M A R T I N R A N D A L L T R A V E LA RT • A R C H I T E C T U R E • G A S T R O N O M Y • A R C H A E O L O G Y • H I S T O R Y • M U S I C • L I T E R AT U R E

Christmas & New Year 2012ContentsMusic in Dresden & Prague ..................1

Palermo at Christmas .................3

Turin at Christmas ...4

Art on the Côte d’Azur at Christmas ..5

Edinburgh at Christmas .................6

Music in Berlin at New Year ..................7

Florence at Christmas is currently full.

Music in Dresden & Prague20–27 December 2012 (mz 443)8 days • £2,880 (includes 4 performances)Lecturers: Professor Jan Smaczny & Tom Abbott (in Dresden only)In Dresden: Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi) and Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck) at the Semperoper.

In Prague: Rusalka (Dvořák) and Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky) at the State Opera House.

Talks by a musicologist.

Programme of walks and visits with an art historian (in Dresden) and Czech guides (in Prague).

Two historic 5-star hotels in both Old Towns.

Dresden, capital of Saxony, was Prague’s nearest metropolitan neighbour (Vienna is twice the distance), and so the corridor of cultural exchange between the two cities was crucial to the history of both.

From early in the seventeenth century, Dresden has been one of the most important operatic centres north of the Alps. Performing in the magnificent 19th-century theatre designed by Gottfried Semper, the modern company has built upon the long-standing tradition of high standards of musicianship and visually exciting (if not avant-garde) productions to ensure a consistently high standard of performance.

Prague has three opera houses in regular use, two of which are visited on this tour, although we only attend performances at the State Opera. The oldest, and one of Europe’s most regularly functioning eighteenth-century theatres – Don Giovanni had its première here – is the Estates Theatre. Mozart operas still

continue to be performed there frequently. The other two were added in the second half of the nineteenth century, serving the Czech and German communities respectively.

What is now called (misleadingly) the State Opera, with a wonderful interior of Bavarian Rococo inspiration, compensates for its lack of funding with enterprise and energy to achieve fine artistic results.

Printed July 2012

‘...unquestionably the leading specialist in cultural tours’ Sunday Telegraph

Prague, Charles Bridge, etching by J. Hluboš 1925.

2

Christmas & New Year 2012

This tour is led by a musicologist whose main contribution will be to give talks on the performances and on Prague as a musical city. The programme of walks and excursions will be led by an art historian in Dresden and local guides in Prague.

ItineraryDay 1. London to Berlin. Fly at c. 10.00am from London Heathrow to Berlin and travel by coach onto Dresden. Dinner in the hotel . First of three nights in Dresden.

Day 2. Dresden. Introductory walk of the Altstadt to include the Catholic Court Church, a splendid Italianate building. Visit of the great domed Frauenkirche, the Protestant Cathedral whose painstaking reconstruction was completed in 2005. Some free time. Early evening dinner. Evening opera at the Semperoper: Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi) with Carlo Montanaro (conductor), Giorgio Berrugi (Riccardo), Marco Di Felice (Renato), Marjorie Owens (Amelia), Tichina Vaughn (Ulrica), Carolina Ullrich (Oscar), Ilhun Jung (Silvano), Tilmann Rönnebeck (Tom), Tomislav Lucic (Samuel).

Day 3. Dresden. Walk to the Zwinger, a unique Baroque combination of pleasure palace, arena for festivities and showcase for cherished collections, and a visit to the Old Masters Gallery, one of Europe’s finest collections, particularly strong on the Italian and Netherlandish painting. Some free time in the afternoon or join an optional guided tour of the excellent Porcelain Collection, also housed in the Zwinger. Evening opera at the Semperoper: Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck) with Mihkel Kütson (conductor), Barbara Senator (Hänsel), Romy Petrick (Gretel), Sabine Brohm (Gertrud), Milana Butaeva (Witch), Elizabeth Zharoff (Sandman/Dew Fairy).

Day 4. Dresden, Prague. Morning visit of the Residenzschloss to see the wonderful contents of the Green Vault, one of the world’s finest princely treasuries, once again displayed in their original venue. Drive beside the Elbe through forested hills and cross into the Czech Republic. Arrive in time to settle into the hotel before dinner. First of four nights in Prague.

Day 5. Prague. Walk through the Old Town, a dense maze of streets and squares with buildings of all ages and an exceptionally lovely main square. A guided tour of the Estates Theatre, where Don Giovanni had its première in 1786, and a visit to the Obecni dům (‘Municipal House’)

to see the glorious suite of assembly rooms created 1904–12. Optional midnight mass at St Vitus Cathedral.

