
December – Festive Workshop: Wreath Making with Sage & Fern Florists
Image Credit: The Hardy Annuals
