Experience Imperial Highlights – European Adventure
July 30 – August 13, 2014
Join me for the second Opera League Pilot Program and experience Imperial Highlights in Vienna, Passau and Salzburg, all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Stay for 8 nights in Vienna “The city of music and dreams”, continue via the picturesque landscape of the Wachau valley and the Danube River, to the “Three River City” Passau, in Germany. Stay overnight and explore the ducal city, rebuild by Carlone and Lugaro after a terrible fire destroyed the entire city in 1662. The last city highlight will be Salzburg. Experiencing Salzburg, situated in Austria, is one of Europe’s most beautiful places, surrounded by mountains, close to lakes, and gorgeous scenery. Combined with your attendance at the Salzburg Festival, enjoying Operas, recitals, concerts, and much more, will conclude your European adventure.
Check out the program:
Wednesday, July 30, 2014 – Arrival in Vienna – Hotel Mercure Secession Wien – Getreidemarkt 5, 1060 Vienna, Austria Phone: (+43)1/58838.
The 4-star Mercure Secession hotel sits in the historical center of Vienna. You will experience a combination of Viennese style and modern comfort. Air conditioned rooms with free internet access, the famous “Naschmarkt” just a minute away, the Viennese Staatsoper reachable in 5 minutes. The close proximity to all public transport systems makes this a favored hotel for Opera and artist performers and guests from all over the world.
Transfer from the airport to the hotel: There are three possibilities to get from the Viennese Airport, which is about 10 miles east of the center of the city, to the hotel. With taxi (Euro 35; reservation necessary), bus (Euro 8 = $11), or train (Euro 11 = $15). Check out their website www.flughafentaxi-wien.at or www.vienna-airporttaxi.at
I will be waiting for you in the Hotel Lobby with refreshments and help you to find your room. The evening is on your own to relax and to settle in. Just around the corner, at the Naschmarkt, are many small, enjoyable, and fine restaurants.
Thursday, July 31, 2014 – Vienna Sight Seeing City Tour
10:00AM – 1:00PM This includes the Ring Boulevard with all its magnificent buildings like the State Opera House, the Museums of Art History and Natural History, the Neue Burg, Parliament, the Rathaus, Burgtheater, Votivkirche, Viennese Stock Market, Ring Tower, Danube Canal, Urania, the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts), and the Stadtpark.
We continue to the “Prater” and the Giant Ferris Wheel, one of the landmarks of Vienna. To the Hundertwasser House, a colorful and fairytale apartment building designed by the Austrian artist Friedrich Hundertwasser.
Our last stop will be at the Albertina, where you have the possibility to take advantage of an additional guided walking tour.
4:00PM Welcome Reception. Place to be announced.
Evening Free for your activities.
Friday, August 1, 2014 – Out-of-package-program: Exeptional day trip to Imperial Bratislava – or explore Vienna on your own
8:00AM Meet me in the Hotel Lobby – With taxis we drive to the Twin-City Liner station at the Danube Canal harbor. Please bring your passport or ID to board the ship. Bratislava has a rich history that dates back even before the Celts and Romans. A beautiful scenic boat ride on the Danube river will bring us to Bratislava, also called Porta Hungarica. It became the coronation city of Austrian and Hungarian monarchs and emperors. We tour the city, St. Martin’s Cathedral where coronations took place, the castle and the Opera House. Lunch. Reserved seating and a voucher for a refreshment on the boat provided. Transportation from the hotel to the Danube harbor and back included. Euro 110
4:00PM Return to Vienna
6:00PM Back at the Hotel
Evening Free for your activities
Saturday, August 2, 2014 – Eisenstadt, Palace of Esterházy – Hadyn’s residence – St. Margarethen: Opera for the senses: Verdi’s Aida
AM Free for your activities
2:00PM Via luxury, comfortable and air conditioned coach (restroom), we leave for the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt. This is one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in Austria, and residence of Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, the court musician to count Esterházy. Haydn, called “The Father of the Symphony”, was a friend to W.A. Mozart and a teacher of Beethoven.
6:30PM Entrance to the St. Margarethener Opera Festival – experience a monumental opera stage set.
6:40PM Optional Backstage Tour (walking involved)
7:30PM VIP terrace: Champagne reception, followed by a three-course dinner – Gourmet Package “Aida” – and the famous and awarded Esterházy wine. Come back to your dinner seat for dessert and some more champagne, wine, or café during the Intermission.
