Activities

SHAKESPEARE COMPETITION 2026

WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2026

The Greenwich, Stamford and other Connecticut high schools will send students to the Annual ESU Shakespeare Competition to be held at the Berkley Theatre, Greenwich Library, at 3 pm on Wednesday 4 March 2026.

The Competition is open to students in Grades 9-12 from public, independent and parochial high schools. Schools have to sign up by Friday 16 January 2026. The deadline for schools to send their winners' information to ESU National is Friday 13 February 2026.

There will be a Reception following the Competition for members, students and friends. The winner will advance to the ESU National Competition on 23 April 2026 at Lincoln Centre, New York City.

For further information, contact Anne Elser, email: anneelser4@gmail.com

Wednesday 15 APRIL 2026

Luncheon and lecture by Dr Edward Town on JOHN CONSTABLE - 250th Anniversary of his birth. One of the greatest English landscape painters in the romantic tradition, he revolutionized the genre by his naturalistic approach to the English countryside. Dr Town is Assistant Curator of paintings and sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art. The lunch and lecture will be at The Round Hill Club at 12 noon.

TuesDAY 5 MAY 2025

Meeting of the Board of Directors will be held at The Belle Haven Club at 3 pm.

thursday 14 MAY 2026

Luncheon and lecture by Sally Bedell Smith - IN ALL HIS GLORY. The life of WILLIAM S. PALEY, the legendary tycoon who built CBS from a handful of radio stations to become the towering TV Network of Murrow, Cronkite, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny. With his socialite wife BABE, the beauty who defined glamour for three decades, they moved in the top circle of New York society. Sally Bedell Smith takes a hard look beneath the polished veneer - the shrewd, demanding egoist, the hedonist pursuing every pleasure - the ruthless corporate strongman. The lunch and lecture will be at The Round Hill Club at 12 noon.

SUNDAY 14 JUNE 2026

Champagne celebration for the 78th Birthday of His Majesty King Charles III will be held at The Belle Haven Club at 3 pm. Winners of the Connecticut 2026 Shakespeare Competition will perform their winning monologues. HATS ON LADIES

Wednesday 17 SEPTEMBER 2025

Luncheon and lecture by Page Knox on the JOHN SINGER SARGENT exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York from April to August 2025. The exhibition will then move to the D'ORSAY museum in Paris. Sargent was an American artist most famous for portraits of beautiful women. Lunch will be at The Round Hill Club at 12 noon.

Thursday 16 octoBER 2025

Luncheon and lecture by Curt DiCamillo on banker baron J. P. MORGAN. An American collector of fine art, books, gems made possible by his fortune from a railway empire, steel and banking. A Renaissance prince his legacy is a mansion filled with rare books and art on Madison Avenue, New York. Lunch will be at The Round Hill Club at 12 noon.

THURSDAY 20 novEMBER 2025

Lunch and Lecture on the 250th Anniversary of J.M.W.Turner's birth (23 April 1775) and Exhibition of his paintings at the Yale Centre for British Art. Lucinda Lax, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the YCBR will speak about Turner's life in England and his glorious landscape and marine paintings using expressive coloring and light. Lunch and lecture will be at The Round Hill Club at 12 noon.

sunday 7 decEMBER 2025

Christmas luncheon by the fireside at The Field Club with opera arias, classical and Christmas music. Lunch at The Field Club will be at 12 noon.

Older Events

Thursday 21 SEPTEMBER 2023

James O'Donnell, LVO, British Organist and Master of Choristers at Westminster Abbey from 2000 to 2022, led the music at many royal and state occasions, including the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, lifetime Celebration for Prince Phillip, State Funeral for Queen Elizabeth II. Mr O'Donnell is now Professor at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Lunch and lecture will be at The Round Hill Club at 12 noon.