Day 6. Prague , Christmas Day. An optional early drive to Prague Castle to attend mass in the Cathedral, or follow by coach mid-morning. The Castle is an extensive complex with buildings of many centuries. Visit the mediaeval Royal Palace with amazing late-Gothic vaulting and the Cathedral of St Vitus, a pioneering monument of High Gothic, richly embellished with chapels, tombs, altarpieces and stained glass. Optional walk through the Lesser Town which remains the most picturesque and unspoilt part of Prague. Evening ballet at the State Opera House: Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky).

Day 7. Prague. The Klementinum is a vast Jesuit complex with library halls and chapels. See also in the Old Town the church of St James, a Gothic carcass encrusted with Baroque finery after a fire in 1689. Walk across 14th-century Charles Bridge, the greatest such structure in Europe, wonderfully adorned with sculptures. Visit the infrequently opened Wallenstein Palace, a rare example of a 1630s residence (now the Senate), and St Nicholas, one of the greatest of Baroque churches in Central Europe. Free afternoon. Evening Opera at the State Opera House: Rusalka (Dvořák).

Day 8. Prague. Fly from Prague to Heathrow arriving at c.12.15pm.

PracticalitiesPrice: £2,880 (deposit £300). This includes: first category tickets for 3 opera performances and 1 ballet; air travel (economy class) on scheduled British Airways flights (aircraft: Airbus A319 & A320 jet); private coach for some excursions and airport transfers; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts, two lunches and five dinners, with wine, water and coffee; all admission charges; all tips for restaurant staff, drivers, guides; all taxes; the services of the lecturers and the Czech escort, while in the Czech Republic. Single supplement £260 (double room for single occupancy). Price without flights £2,650.

Lecturers:Tom Abbott. Specialist in architectural history from the Baroque to the 20th century with a wide knowledge of the performing arts. He graduated in Psychology and Art History from Carleton College, Minnesota and studied at the Louvre School of Art History in Paris. Since 1987 he has lived

in Berlin and has organised and led many academic tours in Germany.

Professor Jan Smaczny. Hamilton Harty Chair of Music at Queen’s University, Belfast, and an authority on Czech music. An author, broadcaster and journalist, he has published books on the Prague Provisional Theatre, Dvořák’s Cello Concerto and music in 19th-century Ireland. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford, has studied at the Charles University in Prague and has worked extensively in university education.

Hotels: in Dresden (3 nights): 5-star hotel in a reconstructed Baroque building, tastefully decorated with a friendly, personal atmosphere. 15 minutes walk from the Semperoper. In Prague (4 nights): 5-star hotel built in 1904 that retains the Art Nouveau theme throughout. Comfortable and elegant but not fussy with a good restaurant and café, helpful staff and well-equipped rooms. Excellently located opposite the Obecni dum, a short walk from the Old Town Square.

How strenuous? There is a lot of walking, some of it over steep and roughly paved streets which can be tricky when wet or frozen. One dinner is after the opera. Average distance by coach per day: 18 miles.

Weather: cold, often below freezing at least at the beginning of the day, though buildings are well heated. Snow is possible, but blue skies for much of the time are likely.

Small group: this tour will operate with between 12 and 20 participants.

Florenceat Christmas22–29 December 2012 (mz 445)This tour is currently full.

Music in Dresden & Praguecontinued

3

Christmas & New Year 2012

Palermo at ChristmasArt, archaeology & architecture

20–27 December 2012 (mz 444)8 days • £2,620Lecturer: Dr Roberto Cobianchi

One of the most fascinating cities in Italy, much improved recently.

Includes access to private palaces and to places outside public opening hours.

Excursions to several other towns and sites in western Sicily: Cefalù, Bagheria, Monreale, Segesta.

Sicily’s heritage of art, architecture and archaeological remains is exceptionally rich and varied, and Palermo is by far the most interesting of the island’s cities. Staying here for all seven nights, the tour also has excursions to some of the best of the island’s patrimony outside the city.

Ancient classical remains are prominent, with some of the finest standing Doric temples to be seen anywhere at Segesta and Agrigento. In the ninth century AD, when Byzantine rule was supplanted by that of Muslim Arabs, Palermo became the leading city on the island and famous throughout Europe for the beauty of its position, its tradition of craftsmanship and its enlightened administration.