8:30PM Opera Verdi’s Aida
After performance Return to Vienna
Sunday, August 3, 2014 – State Opera – Theater an der Wien – Hotel Sacher – Vienna Card
AM Free for your activities – Take advantage of the Vienna Card – Visit the St. Stephen’s Cathedral and its treasures. (Prince Eugene of Savoy is buried in that church) At 9:30am Main Church Service with special musical arrangements or have a brunch at the Art History Museum under its cupola (11:00am). All in walking distance. Reservations required for the brunch.
2:00PM Walk over with me or meet at the Opera House side entrance – West side
2:30PM Private tour through the Vienna State Opera followed by a visit to the famous Hotel Sacher for café and “Sachertorte mit Schlag”.
4:30PM Optional tour through the Albertina Museum Evening free for your activities
Monday, August 4, 2014 – Central Cemetery – St. Marx Cemetery – Castle of Belvedere – Private Organ performance at the baroque chapel
9:30AM Leave with our luxury coach for a guided tour through one of the world’s largest cemeteries and visit honorary graves of Beethoven, Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Antonio Salieri, Johann Strauss, Arnold Schoenberg and more. We continue to the St. Marx cemetery where W.A. Mozart is buried.
Lunch Box
PM Tour through the Castle of Belvedere, Prince Eugene of Savoy’s residence, he was a patron of the Art. This is also the place where the Austrian/International treaty was signed. A tour and private organ performance in the little baroque chapel (frescos by my ancestor Carlo Antonio Carlone) will follow.
J.S. Bach “Air” on a G String
Jörg Heible “Improvisationen”
G.F. Haendel The Messiah” Halleluja”
Evening Free for your activities
Tuesday, August 5, 2014 – Palace of Schoenbrunn – Heuriger (Wine tasting)
9:30AM With our, already familiar luxury coach, we will visit one of the most important cultural monuments of Vienna: the Palace of Schönbrunn, a Roccoco summer residence of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II. Later Austrian Empress Maria Theresia residet in this palace. We take a tour through the palace. Later board a train up the hill to the famous “Gloriette”, designed to glorify Habsburg power and build by the Austrian Architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, for lunch.
2:00PM Continue to stroll through the gardens or join us in returning to the Hotel.
6:00PM Visit “Mayer am Pfarrplatz Heuriger” to observe and experience Viennese fine wines, and fitting culinary accompaniment. A place where the Viennese feels good and we hope you will too!
Wednesday, August 6, 2014 – Farewell to Vienna – Wiener Musikverein, Golden Hall, Mozart Performance – Last Day in Vienna
AM Free for your activities
5:30PM Meet in the Lobby and leave for our VIP farewell dinner. Experience the ultimate old-world service at the Hotel Bristol, a Luxury Collection Hotel, next to the Viennese State Opera House, for a three-course menu and drinks. Followed by a Mozart concert at the famous Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein, where every year, the New Year’s concert is performed and broadcast worldwide.
Thursday, August 7, 2014 – Leave Vienna – Abbey of Melk – Passau/Germany
8:45AM Leave with Schweighofer & Zöhrer’s luxury coach (***** Air conditioned and restroom) to the Abbey of Melk, a Benedictine Abbey and most famous monastic site. On this 54 mile drive we pass by the famous Vienna Woods, where wild boars still roam. Another World Heritage site we pass through is the Wachau Valley. Private tour through the Abbey (walking involved). Here, Carlone worked on the frescos in the Cathedral.
1:00PM Lunch on your own at the Abbey Restaurant.
2:30PM A 125 mile drive takes us to the three-river city Passau, Germany, and we stay at the “Hotel Koenig”, at the banks of the Danube River.
4:00PM During our ride Prof. Heinrich Schelbert will give us an insight into the history of Passau “Passau and the Song of the Nibelungs.” You will be surprised!!
5:00PM Arrive at the Hotel Koenig
7:00PM Dinner at the “Paulusstuben”, which is next door to the Hotel.
Friday, August 8, 2014 – Passau, St. Stephen’s Cathedral – Veste Oberhaus
9:00AM Bring down your luggage to the lobby.
10:00AM Optional City Tour by boat – Euro 8.70
11:30AM St. Stephen’s Cathedral Organ performance on the largest church organ in the world. 5 organs are connected which have 18,000 pipes.
12:30PM Optional tour through the Cathedral.
1:30PM We meet in the lobby of the Hotel Koenig and depart to the Veste (Castle) Oberhaus for a typical Bavarian lunch – Enjoy the beautiful view of Passau from here.
