Celebrating Franz Liszt Bi-centenary October 2011

Celebrating the Franz Liszt Bi-centenary

“I have had the pleasure of being involved in several of Roma's Lingua Musica tours, always a true delight for both the mind and soul. The information imparted by the experts she employs throughout the “journey”, brings to life the sights and cultures. Each location becomes a memorable experience, not just a visit.”
Terence R Lewis ATCL. Hon ARAM
Managing Director
Jaques Samuel Pianos, London, UK.

PRICING DETAILS:
Per person, twin-share AUD$8,570
Single Supplement AUD$1,170

DEPOSIT: AUD$1,000 30th June 2011
**Early deposit is necessary in order to secure European flights and Performance tickets.

BALANCE DUE: 16th August 2011
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DOWNLOAD TOUR BROCHURE:

Liszt Tour Brochure
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DOWNLOAD BOOKING FORM:

Liszt Tour Booking Form
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Earlier booking will secure your place on this unique never-to-be-repeated tour. The interest and bookings are already strong, with limited seats available for the official Weimar Birthday concert.

PROF. RUTH NYE, MBE, FRCM

Chilean maestro, Claudio Arrau invited Australian born Ruth Nye to study with him in New York, after he heard her play in Australia. She studied with him extensively over a period of 30 years, up until his death in 1991.

Ruth Nye had a distinguished career as a concert pianist, before turning her attention to teaching. She built a widespread reputation as one of the world's foremost piano teachers and is currently on the faculty of the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, UK and the Royal College of Music in London, UK. She holds master classes and lectures throughout the world.

Ruth Nye was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours list. In 2008 a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music was conferred on her by HRH The Prince of Wales.

Lingua Musica has been very honoured to have Ruth Nye join us on tour on many occasions in order to present some lecture/ piano recitals. With her great knowledge combined with a charming personality, she has delighted us all.

TOUR INCLUSIONS:
- 14 nights' accommodation in centrally located 4*/5* hotels
- 8 Classical Music Performances, including Opera
- 3 in-depth lectures by Ruth Nye, MBE, FRCM
- On-Tour Informative talks, plus a comprehensive Tour Handbook containing information on orchestras, soloists and conductors, and detailed programme notes for all major performances.
- Comprehensive sight-seeing with local English-speaking guides
- All breakfasts, plus 12 meals as indicated in the Itinerary
- All admissions, bus & metro tickets when on guided tours
- Services of the Tour Director or Manager
- TWO x Lufthansa Economy air fares: Vienna-Leipzig(Halle) and Frankfurt-Venice
- Eurostar train travel (1st Class) Vienna-Budapest
- Eurostar train travel (1st Class) Venice-Rome
- Travel by private, air-conditioned coach
- Hotel Porterage - one bag per person, where available
- All tips and taxes

CELEBRATING FRANZ LISZT BI-CENTENARY (AND MORE)
Vienna, Budapest, Leipzig, Weimar, Sacile, Venice, Rome
16th - 30th October 2011
15 Days

TOUR LEADER: ROMA RANDLES, LINGUA MUSICA DIRECTOR
GUEST ESCORT: PROFESSOR RUTH NYE, MBE, FRCM

        This is an absolutely unique tour and one not to be missed

NOTE: There are limited tickets available for two of the performances on the Liszt tour so early booking would be wise.

With the milder weather, autumn colour and less congestion, October is a delightful time to travel in Europe. Our tour focuses on the life of the phenomenal piano soloist, Franz Liszt and his associations with other Romantics of the period, but will also include many other highlights in our selected locations. As we follow in Liszt's footsteps, we travel from Eastern Europe across to Venice, eventually concluding in Rome. We have incorporated flights and very fast trains as well as conventional private coach to give you the very best and varied experiences during your time in Europe.

Born in Hungary, Liszt was also an important and influential composer, a notable piano teacher, a conductor who contributed significantly to the modern development of the art, and a benefactor to other composers and performers, notably Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg and Alexander Borodin. We will explore a less known side of Liszt's personality through his association with one of his most brilliant pupils, Martin Krause, who in turn taught the great Chilean maestro, Claudio Arrau ... and then Arrau's long-time friend and pupil, RUTH NYE.