In the eleventh century, Arab rule was swept aside by conquering Normans. By succumbing to the luxuriant sophistication of their predecessors they distanced themselves as far as is imaginable from their rugged northern roots. From a Palermo-based cosmopolitan court they ruled with efficiency and tolerance an affluent and

cultured nation. The unique artistic blend of this golden

age survives in the Romanesque churches with details of Norman, Saracenic, Levantine and classical origin. Byzantine mosaicists were extensively employed, and more wall and vault mosaics survive here than in all of Byzantium. The tour includes not only the Norman buildings in Palermo but also the cathedrals at Cefalù and Monreale.

The prosperity and power of Sicily began to wane from the later Middle Ages, but pockets of wealth and creativity remained, as Gothic and Renaissance creations demonstrate. Artistically, however, a final flourish was reached in the Age of Baroque when churches and palaces were erected in Palermo and throughout the island which are as splendid and exuberant as anywhere in Europe.

Always a seething, vibrant city, enlightened local government has made Palermo cleaner, safer, and altogether more enjoyable than even a few years ago.

The tour includes a number of special arrangements to gain access to private palaces or visit buildings outside opening hours.

ItineraryDay 1. Fly at c. 12.20pm from London Heathrow to Palermo, via Rome. Overnight in Palermo where all seven nights are spent.

Day 2: Palermo. A morning walk through the old centre includes visits to several oratories and an excellent collection of

pictures in the 15th-century Palazzo Abatellis. Visit a private palace and dinner here by special arrangement.

Day 3: Agrigento. A full day excursion to Agrigento to see the ‘Valley of the Temples’, one of the finest of all ancient Greek sites, with two virtually complete Doric temples, other ruins, and superb archaeological museum.

Day 4: Palermo. Visit the cathedral this morning, a building of many periods, with royal and imperial tombs, followed by the Teatro Massimo. A free afternoon is followed by a reception in a private palazzo, with astonishing Rococo interiors and original furnishings (used by Visconti for ‘The Leopard’).

Day 5: Monreale. Monreale dominates a verdant valley southwest of Palermo, and its cathedral is one of the finest Norman churches with the largest scheme of mosaic decoration that survives from the Middle Ages. Visit the Castello di Zisa in the afternoon, an Arab-Norman Palace.

Day 6, Christmas Day: Segesta, Palermo. In the morning drive to Segesta, one of the most evocative of ancient Greek sites, with magnificently sited temple and theatre. Back in Palermo, Christmas lunch is in a local restaurant.

Day 7: Cefalù, Bagheria. Cefalù, a charming coastal town, has a massive Norman cathedral with outstanding mosaics. Bagheria on the fringes of Palermo is a district of aristocratic Baroque and Neo-Classical villas. The remarkable if faded Villa

Pale

rmo,

S. G

iova

nni d

egli

Ere

miti

, w

ood

engr

avin

g 18

82.

4

Illustrations. This page: Turin Cathedral on the Piazza San Giovanni, after Inglis Sheldon Williams 1928. Facing page: etching by Renoir.

Turin

21–27 December 2012 (mz 441)7 days • £1,980Lecturer: Dr Luca Leoncini

Great art and architecture, particularly rich in palaces.

A grand city unaccountably neglected by tourists, despite being a major cultural centre.

Includes an excursion to the mediaeval village of Saluzzo, at the foot of the Alps.

Spreading across a plain at the foot of the Alps and along the upper reaches of the River Po, the gracious, spacious capital of Piedmont takes visitors by surprise with the beauty of its location and its streetscape.

Turin was developed on a grand scale in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as the capital of Savoy, an independent state from the Middle Ages and a kingdom from 1720. Later exchanges of territory led to the title of Kingdom of Sardinia. In the nineteenth century Piedmont became administratively and industrially the most advanced state in Italy, and the springboard for the risorgimento. Turin was the first capital of the newly united and independent Italy, 1861–65.

The historic centre is laid out on a regular plan with broad avenues and piazze of remarkable architectural homogeneity. Guarino Guarini (1624–83) and Filippo Juvarra (1678–1736), among the best architects of their time, both worked here for much of their lives.

Though once a major industrial centre (a reputation which has unjustly deterred cultural tourists), this is not evident in the centre. Within

Palagonia has a fine external staircase and is adorned with grotesque statuary.

Day 8: Palermo. Before leaving Palermo, the extraordinary 12th-century Palace of the Normans, containing the Palatine Chapel and Hall of King Roger, both with outstanding mosaics. The Norman church of S. Giovanni degli Eremiti has five cupolas and a garden. Fly from Palermo to London Heathrow, via Rome, arriving c. 7.00pm.