3:30PM Leave for Salzburg
6:00PM Arrive at the “Star Inn” Hotel in Salzburg
Saturday, August 9, 2014 – Mozart Matinee – Salzburg Vicinity Hellbrunn
10:15AM Meet in the Lobby and walk over the Salzach River to the Mozarteum.
11:00AM Mozart Matinee – Elisabeth Kulman, Mezzo-Soprano – Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg; Marc Minkowski, Conductor
Intermission: If the weather is fine we will have a glass of champagne or other refreshments in front of Mozart’s Magic Flute House, in the garden of the Mozarteum, underneath the Lotte Lehmann Linde (tree), who was one of the most extraordinary singers and stage personality of the 20th century. She was an instructor at the “Hochschule for Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Mozarteum”.
12:45PM Lunch at the Salzachgrill or the Café Bazar (next to each other) on your own.
2:30PM Leave for the Archbishop’s Palace in Hellbrunn and the Trick Fountains (meeting point to be announced).
3:00PM Private guided tour of the unique trick fountains; take the audio tour through the palace, hike up to the “Monatsschlössl”, or stroll through the enchanted Palace gardens.
5:00PM Return to Salzburg
Evening Free for your activities
Sunday, August 10, 2014 – Daytrip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Richard Strauss Villa – Eibsee
10:30AM Tour through the “Richard Strauss’ Villa”.
12:00PM Enjoy lunch at the Hotel Eibsee, situated at the bottom of Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze. Weather permitting, we may sit outside and enjoy the beautiful view to the lake and the mountain.
2:00PM Return to Salzburg
9:00PM Grosses Festspielhaus: Recital Grigory Sokolov. Chopin program.
Monday, August 11, 2014 – Habsburg’s Hunting Lodge: Schloss Blühnbach – Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
9:00AM Meet Brita in the Lobby to travel to Werfen to visit the Habsburg’s hunting lodge Castle of Blühnbach welcomed by the owner Mr. Frederick R. Koch, an American collector and philanthropist.
12:00PM Return to Salzburg
PM Free for your activities – A tour through the Festival Buildings can be arranged.
6:00PM Grosses Festspielhaus, Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Franz Welser-Moest, Conductor; Harry Kupfer, Director. Performers: Krassimira Stoyanova, Sophie Koch, Mojca Erdmann, Silvana Dussmann, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Günther Groissböck, Adrian Eröd, Kresimir Spicer, Stefan Pop, Tobias Kehrer, Martin Piskorski, Franz Supper, Dirk Aleschus, Roman Sadnik, Andreja Zidaric, Phoebe Haines, Idunnu Münch. Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus; Salzburger Festspiele and Theater Children’s Chorus. Vienna Philharmonics
Tuesday, August 12, 2014 – A morning with Mozart – Farewell lunch at the Hotel Sacher with view to the Salzach River
9:00AM Meet in front of the Hotel. Walk over the Salzach River to Mozart’s Living House, Makartplatz or meet us there at 09:20AM.
9:30AM Welcome by the President of the International Foundation Mozarteum, Dr. Johannes Honsig-Erlenburg. He will play on Mozart’s Original Fortepiano accompanied by Anja Morgenstern, who plays the “Violin of Dalla Costa”, owned by Mozart during his years in Vienna. This violin was a recent donation by a private philanthropist from Germany, November 2013, to the Foundation Mozarteum. Optional private tour to see Mozart’s autographs.
11:30AM Farewell lunch at the Hotel Sacher – Salzburg this time – just 2 minutes from Mozart’s Wohnhaus.
3:30PM Grosses Festspielhaus, Verdi: Il Trovatore Danielle Gatti, Conductor. Alvis Hermanis, Director & Stage Sets. Performers: Anna Netrebko, Francesco Meli, Placido Domingo, and more. Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus; Vienna Philharmonics.
7:30PM Haus fuer Mozart: Mozart: Don Giovanni Christoph Eschenbach, conductor. Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Director. Performers: Genia Kühmeier, Anett Fritsch, Valentina Nafornita, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Luca Pisaroni, Tomasz Konieczny, Andrew Staples, Alessio Arduini. Philharmonica Choir Vienna. Vienna Philharmonics.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014 – Departure Day
I will kiss you Good-Bye! I hope you enjoyed your 14 days with me. I see you back in LA. So long, farewell Auf Wiedersehn – Good bye… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNs3nK31DKc
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” ~ Confucius, Chinese philosopher, 551-479 B.C.
Music For The Eyes 