Franz Liszt spent his early years in Budapest, where there is now an excellent Liszt Museum and where the Liszt Academy is not only a highly renowned teaching institution, but also the venue of the most important concert halls in Budapest. Early concerts in Budapest gave testament to Franz Liszt’s brilliance, prompting a group of wealthy Hungarians to support his further musical education abroad. In his ninth year he was taken to Vienna where he spent six years studying piano with Carl Czerny, a former student of Beethoven, as well as Composition with Salieri, who was then Director of Music in Vienna. Liszt, an astounding prodigy, was feted by influential and wealthy Viennese. During these years he met Beethoven, who is said to have kissed him, and Schubert, whose music later became a life-long passion for him.

VIENNA is Vienna! And you will explore a large slice of its architectural highlights as well as savouring its music and great art. Following an exhilarating journey of discovery to Budapest, we fly from Vienna to Leipzig, with all its historical music associations before continuing by private coach to nearby WEIMAR.

Situated in what was formerly the G.D.R. but now very much part of reunified Germany, the charming little city of Weimar, once described as “a great park with a small city in the centre" was, in Goethe's own words, "My Little Athens on the Ilm". Not far from Leipzig, it is also known as "the Cradle of German Classicism". Here, long before Goethe, Schiller and other luminaries laid the foundations for one of the great eras of European culture, Lucas Cranach and Johann Sebastian Bach had lived and worked. Later, the activities of Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, and of Henry van de Velde and Walter Gropius of the Bauhaus School provided decisive impetus for the Modern Age.

In 1847 Liszt decided to settle in Weimar after a long frenetic period of European recitals, about which he had become tired and spiritually troubled. By 1848 he was residing in the Altenburg castle as Court Kapellmeister. The concert world was hugely disappointed, but Liszt had decided to concentrate on a higher mission in life ... the creating of new musical forms, taking on pupils without fee, and conducting.

A surprise inclusion of this trip is a visit to the delightful little town of SACILE, situated an hour’s drive north of VENICE. Sacile is Italy exemplified and is also the home of the marvellous Fazioli Piano which has become the favourite instrument of so many international concert artists. (How Liszt would have adored this piano!) Of course a guided tour and a meal in Venice is a must before we take our fast train to The Eternal City of ROME, where Liszt spent the final years of his life living at the famous Villa d’Este, as well as several months of each year continuing to teach in Weimar.

Itinerary follows but if you require any additional information please don't hesitate to telephone Roma Randles on 03 9589 0942 OR Deborah Tresise on 02 9327 5733.
Emails : [email protected] or [email protected]

DETAILED ITINERARY

Sunday 16th October
VIENNA
Our tour commences in Vienna, where we will be staying in The Wandl, a boutique, historic hotel and certainly one of Vienna's most centrally situated, only a short walk from St Stephens Cathedral, the Graben and the Hofburg Palace.
Meet fellow travellers in the later afternoon at our first tour meeting, followed by a welcome dinner with Roma Randles and your Tour Manager.

Monday 17th October
VIENNA
Vienna and music have always been importantly linked. Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Mahler are only some of the greats for whom this city was the only reasonable place in which to live. Its history is indeed a splendid one. With its Roman beginnings, it was once placed centrally in the very heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its Baroque style superceded the Gothic, followed by all the architectural developments of later eras. Our local guides will bring this magical city of such contrasts alive for you.

This morning we will commence our time in Vienna with an excursion along the famous Ringstrasse, which surrounds the Old City, nearly 5kms long. The Ringstrasse, built by Emperor Franz Joseph between 1858 and 1865, was designed to replace the original walls and to exhibit the many grand new architectural monuments of his city ... the great State Opera House, the Musikverein, Stadtpark, The Town Hall, the Burgtheater, the Parliament, the Kunsthistoriches Museum and part of the Hofburg Palace.

Roma will take us on a walking tour of the inner Old City. We will discover along its cobbled back streets, Mozart's Figaro House and its environs, St Stephens Cathedral, visit the amazing Haus der Musik, the Graben and the great Hofburg Palace, finishing with a late lunch at Demel.