PracticalitiesPrice: £2,620 (deposit £250). This includes: air travel (economy class) on scheduled Alitalia flights (Airbus 319); travel by private coach; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 2 lunches and 5 dinners (including one in a private palace), all with wine, water and coffee; all admissions to museums, sites, etc.; all tips for restaurant staff, drivers, guides; all taxes; the services of the lecturer. Single supplement £280 (double room for single occupancy). Price without flights £2,380

Lecturer: Dr Roberto Cobianchi. Art historian, studied at Parma University and the Catholic University of Milan, and completed his PhD at Warwick. He was a Rome Scholar at The British School in Rome and fellow of the Biblioteca Hertziana, Rome, and Villa I Tatti, Florence . His research includes iconography and patronage of the Mendicant Orders from the late Middle Ages to the Baroque.

Hotel. A 16th-century palazzo converted into a charming 4-star hotel in the centre of Palermo. Rooms combine classical furnishings with modern comforts and the terrace has fine views over the city.

How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking on this tour, some of it over rough ground at archaeological sites and in the historic centres. It is not suitable for anyone who has difficulties with everyday walking or stair-climbing. Average distance by coach per day: 49 miles.

Weather. Winters can be balmy and dry, but visitors should allow for the possibility of low temperatures and some rain.

Small group: 10 to 20 participants.

Palaces porticospiazze

Italy Turin now has a reputation for a high quality of life, and is repositioning itself as one of the major cultural centres in the north of the country.

The 2006 Winter Olympics were the catalyst for an extensive programme of civic regeneration and restoration. The proximity to the mountains not only brings visual benefits but helps to make the city one of the most agreeable in Italy in which to live.

ItineraryDay 1: Fly at c. 2.45pm from London Gatwick to Turin.

Day 2: Turin. Morning walk through beautiful Piazza S. Carlo, with arcades and 18th-century churches. Visit the little church of S. Lorenzo, a Guarini masterpiece, and the cathedral, with Guarini’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud, and the sumptuous Consolata church. In the afternoon visit the Palazzo Madama in the centre of Piazza Castello, rebuilt and enlarged many times, and now housing the City Art Museum. Walk past the metal dome and spire of the 19th-century Mole Antonelliana and the Palazzo Carignano by Guarini.

Day 3: Turin, Venaria, Stupinigi. The Royal Palace in Turin was built in 1660 and has wonderful interiors from the 17th–19th centuries. Outside the city is the magnificent Royal Palace of Venaria (Amedeo Castellamonte, 1659) reopened in 2007 after extensive renovation work. See the exterior of the royal hunting lodge of Stupinigi (Filippo Juvarra, 1730) en route to Villa della Regina, a luxurious residence built at the beginning of 17th century on the hill of Turin.

Day 4: Turin, Manta, Saluzzo. Drive to the castle of Manta to see the beautiful Fountain of Youth and Heroes and Heroines fresco cycles dating back to the beginning of the 15th century. Walk around the historic centre of the mediaeval town of Saluzzo at the foot of Mount Monviso (3841m above sea level) and visit Casa Cavassa, a typical and very well preserved local Renaissance palace and the church of San Giovanni from the beginning of XIV century with flamboyant Gothic interior.

Day 5: Turin, Superga. Free morning. After Christmas lunch drive up to the Basilica di Superga, the burial site of the Italian Royal family, a votive church

Christmas & New Year 2012

Palermo at Christmascontinued

5

designed by Juvarra magnificently sited on a hill overlooking the city and mountains.

Day 6: Turin. Morning visit to the Galleria Sabauda, an excellent picture collection housed inside Guarini’s Palazzo Dell’Accademia. Some free time and the opportunity to visit the Egyptian Museum, one of the best in Europe. In the afternoon visit the Pinacoteca Giovanni and Marella Agnelli at Lingotto which has a small but excellent collection in a building designed by Renzo Piano.

Day 7: The flight from Turin arrives at c. 7.00pm at London Gatwick.

PracticalitiesPrice: £1,980 (deposit £200). This includes: air travel (economy class) on scheduled British Airways flights (Airbus 319); private coach travel for transfers and excursions; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 4 dinners and 3 lunches with wine, water and coffee; all admissions; tips for restaurant staff, drivers and guides; all state and airport taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager. Single supplement £230 (double for sole occupancy). Price without flights £1,820.

Lecturer: Dr Luca Leoncini. Art historian specialising in 15th-century Italian painting. His first degree and PhD were from Rome University followed by research at the Warburg Institute in London. He has published articles on the classical tradition in Italian art of the 15th century and contributed to the Macmillan Dictionary of Art. He has also written on Mantegna and Renaissance drawings.

