Newsletter: Events at Clare Hall, Autumn 2025
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.
Upcoming Events
Wednesday 23 July 2025 – Wednesday 24 September 2025
Clare Hall Summer Seminars
The Clare Hall Summer Seminar Series will return this year, running from 23 July to 24 September. This series offers Clare Hall Visiting Fellows, Fellows and Life Members an opportunity to share their current research with the wider Clare Hall community. Seminars will take place on Wednesdays in the Clare Hall Meeting Room from 6:00 to 7:00 pm, just before Formal Hall. All are welcome to attend.
The next speaker on 24.09.2025 will be Dr Ruth Tatlow, Life Member, University of Gothenburg.
Celebrating Bach’s Church Cantatas
Bach’s Church Cantatas (OUP, 2025) was researched and written at Clare Hall in 2023 while Dr Ruth Tatlow was a Visiting Fellow. With the overarching theme of Glory from the Gallery, the talk will reflect the content of the monograph introducing Bach’s aims for his church cantatas, asking what is a cantata? How and why did Bach compose his cantatas? What did cantatas mean to Bach and what do they mean today? These questions are explored through five of Bach’s most beloved works enriched by newly researched insights. The talk will illustrate numerous rarely seen images from seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century sources.
Find the full list of speakers on this page.
Wednesday 17 September 2025, from 7pm
Formal Hall
There are still spaces open in next Wednesday’s Formal Hall, book your spot on Upay today to experience a wonderful evening of food and conversation with your fellow Clare Hall members!
Saturday 27 September 2025, from 11am
Alumni Festival – talk by Helen Ritchie
As part of the University’s Alumni Festival, we are delighted to host a talk by Helen Ritchie, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Applied Arts at the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Title: ‘They combined and made fine pots together’: the partnership of Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie and Norah Braden
Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie (1895–1985), granddaughter of 4th Earl of Radnor, grew up at Coleshill House, one of the grandest country houses in England. Eschewing family tradition, Pleydell-Bouverie established her own home and artistic enterprise on the estate – a pottery that she shared with female partner and fellow studio potter, Norah Braden (1901–2001).
At the forefront of the British studio pottery movement, the pair fired their handmade stoneware pots in a wood-fired kiln of Japanese design and decorated them with delicately-hued glazes, made using plant ash derived from the estate. Their work was celebrated during the interwar period – praised by critics, exhibited by London gallerists (alongside ceramics by their friends Michael Cardew and Bernard Leach), and acquired by collectors and museums.
This lecture will explore the experimental nature of the pots made by Pleydell-Bouverie and Braden and examine the reception of their work. It will consider how these women reconfigured ‘country house’ living in their quest for modernity, making space for their own queer, independent lives and artistic practice.
Saturday 11 October 2025, 7.30pm
Continuum | 500th Anniversary of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
This year’s special concert season, marking the Clare Hall’s 60th Anniversary, opens with a choral performance celebrating the 500th Anniversary of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Continuum will sing his Missa Papae Marcelli, interspersed with settings of the Song of Songs by William Walton, Edward Bairstow, Maurice Duruflé, Becky McGlade, Ola Gjeilo, and Eleanor Daley. The concert will also feature the premiere of a new work by Lucy Walker, Composer-in-Residence of Clare Hall.
*Please note that this concert is taking place in Robinson College Chapel.
Tickets: £20 General Admission, £15 Clare Hall members, £5 students (available via Eventbrite).
Join us for this unforgettable evening of music and celebration!
Friday 17 October 2025, 5.30pm
The King Lecture – Professor Bonnie Bassler
We are delighted to welcome Professor Bonnie Bassler as our speaker for the 2025/26 King Lecture, on Friday, 17 October 2025, from 17:30 in the Robinson Auditorium.
Find more information about the lecture and ticket booking here.
Current Exhibitions
Friday 10 October – Thursday 20 November 2025, 10am-5pm
Everyday Wonder to Revelation
Clare Hall is honoured to host an exhibition of paintings by Alan Caine (1936–2022), running from 10th October to 20th November 2025. Visitors are welcome daily between 10am and 5pm.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
Ongoing
The Bell Collection of British Studio Pottery, 1920-1980
A rotating display of some 400 pieces of studio ceramics. Learn more at https://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/bellcollection/
Activities and Societies
Mondays, 30 June – 15 September 2025
Pilates Sessions
We are delighted to host pilates classes at Clare Hall throughout the summer. The classes will be held on Mondays during lunchtime. Pilates is a form of low-impact exercise that aims to strengthen muscles while improving postural alignment and flexibility.
A full list of dates and the sign up sheet can be found here.
Thursdays and Sundays, 21 September – 11 December 2025
Yoga Sessions
We are delighted to host regular Thursday lunchtime and Sunday afternoon yoga sessions in the Michaelmas term. Yoga is a holistic mind–body practice that combines physical postures, breathing techniques, and meditation to promote strength, flexibility, and inner balance.
A full list of dates and the sign up sheet can be found here.
Tuesdays, ongoing through the summer and Michaelmas Term
Mindful Meditation Sessions
Through mindfulness we cultivate attention to the here and now. We aim to witness our thoughts and feelings with detachment. We develop concentration, peace of mind and enjoyment of life with all its challenges.
As a group, we explore different means of developing mindfulness, including relaxation, guided meditation and attention to the breath or to a mantra. The sessions are led by Elizabeth Garnsey, and meet in the King Room on Main Site on Tuesdays 1-2pm. The door is open 1-2 but you are welcome to slip in and out whenever convenient for you. All members of the college and friends are welcome, including students, staff, fellows, researchers and visitors. Please contact ewg11@cam.ac.uk with any questions.
Friday 3 October – Saturday 4 October 2025
Yoga with Annabelle
Our previous lunchtime yoga instructor, Annabelle, will be visiting Cambridge at the beginning of October and offering two independent, pay-what-you-can yoga sessions at St Paul’s Church, CB2 1JP. This is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with Annabelle’s teaching and enjoy her uplifting classes. All are welcome to attend.
More information and booking available on Eventbrite.
Monday 6 October 2025, 8pm
Clare Hall Book Club
Join the College’s Book Club as they discuss Papyrus: the invention of books in the ancient world by Irene Vallejo. 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.
Learn more about the Book Club on this page.
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.