CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

The Cultural Committee is responsible for identifying, planning and organizing activities relating to classical music, plays, opera, ballet, art exhibits, architectural interests, and historical sites/studies. After selecting activities and exhibits, the committee organizes OLLI group participation which may include procuring blocks of tickets to attend a performance or showing.

Highlights of the Year 2008-2009:
A group of 45 members traveled by bus to attend the Sewanee Summer Music Festival at University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee to hear a concert by the faculty, which included Hunter Thomas (bassoon). Hunter is a member of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. Prior to the performance the group had dinner at High Point in Monteagle, Tennessee.

A group of members toured Wade Wharton’s unconventional garden of art. This yard and garden have been featured in the local news recently because the City of Huntsville objects to Wade’s creative art (or maybe the fact that there is so much of it!).

A group 57 OLLI members traveled to Birmingham to see and hear Susanna Phillips (a former Huntsville native now with the New York Met) sing the staring role in the opera “La Traviata.” After the opera, Susanna came out to greet the OLLI group who traveled from Huntsville for the performance.

The big event for the year was partnering with the Huntsville Public Library in their country-wide “The Big Read” program. This program featured The Thief and the Dogs written by Egyptian author, Naguib Mahfouz. Two seminars featured outstanding speakers. The seminars were very well attended and proved to be a pleasant and rewarding experience. A small group of OLLI members were invited to attend the final event which was a videoconference with Mubarak Public Library (Cairo, Egypt) and Columbia University.