Hotel: a completely renovated 4-star hotel, comfortable, elegantly furnished and central with very efficient staff. Dinners and lunches are in the hotel and carefully selected restaurants.

How strenuous? Quite a lot standing in palaces and galleries as well as a lot of uphill walking in Manta and around the historic centre of Saluzzo. Average distance by coach per day: 27 miles.

Weather: cold but not harshly so, and often clear at this time of year. Rain should not be ruled out.

Small group: 10 to 20 participants.

Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur

21–28 December 2012 (mz 446)8 days • £2,820 Lecturer: Monica Bohm DuchenEurope’s greatest concentration of classic modern art, in a setting of idyllic scenery and pretty towns.

Bonnard, Braque, Léger, Miró, Giacometti, Cocteau, Chagall, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir.

Stay in Nice in a comfortable 4-star hotel on the Promenade des Anglais; all rooms have a sea view.

Natural resources and climate have drawn invaders and visitors to Nice and its surroundings from the Greek colonists of classical times to the jet-set of today. But from the late nineteenth century a special category of visitor – and settler – has transformed the Côte d’Azur into the greatest concentration of modern art in Europe.

Monet first visited Antibes in 1883; Signac bought a house in the fishing village of St-Tropez in 1892. Matisse’s first visit to the Midi in 1904 transformed his art, and from 1918 he spent more time on the Côte d’Azur than in Paris.

Matisse, Chagall and Picasso are merely among the most illustrious of the artists who chose to live in the South of France. Many of their fellow modernisers followed suit: Braque, Bonnard, Dufy, Picabia.

This tour is an extraordinary opportunity to see how modernity relates to the past as well as the present, and how gallery displays can be centred

on the art, the location or the patron/collector. In Matisse’s Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence, traditional arts and crafts have been revived by a modern genius, as in the monumental mosaic and glass designs of Léger which can be seen at Biot.

There are also echoes of collecting habits of earlier eras in the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. The mixture of past and present and the juxtaposition of the Goût Rothschild with the beauty of its location are breathtaking. (Graham Sutherland drew exotic flowers and plants in the extraordinary gardens.)

At Antibes the Picasso Museum is housed in the Château Grimaldi, lent to Picasso as studio space in 1946 where he produced life-affirming paintings.

Old and new galleries abound, such as the Fondation Maeght, St-Paul-de-Vence, whose building (designed by José Luis Sert, 1963) makes it a work of outstanding sympathy to its natural surroundings, in gardens enlivened by Miró’s Labyrinthe and other sculptures.

ItineraryDay 1: Nice. Fly at c. 11.45am from London Heathrow to Nice. Afternoon visit to the Musée des Beaux Arts Jules Cheret, concentrating on their 19th- and early 20th-century holdings (Monet, Renoir, Dufy, etc.).

Day 2: Nice, Vence. The Marc Chagall Museum has the largest collection of the artist’s works, notably the seventeen canvases of the Biblical Message, set in a peaceful garden in a salubrious Nice suburb. Vence, an artists’ colony, has the Chapel of the Rosary, designed and decorated by Matisse.

Day 3: Antibes, Vallauris. Most of the paintings Picasso produced in his studio in the Château Grimaldi in 1946 have been donated to the town of Antibes. Vallauris is a centre of contemporary pottery revived by Picasso, whose masterpiece War and Peace is here.

Day 4: St-Tropez, Biot. Drive west to St-Tropez, which has been popular with artists since Paul Signac settled here in 1892. The Musée de l’Annonciade is one of France’s finest collections of modern art (Signac, Maillol, Matisse, Bonnard, Vlaminck, Braque). Continue to Biot and visit the renovated Musée National Fernand Léger, built to house the artist’s works bequeathed to his wife.

Christmas & New Year 2012

6

Edinburgh at Christmas 22–27 December 2012 (mz 447)5 nights • £1,980 Lecturer: Gail Bent

Architecturally one of the best-stocked cities in Britain, Edinburgh also has museums and collections of international significance.

A selective programme of walks and visits and talks by an architectural historian.

Stay at the 5-star Balmoral on Princes Street.

The wealth of historic buildings, museums and art galleries exceeds that of all but a few capitals of a country of its size. Edinburgh is enjoying something of a renaissance, and most of the museums, major and minor, have benefitted hugely from renovation and extension in the last couple of decades. The tour is enhanced by special arrangements to see places which are not generally accessible, or out of usual visiting hours.

