Upcoming Music Journeys

JOURNEY TO THE GREAT MUSICAL CITIES: VIENNA AND BERLIN, 9-23 MAY 2024

Over the last ten years we have taken groups of friends many times to these great cities, our absolute favourites.

Just look at these highlights:

• Simon Rattle conducts Mozart’s last three symphonies (39, 40 and the Jupiter) with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in the Berlin Philharmonie
• A new Marriage of Figaro at the Vienna State Opera directed by Barrie Kosky, once Australia’s enfant terrible, now Europe’s favourite.
• Much praised productions of Verdi’s Otello, Wagner’s Lohengrin, Purcell’s King Arthur and Mozart’s Don Giovanni
• Concerts by the incomparable Berlin Philharmonic playing a Bruckner symphony and a fab program played by their brilliant Karajan Academy Orchestra
• Especially exciting is a production of British composer Thomas Adès’ brilliant opera The Tempest
• Australian artist Monica Levy who lives in Berlin will guide us around the best private art galleries for which Berlin is so famous
• Vienna is full of marvels we never tire of: palaces, great museums, old and new, and of course we can’t miss the coffee houses
• As something completely new, we will spend the last three days recovering from such a heady brew in the magnificent Harz Mountains, two hours south west of Berlin, staying in the historic town of Wernigerode and going for walks in the high country and taking excursions in the mountains by old narrow gauge steam trains.

SUMMER FESTIVALS IN ENGLAND: GLYNDEBOURNE, GARSINGTON, GRANGE PARK AND ALDEBURGH, 5-16  JUNE 2024

After the great success of our marvellous journey across Austria last August  to Festivals in Salzburg, Innsbruck and the Schubertiade,  we have teamed up with our good friend Andrew Neill from London to plan and organise a similar journey to English summer festivals next June. So that we can drive everywhere in a comfortable people mover, we will take a party of no more than ten people to four great opera and music festivals: celebrated Glyndebourne, Grange Park and Garsington opera festivals and Britain’s greatest music festival Aldeburgh, founded by Benjamin Britten.

The programmes for the opera companies are mouth watering: we start at Grange Park with a double bill of Puccini’s hilarious Gianni Schicchi and Rachmaninoff’s rarely heard but delightful early opera Aleko, set in a gipsy encampment, both starring  great Welsh baritone Sir Bryn Terfel. Next  is Glyndebourne with a new production of Bizet’s endlessly riveting classic Carmen. The third private opera house, set in beautiful gardens, is Garsington Opera which will host a new production of Jean Philippe Rameau’s fabulous comedy drama Platée that wowed Sydney audiences a few years ago in Pinchgut’s production.

Then we drive to the east coast to Aldeburgh in Suffolk where we spend another six days at the incomparable Aldeburgh Festival.

Both the journey to Vienna and Berlin in May 2024 and the Summer Festivals journey in England from 5-16 June are fully booked, but bookings open in January 2024 for our third group journey in 2024, Pre Christmas Celebrations in Central Europe.