Newsletter: Events at Clare Hall, Easter Term 2024
Dear Clare Hall members and friends,
Please find below a list of events taking place this week and beyond, to which you are warmly invited.
Dates for your Diary
14 March – 6 June 2024 at 1pm
Clare Hall Thursdays Lunchtime Talks
We restarted the Clare Hall Thursdays Lunchtime Talks on March 14th. Members from the College are invited to speak, including especially PhD students, postdocs, and also spouses. Research subjects and subjects of wider interest such as travel experiences are all welcome. Talks and discussion will last 60 minutes. There will be no recording.
30 April – 11 June 2024 at 7:30pm
Clare Hall Colloquium
Clare Hall’s Colloquia provide members of the College – especially (but not exclusively) Visiting Fellows and Life Members – with an opportunity to present their research, whether in its early stages or already published, in a friendly setting. They are a great way to discuss your ideas, meet fellow members and to contribute to our vibrant community. Read more here.
The next Colloquia will be on 7 May, with Linn Holmberg (Stockholm U.) presenting on “Dictionary Craze”.
8 May – 5 June 2024, 2-4pm
The Betty Behrens Seminar on Classics of Historiography
The Betty Behrens Seminar on Classics of Historiography offers a unique opportunity for students and scholars to reflect on some great historical works and engage in discussion with renowned experts. The full schedule for Easter Term and the Eventbrite link can be found here.
10 May 2024 at 5:30pm
Family Supper
Family Suppers are a great way for families with children to get to know each other. We start off in the Meeting room (near the Porters lodge) at 5.30pm for a craft activity with a spring theme! We then head to dinner at about 6pm. It is the usual paid dinner service, no need to book ; children dine half price. We then return to the meeting room to watch a film together.
Next week will be National Gardening Week so we will be organising gardening related crafts and maybe even some seed planting courtesy of Susannah Salter (thanks Susannah!)
15 May 2024 at 7:00pm
Whitsun Feast
Get ready to indulge in an evening of elegance and delight at the Clare Hall Whitsun Feast on May 15th, 2024!
19:00 Drinks Reception, 19:30 Dinner in the Clare Hall Dining Hall
Booking Details: Booking is via Upay which will be open on 24th April 2024 and will close on 8th May 2024. Secure your spot early via Upay to ensure you don’t miss out on this unforgettable evening!
Cost: £50.00 for seniors, £34 for students (Includes wine or soft drink)
Dress Code: Black Tie
19 May 2024 at 7:30pm
Fitzwilliam String Quartet with Patrick Hemmerlé
Join us for the final Fitzwilliam String Quartet concert of the 2023-2024 programme, in what promises to be a spectacular performance! Tickets sold out quickly for our previous concerts, so be sure to reserve your place as soon as possible.
The FSQ will be performing a selection of quartets from Shostakovich, Dvořák, and the contemporary artist Liz Johnson. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
19 May 2024 at 6pm
Choral Evensong at Clare College
All members of Clare Hall are warmly invited to a special Choral Evensong in Clare College Chapel, on Whit Sunday, Sunday 19th May at 6pm. Our Choir will be celebrating the Feast of Pentecost with two 20th-century works from Estonia and England. Arvo Pärt’s Veni, Sancte Spiritus from his Berliner Messe is paired with Jonathan Harvey’s Come, Holy Ghost which weaves the Veni Creator Spiritus chant throughout his evocative choral textures. The service also displays a pairing of another kind: Responses by Joanna Forbes-L’Estrange, and the ‘New College’ Canticles by her husband Alexander L’Estrange. Our guest preacher is the Rev’d Dr Michael Ward (Theology Faculty, Oxford University), an alumnus of Clare and the world’s leading authority on CS Lewis. Dr Ward will be reflecting on the story of the Day of Pentecost, with the sermon title ‘Resurrecting Language’. The service will last about an hour, and is followed by drinks. At 7.30pm, there is also the opportunity to enjoy a cooked supper in the Great Hall (£7), for any Clare Hall members who would like to join us.
Please register your interest here.
16 June 2024 at 7:30pm
A concert by Mélanie Clapiès and Patrick Hemmerlé
Join us for an exciting violin and piano duo with the internationally renowned Mélanie Clapiès and Patrick Hemmerlé!
