Experience the big-screen excitement of the 1999 cyber-thriller that spawned two sequels—and take all three movies home in a special boxed set.

Ever pondered the difference between browning and caramelizing? Or wondered why liquids and solids have separate measuring ups? Food writer and chemist Robert L. Wolke offers insights into how scientific savvy can guide home cooks—and passes plates of brownies—at this practical and entertaining session. 

Join historian Ed Bearss as he follows the critical June 1778 encounter between American and British forces, the longest of the Revolution. Though the battle in New Jersey’s Monmouth County was a tactical standoff, it signaled a turning point in the strength and resolve of George Washington’s army.

As a capital of the Roman Empire in its twilight and the Byzantine Empire in its ascendance, Ravenna’s artistic and architectural influences reflect Greco-Roman tradition, Christian iconography, and Oriental and Western styles. Art historian Elaine Ruffolo examines the mosaics and monuments that characterize the city’s opulent beauty.

The magnificence of Italy’s leading courts was enriched—and often dominated by—dynasties whose patronage and influence boldly extended beyond politics and into the arts and sciences. Art historian Elaine Ruffolo looks at how families like the Medici, Gonzaga, and others simultaneously promoted the talents of some the Renaissance’s most important creators and their own power and public images.

Read any good cocktails lately? Philip Greene of the Museum of the American Cocktail pages through the works of authors including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, and Ian Fleming to assemble a tasting of classic drinks with literary pedigrees. Cheers!

A series of conflicts in western Maryland’s South Mountain range pitted Union and Confederate forces for control of three key gaps. Historian Ed Bearss leads a tour to Frederick County that covers the action of September 1862.

In the gadgets he deploys, the plots he foils, and the evildoers he faces, James Bond’s exploits have always reflected our changing times—and often predicted the future. Former intelligence officers and other experts explore the often-surprising intersection of 007’s world of espionage with the real-life version they know. The series is presented in conjunction with the International Spy Museum’s exhibition Exquisitely Evil: 50 Years of Bond Villains.

Spend Wednesday mornings in song and in good company. The Encore Chorale, made up of singers 55 and older, begins a new series of 15 weekly rehearsals leading to a concert performance.

Channel the spirit of an ancient Egyptian scribe as you spend a day learning to read and write in hieroglyphs. Egyptologist Bob Brier guides you and your pen through the strokes and symbols that hold centuries of history.

The techniques deployed by championship debaters can serve you surprisingly well in real life. Clearly organizing and persuasively delivering your point of view—and critically listening to those of others—can help you cut through the argumentative clutter. Paul Hayes, George Washington University’s director of debate, introduces you to the art of advocacy in this lively participatory program.

Shoemakers, shopkeepers, housewives, and slaves: These and other everyday patriots carried out the real work of the American Revolution and shaped a new nation in its aftermath. Historian Richard Bell examines at the era’s political and social history from their often-overlooked perspective.

Presented by The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, sit in on the semifinals round of the 2013 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition.

Historian and Asian specialist Edward McCord surveys China as a political work in progress, examining how its chain of dynastic leaders approached the problems of expanding, governing, and defending a vast and changing empire.

After more than 34 years of extensive touring and recording, the Emerson String Quartet continues to perform with the same benchmark intensity, integrity, energy, and commitment that it has demonstrated since it was formed in 1976. This is a five-concert series.