Tuesday 18th October
VIENNA
A free day in Vienna for independent discovery. Detailed information about Vienna's prestigious galleries and cultural highlights will be provided.

EVENING PERFORMANCE:
Vienna State Opera House
Guiseppe Verdi, La Traviata

Wednesday 19th October
BUDAPEST - FULL FRANZ LISZT DISCOVERY DAY
Leaving our suitcases at the Wandl and taking one small overnight bag, we travel by fast inter-city train to BUDAPEST, where we will enjoy a full day in the footsteps of Liszt, discovering the wonders of this beautiful city on both sides of the Danube. Some of the main highlights will include the Liszt Museum, Buda Castle, Chain Bridge, Parliament (the largest building in Hungary), Heroes' Square, St Stephen's Basilica, Fishermen’s Bastion, and Andrassy Avenue, with its unique architectural style so popular in the closing years of the nineteenth century.

We will be staying in the elegant Opera Hotel. Early dinner, after which we will attend a classical performance at the beautiful Hungarian State Opera House, a short walk away.

EVENING PERFORMANCE:
Budapest State Opera House
Program to be announced.
Details of New Season will not be released till September.

Thursday 20th October
BUDAPEST
After a leisurely morning, we travel in our private coach from our hotel to Vienna Airport where our Tour Manager will meet us with our luggage. We will take the mid-afternoon Lufthansa flight from Vienna to Leipzig-Halle airport. Late dinner will be served on arrival at the luxurious Leipzig Marriott Hotel.

Friday 21st October
LEIPZIG
Today we enjoy a comprehensive exploration of the highlights of this renowned 'City of Music' and its connections with J.S.Bach, Liszt, Schumann, Mendelssohn and more. We will visit the lovely Mendelssohnhaus, lunch in an historic restaurant frequented by such luminaries as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Goethe, Wagner, Liszt...to name but a few. Afterwards we visit the newly restored lovely Bosehaus with its valuable Bach archives;

EVENING PERFORMANCE:
St Thomas Church, Leipzig
Our day in Liepzig will finish with a choral performance at 6pm in the historic St. Thomas Church. This Motet concert will be given by the STUTTGARTER HYMNUS-CHORKNABEN which will allow us to experience themagnificence of contrapuntal sound in this soaring historic church which was so much part of Bach's life.

Afterwards we will sit back and enjoy the trip in our private bus to Weimar, with a snack en route. Your arrival at the historic and luxurious HOTEL ELEPHANT, which will be your home for the next four nights, will delight.

Saturday 22nd October
WEIMAR
Franz Liszt's 200th Birthday! This morning we will meet our Guest Escort, Ruth Nye, before enjoying an expertly guided Liszt Tour, during which we will visit many of the places associated with our hero during his many years in Weimar. It will conclude in the delightful Gartenhaus, where the great man taught so many promising and already established young pianists without fee, for several months during each of his final eight years. Here Ruth Nye will deliver a lecture.
We will enjoy taking lunch in Goethe's favourite little inn, The White Swan.

EVENING PERFORMANCE:
LISZT 200th BIRTHDAY CONCERT.

PROGRAM:
WEIMAR NEUE KONZERTHALLE
Weimar Festival Orchestra
Conductor :     Christian Thielemann
Piano Soloist : Konstantin Scherbakow

Wagner:   Tannhauser Overture
Liszt:        Piano Concerto in A dur
Liszt:        Totentanz
Liszt:        Les Preludes

Sunday 23rd October
WEIMAR
Today we take a delightful excursion to BAYREUTH, the beautiful little city associated most of all with Richard Wagner. We will explore this charming town, visit the extraordinary Wagner Festspielhaus, have lunch in a charming and lively Italian restaurant.

INFORMAL DISCUSSION:
Ruth Nye and Roma Randles will then hold a discussion about the differing aspects of Wagner and the relationship between Liszt and the Wagner family in a private home, one of the lovely 200 yr old houses of Bayreuth.

