Special Events

February 26, 12:00 pm | 110 Grill, Woburn, MA

Come together and share a meal during our day-time dine around.

May 7, 3:00 pm & 5:00 pm | Gallery Tour & Evening Dine Around in Lexington, MA

Join us for a visit to the Twist Gallery in Lexington. Artwork is displayed on two floors of an historic house. John and Gillian Ross, the owners are known for the way they display the work in an eclectic way.  A feast for the spirit and a gift for the eyes in a very personable space.  They add their our own little touches that offers visitors a new kind of 'art experience.  Then join us at a Dine Around at Via Lago Restaurant several blocks away from the gallery, near the Battlegreen in  Lexington Mass.  We will gather here at 5 :00 pm for another culinary feast.  Come gather with old friends and meet new ones for a delightful event at an unexpectedly sophisticated oasis….

Full event details and registration links will be shared with current members in upcoming Weekly Digests.

Aaron Copland’s famous orchestral work Lincoln Portrait is a powerful homage to a great man, written to inspire a country in the midst of a terrible war. It tells the story of both an individual life and a nation, drawing on African American folk music, an early American ballad, and Lincoln’s own words. It not only moved millions of people in this country, but may even have helped ignite a revolution in South America. What makes this piece so ground-breaking? We'll listen to this great work, interspersed with discussions about the composer, the historical context, and the musical elements embedded in the music. This is an engaging and interactive presentation for both lifelong musicians and those who claim to know absolutely nothing about classical music. 

About the presenter: Elke Jahns-Harms holds a Master’s in Music and a PhD in International Relations.  She currently teaches International Development Aid at The Fletcher School of Tufts University, and previously taught Music and Social Change at the New England Conservatory. A professional flutist, she has found music to be a crucial means of connecting with people wherever she goes, and her flutes are among the first items she packs on her travels. Her courses often bring together her life-long interests in music, poverty alleviation, social justice, and peacebuilding. Elke has led dozens of music appreciation classes for novices and experienced musicians alike through OLLI, Brookhaven Life Care Community in Lexington, The Jenks Center in Winchester, Prescott Community Center in Groton, and local public libraries

Full event details and the link to RSVP will be available to current members in upcoming Tufts OLLI Weekly Digest. 

First produced as a Broadway musical in 1966, reimagined multiple times since then on stage and screen, Cabaret arrives at Tufts in Winter 2025. Set in the waning years of the Weimar Republic on the verge of Hitler’s catastrophic rise, Cabaret entertains, engages, and terrifies. At a volatile moment in our nation and the world, how will it speak to you? What lessons are there for us about the spread of fascism, bigotry, and complacency? Can this iconic musical inspire constructive dialogue on our campus and help us find common ground? Come to our Cabaret and see!

Book by Joe Masteroff

Based on I Am a Camera, a 1951 play by John Van Druten adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin

Music by John Kander; Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Direction by Barbara Wallace Grossman; choreography by Holly Stone; musical direction by Aviva Senzon ‘26

Full event details and registration links will be shared with current members in upcoming Weekly Digests.

Women’s stories should constitute half of the stories told, but they do not. The written record and the filmic record over-document the stories and histories of men. As an example, only 18% of the biographies on Wikipedia are of women. Women of color and the stories of women from marginalized groups are particularly underrepresented.

The Half the History Project aims to change this.

Through short-form biography, film, and podcast, we curate, archive, and disseminate diverse women’s stories. With an initial focus on women in the United States, our stories narrate the lives of some women who were well-known in their times or in their fields, as well as many women who were not.

Join your fellow OLLI members and the Half the History team, Tufts faculty Jennifer Burton

Professor of the Practice, Film, and Julie Dobrow Director, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Tufts University as they discuss their most recent projects and inspiration for Half the History. 

Full event details and the link to RSVP will be available to current members in upcoming Tufts OLLI Weekly Digest.

The 2024-2025 season is the first of two seasons with programs designed to tie into the historical themes of the American Revolutionary War as identified by the Lex250 committee and according to its lecture series. The season finale opens with James Hewitt’s The Battle of Trenton and explores the attitudes, mistakes and reasons people emigrated to America. Those stories are represented through the music immigrants brought with them, enriching our nation despite the challenges they faced. While the stories are as varied as was America’s attitude toward immigrants, these stories are important because all those who came to America looked for a new beginning and hope for the future — which has been America’s promise.

Full event details and registration links will be shared with current members in upcoming Weekly Digests.