The hotel is the Balmoral, belonging to the elite Rocco Forte group and perhaps the best in Edinburgh. Formerly the North British, it is built over Waverley Station, has a frontage on Princes Street and enjoys views of Edinburgh Castle.

ItineraryDay 1. Assemble at the hotel and leave on foot at 2.30pm for a visit to Edinburgh Castle. Scotland’s premier ancient monument, though the army still has a presence there, it incorporates buildings from the 12th century to the 20th and has a range of displays including the Crown Jewels (‘the Honours of Scotland’). Return to the hotel for dinner.

Day 2. In lovely countryside an hour south of Edinburgh, close to the River Tweed, Traquair House is an excellent example of 16th- and 17th-century architecture, and Scotland’s oldest inhabited house. Opened specially for us, there is a tour and lunch in the dining room. Back in Edinburgh, a short walk includes the High Kirk of St Giles, a 15th-century Gothic church, where there is a concert at 6.00pm.

Day 3. Recent renovation has transformed the National Portrait Gallery, revealing its late Victorian magnificence while creating an exciting introduction to Scottish history. Housed in a classical masterpiece by William Playfair (1828), the collection of Old Master paintings in the Scottish National Gallery is among the finest in the world, spanning all schools from 15th-century Flemish to Post-Impressionist. Robert Adam’s dome in Register House is his largest room.

Day 4, Christmas Day. The morning is free. There are several services to choose from, and many walking possibilities. After lunch, walk up Calton Hill and

Day 5: Cap Ferrat, St-Paul-de-Vence. Drive east to St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to see the paintings, sculpture and furniture of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, a mansion set in attractive gardens. The Maeght Foundation at St-Paul-de-Vence is renowned for its collections (Picasso, Hepworth, Miró, Arp, Giacometti; not all works are shown at once) and for its architecture and setting.

Day 6: Nice. The Musée Matisse unites a wide range of the artist’s work; sculpture, ceramics, stained glass as well as painting. The afternoon is free in Nice; suggestions include the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain with its excellent collection of post-war art.

Day 7: Villefranche, Menton. In Villefranche is the small Chapelle St-Pierre, decorated by Cocteau. Along the coast to Menton, the last French town before Italy, is a new Cocteau museum and the Salle des Mariages, also painted by Cocteau.

Day 8: Le Cannet. The first museum dedicated to the works of Bonnard opened in Le Cannet in 2011. Fly from Nice arriving at London Heathrow c. 4.30pm.

PracticalitiesPrice: £2,820 (deposit £300). This includes: air travel (economy class) on scheduled flights with British Airways (Airbus 319); private coach; accommodation as described below; breakfasts and 5 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips for waiters and drivers; all taxes; the services of the lecturer. Single supplement £340 (with sea view). Price without flights £2,630.

Lecturer: Monica Bohm-Duchen. Lecturer, writer and curator specialising in 20th-century art. She studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem before graduating in English Literature and History of Art from UCL, and with an MA in Art History from the Courtauld. She has lectured for the National Gallery, Tate, Royal Academy, Courtauld, Sotheby’s and Birkbeck College.

Hotel: stylish 4-star in Nice partially built into the cliff and overlooking the Promenade des Anglais. Rooms are furnished in modern Provençal style and most have a balcony. All have a sea view.

How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking and standing around in museums. Average distance by coach per day: 44 miles.

Weather: usually mild, but low temperatures and rain cannot be ruled out.

Small group: 10 to 22 participants.

There are few cities with a more dramatic topography than Edinburgh, the volcanic crags of Castle Rock and Arthur’s Seat forming the famous skyline above an equally famous plateau. And few cities have a centre comprising two such very different parts, side by side, and each among the finest of its kind. Architecturally, Edinburgh is one of the most diverse and rewarding cities in Europe.

The higgledy-piggledy Old Town, tumbling down the hill below the mighty Castle, remains essentially mediaeval in layout and fabric, a dense accumulation of variegated buildings without peer in the British Isles. The contrast with the New Town is total: a consistently Neo-Classical, stringently planned eighteenth-century enclave laid out with regularity, symmetry and spatial generosity. Busy Princes Street is the interface, a largely Victorian boulevard.

Christmas & New Year 2012

Modern Art on the Côte d’Azur continued

The Canongate Tolbooth, late 19th-century wood engraving.

7

see an assembly of monuments including the National Monument, a reproduction of the Parthenon (Edinburgh: ‘the Athens of the North’.)

