Simon Rees

Simon Rees is a freelance lecturer, writer and translator. For 23 years he was dramaturg (in charge of programmes, surtitles and pre-show talks) for Welsh National Opera. He studied English at Cambridge University, then taught for some years in Italy and Japan. He has published novels, translations and collections of poetry, as well as articles on opera and cultural history. He lectures widely on music, opera, art, architecture, drama, literature and languages, as well as on social, cultural and economic history. He lives in Cardiff.

Today

    • A Tribute to Tom Stoppard (1937 – 2025) with Simon Rees

    Virtual Event

    Sir Tom Stoppard was a Czech-English playwright and screenwriter known for his acclaimed plays addressing themes like human rights, censorship, and political freedom. Stoppard, associated with the National Theatre, was among the most internationally performed dramatists of his era and earned comparisons to Shakespeare and Shaw. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 and […]

    $12.00

    • Meet Alfred Tennyson: Poet, Muse, and Inspiration for the Pre-Raphaelites with Simon Rees

    Virtual Event

    Learn About Alfred Tennyson and His Circle Discover Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), the defining poet of the Victorian age. From his Cambridge years and friendship with Arthur Henry Hallam to works such as In Memoriam A.H.H., The Lady of Shalott, and The Charge of the Light Brigade, this lecture explores how Tennyson fused personal emotion, […]

    $12.00 – $30.00

    Meet Alfred Tennyson: Poet, Muse, and Inspiration for the Pre-Raphaelites with Simon Rees

    Virtual Event

    Tennyson and the Pre-Raphaelite Imagination Tennyson’s reworking of the Arthurian legends, especially in Idylls of the King, turned medieval romance into morally complex poetry that inspired the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Artists such as Watts, Holman Hunt, and Millais drew on his verse—from The Lady of Shalott to portraits and memorials—revealing how poetry and painting intertwined, with […]

    $12.00

    Meet Alfred Tennyson: Poet, Muse, and Inspiration for the Pre-Raphaelites with Simon Rees

    Virtual Event

    Poet Laureate: Fame, Friendship, and Music Appointed Poet Laureate in 1850, Tennyson became the poetic voice of Victorian Britain for over forty years, moving easily among figures such as Queen Victoria, William Ewart Gladstone, Thomas Carlyle, and Edward Lear. Lear’s musical settings of Tennyson’s songs illuminate the poetry’s lyricism, as the lecture concludes by reflecting […]

    $12.00