Franck’s violin Sonata has achieved immense popularity with both performers and audiences. It is not difficult to see why, for it combines a wealth of unforgettable melodies, a richly chromatic harmony, an expressive sound world of searing intensity, and a formal design of great originality. Chausson was one of Franck’s most talented students, the most Wagnerian of French composers.
The Sonata No. 3 in A minor “dans le caractère populaire roumain” (in Romanian Folk Style) for violin and piano, Op. 25, is a chamber music composition written in 1926 by the Romanian composer George Enescu. The score, published in 1933, is dedicated to the memory of the violinist Franz Kneisel. It is one of the composer’s most popular and at the same time most critically respected works.
Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Current Exhibitions
26 April – 6 June 2024
Eight Stories: Chinese identity in rural Britain
“When people ask where I am from, I reply ‘I am English’, anticipating the follow up question ‘Where are you really from?” – Jamie Lau
Clare Hall is proud to present an exhibition by British-born Chinese photographer Jamie Lau. The display of photographs was originally commissioned by the British Library, as an event to accompany their exhibition ‘Chinese and British’ from 2022-2023.
Lau was born in London but grew up in a village in Bedfordshire, with no extended Chinese community in the area. Far from feeling culturally isolated, Lau says that he felt no different from those around him: his home has always been intrinsically part of his identity. “Whilst I may never have been Chinese enough, or English enough to some, these questions of identity seem less polarised today. As society grows more used to a multicultural landscape, the need to define identity through ethnic heritage alone has lessened,” Lau says.
The exhibition is titled ‘Eight Stories,’ a reference to the lucky number eight in Chinese culture. Through his personal involvement with photography, Lau has weaved together his eight subjects, their stories and their settings, to tell us about Chinese people who have forged an identity away from metropolitan life. Lau has sought to capture individuals of Chinese heritage who, like himself, identify with being part of more than one culture.
The exhibition is free, and runs from 26 April 2024 to 6 June 2024 in Clare Hall’s Main Building.
Ongoing
The Bell Collection of British Studio Pottery, 1920-1980
A rotating display of some 320 pieces of studio ceramics. Learn more at https://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/bellcollection/
Activities and Societies
9 May 2024 at 8pm, Meeting Room
Clare Hall Book Club
Join the College’s Book Club as they discuss The Myth of Wu Tao-Tzu by Sven Lindqvist.
All College members are welcome to attend in-person, meeting in Clare Hall’s Meeting Room, or via Zoom. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be, please send an email to gloria.carnevali@icloud.com, confirming your Clare Hall connection and putting the following as the email title: I would like to join the Book Club mailing list.
Mondays 22 April – 24 June 2024, 12:15-1pm
Lunchtime Pilates Sessions
We are delighted to host lunchtime Pilates classes during Easter term. Pilates is a form of low-impact exercise that aims to strengthen muscles while improving postural alignment and flexibility. The sessions will be held every Monday from 12:15-13:00 in the Richard Eden Suite.
Please bring your own mat, and arrive 5-10 minutes early to help prepare the room.
Sign up through this sheet. Note: These pilates sessions will also be available over the summer, more details and the sign up will be available in due course.
10 April – 26 June 2024, 12:15-12:45pm
Lunchtime Yoga Sessions
We are delighted to host regular lunchtime yoga sessions on Wednesdays in the Richard Eden Suite, starting from 10 April, from 12:15-12:45pm. The full schedule can be found here. All are welcome!
Tuesdays in Term Time, 12-1pm
Mindfulness Meditation Sessions
We are delighted to resume Mindfulness Meditation sessions on Tuesdays in term time, in the King Room. These sessions are led by Emeritus Fellow Dr Elizabeth Garnsey.
Various Dates
Choir Practice
A reminder that Clare Hall Choir practice takes place in Robinson College Chapel every Monday (in term-time, but not always restricted to the official Cambridge term dates) from 7:30-9pm. New members are always welcome, and no previous singing or musical experience is necessary. The only requirement is that you want to sing and have fun doing it! If you are interested in joining, please email Ben de Souza, the Choir’s Director, who is a Clare Hall Associate, freelance choral conductor and accordionist: bd402@cam.ac.uk.
Recent recordings of the choir can also be found on our YouTube channel.