Day 5. A morning exploration of the Old Town, a dense mass of narrow streets and alleys spreading either side of the Royal Mile which leads down from the Castle to Holyroodhouse. National Museums Scotland is an amalgamation of two institutions, one a presentation of the history of Scotland through many objects and pictures in a 1990s architectural masterpiece, the other an eclectic mix of items both local and exotic in a renovated Victorian building.

Day 6. The Palace of Holyroodhouse, still a royal residence, dates largely to the reign of Charles II and has fine interiors and works of art. Adjacent is the Queen’s Gallery, which displays items from the royal collection. The tour ends at the hotel by 12.30pm.

PracticalitiesPrice: £1,980 (deposit £200). This includes: accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 2 lunches and 4 dinners with wine, water and coffee; admissions to museums and sites; tips for drivers, waiters; the services of the lecturer. Single supplement £250 (double for single use).

Lecturer: Gail Bent. Expert on British architectural history and historic interiors and an interior designer and artist. She studied at Toronto and Leeds Universities and Edinburgh College of Art and has taught at the University of Leeds, Christ Church Oxford, York and Nottingham. She lectures for The Art Fund, The National Trust and NADFAS.

Hotel: the historic 5-star Balmoral, belonging to the Rocco Forte group, enjoys a prime location at the corner of North Bridge and Princes Street. Elegant and comfortable, with excellent service; spacious rooms with restrained décor. There are two restaurants.

Music: we hope to offer the opportunity to book music tickets when the programmes are published (about 2 months before departure).

How strenuous? Most visits are on foot and there is quite a lot of standing in galleries and houses. To participate in the walks you will need to be able to walk at about 3 mph for at least half an hour at a time.

Weather: temperatures will be low, particularly at the beginning and end of the day and snow is possible.

Small group: 10 to 22 participants.

Music in Berlinat new year

28 Dec. 2012–2 Jan. 2013 (mz 448)6 days • £2,680 (including 4 music tickets) Lecturer: Tom Abbott

Two concerts: New Year’s Eve with the Berlin Philharmonic and Cecilia Bartoli, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle; New Year’s Day with the Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Two operas: Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the Deutsche Oper and Puccini’s La Bohème at the Staatsoper.

Numerous excellent collections of fine & decorative arts and first-rate architecture.

A day excursion to Potsdam to see Frederick the Great’s Sanssouci.

Berlin possesses some of the finest art galleries and museums in the world and offers the highest standards of music and opera performance. It is endowed with a range of historic architecture and is the site of Europe’s greatest concentration of first-rate contemporary architecture. Once again a national capital, it is also one of the most exciting cities on the Continent, recent and rapid changes pushing through a transformation without peacetime parallel.

One of the grandest capitals in Europe for the first forty years of the last century, it then suffered appallingly from aerial bombardment and Soviet artillery. For the next forty years it was cruelly divided into two parts and became the focus of Cold War antagonism, a bizarre confrontation between an enclave of western libertarianism and hard-line Communism.

Since the Wall was breached in 1989 the city has been transformed beyond recognition. From being a largely charmless urban expanse still bearing the scars of war, it has become a vibrant, liveable city, the very model of a modern major metropolis. The two halves have been knitted together and cleaning and repair have revealed the patrimony of historic architecture to be among the finest in Central Europe.

The art collections, formerly split, dispersed and often housed in temporary premises, are now coming together in magnificently restored or newly-built galleries. Berlin possesses international art and antiquities of the highest importance, as well as incomparable collections of German art. The number and variety of museums and the quality of their holdings make Berlin among the world’s most desired destinations for art lovers.

With three major opera houses and several orchestras, Berlin is a city where truly outstanding performances can be virtually guaranteed.

ItineraryDay 1. Fly at c. 1.00pm from London Heathrow to Berlin Tegel. An orientation tour by coach passes landmarks such as the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz and Unter den Linden. Visit the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

Day 2. A morning walk passes some fine 18th-century buildings including the arsenal, opera house, royal palaces and cathedrals to ‘Museums Island’, a group of major museum buildings. Visit the Alte Nationalgalerie which superbly displays European painting of the 19th century including the finest collection of German Romantics. Then walk through the oldest part of the city, the Nikolaiviertel. Free afternoon. Evening opera at the Deutsche Oper: The Barber of Seville (Rossini), Enrique Mazzola (musical director), Bogdan Mihai (Count Almaviva), Carlos Chausson (Bartolo), Silvia Tro Santafé (Rosina), Dalibor Jenis (Figaro), Marko Mimica (Basilio), Hulkar Sabirova (Berta).

