Club past activities

The University Foundation organizes lots of activities for the members of the Club. Below you can see short reviews of some past activities. A more complete list can be seen on the French or Dutch web pages.

 - (Dec 03 2015)

Guided tour of the exhibition «Imagine Istanbul», followed by the Santa Claus Dinner at the University Foundation.

Istanbul is a catalyst of cultural processes that has constantly changed its meaning, significance and appearance. Istanbul perpetually evolves and continues to defy a single representation, a defining telling or any generalisation. Istanbul therefore is an indefatiguable muse. 

‘Imagine Istanbul’  looks at some defining artists of 20th century Turkish photography – but also music, cinema and literature- to illustrate how these art forms shaped the way we see this city. It explores a series of photographic revelations, bodies of work that move alongside the dividing waters of the city. 

 - (Nov 26 2015)

Guided tour of the exhibition “ANATOLIA. Home of eternity", followed by a dinner at the University Foundation.

Anatolia has long been a bridge between Europe and Asia, where numerous migrations have resulted in a fascinating cultural exchange. It is perhaps the greatest cradle of cultures in the world and has an extraordinarily rich heritage, thanks to an uninterrupted and twelve millennia-long succession of civilisations. However different these civilisations were, it is remarkable how cults and rituals were passed down, some even to this day. 

 - (Nov 19 2015)

The debate "The global and local environment: thoughts on the eve of the world wide meeting on climate change" was introduced by mr. Patrick Van Haute, Director of the OECD Council and Executive Committee Secretariat.

The speaker, from a family of Belgian diplomates, has a very important function at the OECD, which regroups the industrializd countries. In this way he is familiar with the options considered with respect to the general environment, energy, and climate change. He discussed the OCDE reports concerning the Belgian situations and the challenges our federal and regional governments ahve to cope with.

 - (Oct 20 2015)

Concert with M. Thomas REIF, laureate of the Queen Elisabeth competition for violin 2015, with mrs. Daria Marshinina, piano, followed by a walking cocktail with special Belgian dishes. 

Programme :

Sonate nr 4, opus 23 by Ludwig van Beethoven

Sonate for violon and piano by César Franck

 - (Oct 02 2015)

The debate was introduced by Professor Vincent Blondel, rector of UCL (in French).

The disclosures of the world wide activities of the NSA and the possibilities of the social media have shown the threats to the citizens and their privacy, usually characterized by « Big data, Big business, Big Brother ». The speaker, a specilist of complex netowrks, will discuss the state of the art of the technology and the possibilities big data offer to companies and the challenges to the citizens and the politicians.

 - (Sep 09 2015)

Love and sorrow ignited – belcanto romance on the beach 

’How good it is to rest a while under a tree when the sun is hot and sultry.’ These words, the first in the libretto, immediately set the tone: let’s prolong the summer with the help of the warm breeze that Damiano Michieletto and his team let waft through this score. This is a production that does justice to the freshness which Donizetti, who dominated Italian opera in the 1830s with numerous new works, injected into the melodramma genre. His L’Elisir d’amore is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of 19th century opera buffa. This work has everything: melodic inventiveness to match the character portraits, contrast, and keenly felt pathos alongside comic irony. And, of course, the elixir of love also works its magic: not only on Nemorino, who wants to win Adina for himself, Tristan-style, but also on audiences, which have loved this opera ever since its first performance in 1832.

 

 - (Jun 23 2015)

Lecture by Minister Koen Geens on the reform of the Belgian judicial system : "Are there sufficient financial means or are the main problems elsewhere?", followed by a walking cocktail.

 - (Jun 12 2015)

For our yearly activity of garden tours we selectedGroentheater, Sobieskipark, Tuinen van de bloemist. The tour will be gudied by Prof. Jan Rammeloo, honorary director of the " Plantentuin van Meise", professor emeritus at Antwerp University. 

12 h: lunch in the restaurant van het Atomium - Garden tour in the afternoon.

 - (Jun 04 2015)

Lunch debate “Les Minorités chrétiennes au Moyen-Orient” with Prof. Bernard Coulie, honorary rector of UC Louvain.

The presentation can be downloaded by means of this link.

 

 

 - (May 27 2015)

Un ballo in maschera - Giuseppe Verdi

"È scherzo od è follia ?’ A joke or pure madness, or is one really looking into the future in Un Ballo in maschera ? This work is a masterpiece of variety, of the fusion of differing stylistic elements, a work that relates first to the French opera comique and then to the Italian dramatic style, with characters who are among the most powerful Verdi ever created. The censor forced Verdi to switch from the original historical context – the murder of the Swedish king during a masked ball in 1792 – to the Boston of the 17th century, but his human and political message is no less forceful. The director Alex Ollé and his company La Fura dels Baus set the action in the near future, in the atmosphere of Orwell’s 1984, where power is totalitarian, while all the characters wear their masks throughout the performance in a bankrupt society founded on hypocrisy.

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