Summer Music in Austria, Hungary & Poland
Departing 10-Jun-2011
to 30-Jun-2011
Our 2011 Summer Music Tour encompasses four European countries – Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. I am particularly delighted that we are including one week in Poland, with time in two great cities of remarkable contrast – Krakow and Warsaw. Krakow for a thousand years was the centre of Polish science, culture and art and its many Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque buildings survived WW11 unscathed; Warsaw, the capital since the end of the 16th Century – was almost completely destroyed during the war, and was miraculously revived in a wave of historicist nostalgia and selfless labour on an unprecedented scale. We will attend performances at the unique annual Warsaw Chamber Opera Mozart Festival, and enjoy the exquisite beauty of the city’s parks and gardens, and restored cityscapes. The tour begins in Vienna; a city where culture is simply a part of everyday life, and which owes much to its colourful political and cultural past. Vienna proffers impressive architecture, world renowned museums and an enviable musical tradition, which boasts the world’s greatest composers – all this alongside characteristic institutions such as coffeehouses and wine taverns. Two highly proclaimed Vienna State Opera productions are part of our stay there. “The Valkyrie”, the second opera in Wagner’s mighty Ring Cycle, and “Eugen Onegin”, Tchaikovsky’s bittersweet opera of unrequited love. Budapest, often referred to as “Paris of the East”, straddles a sweeping curve of the Danube River which divides it into Buda and Pest – both having undergone historically independent developments. In the beautifully decorated State Opera House, modeled on the Paris Garnier Opera, we will experience two great Verdi operatic masterpieces based on Shakespearean tragedies; “Otello” and “Macbeth”. In the middle of our tour we take time out to relax and enjoy one of Europe’s best kept secrets – the unique Tatra Mountains, with valleys, lakes and peaks - the highest being only 2655 ms, but snow-covered all year round. We will enjoy the mountains from both the Slovakian and the Polish side, as they provide a natural border between the two countries. I hope you can join me for 3 weeks and share all of these diverse and fascinating cultural experiences in the early European Summer.
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Len Amadio AO is a member of one of Australia`s most famous music families. His father, Clive Amadio...