Day 3. Excursion to Potsdam which in the 18th century developed into Brandenburg-Prussia’s second capital and acquired fine buildings, parks and gardens. Sanssouci, created as a retreat from the affairs of state by Frederick the Great, is among the finest 18th-century complexes of gardens, palaces and pavilions to be found anywhere. Visit his single-storey palace atop terraces of fruit trees, the Chinese Tea House and the orangery and see the city centre with its Dutch Quarter and Neo-Classical buildings. Lunch in Potsdam before returning to Berlin. Evening opera at the Staatsoper (Schiller Theater): La Bohème (Puccini), Julien Salemkour (musical director), Anna Samuil (Mimì), Adriane Queiroz (Musetta), Stephen Costello (Rodolfo), Alfredo Daza (Marcello), Arttu Kataja (Shaunard), Jan Martiník (Colline), Michael Smallwood (Parpignol), Michael Kraus (Benoît/Alcindoro).Day 4. New Year’s Eve. Return to Museum Island to visit the Neues Museum, the stunning new home to the Egyptian Museum (among others), restored and recreated by British architect David Chipperfield. Also visit the Pergamon Museum, home of one of the world’s finest collections of Near Eastern antiquities including the eponymous Hellenistic altar

Christmas & New Year 2012

Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, United Kingdom W4 4GFTelephone 020 8742 3355 Fax 020 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk

From Australia and New Zealand you can contact: Martin Randall Marketing, PO Box 537, Toowong, Queensland 4066Telephone 1300 55 95 95, from New Zealand +61 7 3377 0141Fax 07 3377 0142, anz@martinrandall.com.au

From the USA and Canada there is a toll-free telephone number: 1 800 988 6168

www.martinrandall.com

M A R T I N R A N D A L L T R A V E LA RT • A R C H I T E C T U R E • G A S T R O N O M Y • A R C H A E O L O G Y • H I S T O R Y • M U S I C • L I T E R AT U R E

5085

from Anatolia. New Year’s Eve concert at the Philharmonie with the Berlin Philharmonic, Sir Simon Rattle (conductor), Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano): Dvořák, Slavonic Dance in C, Op.46, No.1; Rameau, Three Dances: Les Boréades; Saint-Saëns, Danse macabre; Ravel, Daphnis et Chloé Suite No.2; Brahms, Hungarian Dance No.1 in G minor.

Day 5. New Year’s Day. The ‘Kulturforum’ developed before 1989 on wasteland close to the Wall as the site for several major museums, the State Library and Philharmonie (concert hall by Hans Scharoun). Visit the Gemäldegalerie, one of Europe’s major collections of Old Masters. Potsdamer Platz, for 50 years an even greater expanse of wasteland, became in the 1990s Europe’s greatest building project with an array of international architects participating. Early evening concert at the Staatsoper (Schiller Theater) with the Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim

(conductor), Anna Samuil (soprano), Anna Lapkovskaja (mezzo-soprano), Johan Botha (tenor), René Pape (bass baritone): Beethoven, Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op.125. Dinner in the roof-top restaurant in the Reichstag, with the opportunity (without queuing) to walk around Foster’s dome.

Day 6. Visit the Jewish Museum in the celebrated and expressive building by Daniel Libeskind before flying home at c. 4.30pm, arriving at Heathrow at c. 5.30pm.

PracticalitiesPrice: £2,680 (deposit £250). This includes: first category tickets to 2 operas and 2 concerts costing c. £420; air travel with British Airways (Airbus A319); private coach with some use of public transport; accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 1 lunch, 4 dinners and 1 interval snack, with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips for drivers, guides,

waiters; all taxes; the services of the lecturer. Single supplement £240. Price without flights £2,550.

Lecturer: Tom Abbott. Specialist in architectural history from the Baroque to the 20th century with a wide knowledge of the performing arts. He graduated in Psychology and Art History from Carleton College, Minnesota and studied at the Louvre School of Art History in Paris. Since 1987 he has lived in Berlin and has organised and led many academic tours in Germany.

Hotel: an elegant hotel decorated in Regency style, close to Unter den Linden. Rooms are of a good size and excellent standard.

How strenuous? Quite a lot of walking and standing around in art galleries. Average distance by coach per day: 12 miles.

Weather: very unpredictable, but cold and probably freezing at least some of the time.

Small group: 10 to 22 participants.

Music in Berlin, continued

Sans

souc

i, w

ood

engr

avin

g c.

1880

.