Monday 24th October
WEIMAR
This morning we have scheduled what will be a marvellous guided tour of UNESCO Heritage listed parks and places surrounding Weimar. Afternoon concert to be arranged.

AFTERNOON PERFORMANCE:
Emmanuel Despax
Piano Recital
Brilliant French pianist, Emmanuel Despax was born in Paris but his burgeoning career has led him to make his home in England. At 13 he gained a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School, gaining a full scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 2002; there he won many awards including the Kendall Taylor Prize in the Beethoven Competition, the Esther Fisher Prize for best undergraduate and the Chappell Medal. He was also awarded the RCM’s most sought after prize, the Tagore Gold Medal, which was presented to him by HRH the Prince of Wales. Whilst still at college, he performed Brahms’ First Concerto under Andrew Litton with the RCM Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 he won the prestigious Dudley International Piano Competition. In Spring 2011 he makes his Paris début at the Salle Gaveau and will give the opening recital of the Louvre International Series in the Autumn.

Our day concludes with dinner in the delightful candle-lit Restaurant Frauentor.

Tuesday 25th October
VENICE (via Frankfurt)
Reluctantly saying goodbye to memorable Weimar, this morning we drive to Frankfurt Airport, for our Lufthansa flight to Venice and then a short drive to the fascinating little Italian gem, SACILE. We will use just an overnight bag, leaving our main luggage in the care of our hotel, the charming Hotel Due Leoni.

During the afternoon we will have a guided tour of the famous Fazioli Piano Factory ... a unique experience not only for pianists, but for all interested in music. This place is a calm silent oasis ... anything but what the word 'factory' suggests. The introspective silence is broken only occasionally by the gentle sound of a piano being tried, or of a tremulous sound of strings being worked upon. The workers here are dedicated artists - how Liszt would have adored the Fazioli piano!

EVENING PERFORMANCE:
We are delighted to be presenting a marvellous recital this evening at the
Fazioli Concert Hall, Sacile, preceded by a lecture from Prof. Ruth Nye.
Brilliant young Italian pianist, DAVID MALUSA, has won many international awards.
After completing his Master's at the Royal College of Music London, he was chosen from a large number of applicants for the Oxford International Piano Festival in 2007 and has since performed as a soloist in Italy,Germany,France, England, Czech Republic and Croatia, always to great accalim by public and critics alike. He won the Jaques Samuel Intercollegiate Competition in 2010 and will be performing at the Wigmore Hall and further European concerts in 2011.

Following this wonderful musical experience, we will enjoy a "banchetto molto Italiano" with our guest escort, this evening's concert artist, and Maestro Paolo Fazioli himself!

Wednesday 26th October
SACILE / VENICE
After breakfast there will be free time walk around Sacile's beautiful water-side setting, before we depart for our guided tour of Venice.

We will be met by our Guide for a tour of this unique and marvellous city, where Liszt had written of its mystery and of its impact on Byron, commencing with a vaporetto ride along the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. Our day will include lunch in either Sacile or Venice. We return by vaporetto to the Venice Mestre Rail Station, in time for our fast train trip to Rome.

This short Venice tour is OPTIONAL. If you would prefer to spend a more relaxing day ( with lunch provided )in beautiful Sacile, please advise us of your decision when paying final tour balance.

We will be departing for Rome by train from Venice Mestre at 18.20hrs

It will be possible to have dinner on the train.

Thursday 27th October
ROME
Our hotel is the beautiful and tranquil Victoria Hotel Roma, centrally situated by the 2000 year old Aurelian Wall in the historical centre of Rome facing the beautiful Villa Borghese Park, just minutes walk fromVia Veneto and Villa Borghese.

This morning will be a restful one, giving you time to explore our hotel's marvellous surrounds, the Pantheon, plus a short walk to the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps, Piazza Venezia, Piazza del Popolo and Via Condotti.

Our guide will collect you from the hotel immediately after lunch for a guided walk and tour on the excellent 'hop-on-hop-off' experience to introduce Rome's most significant sights.

EVENING PERFORMANCE:
Evening performance, which could be opera, ballet or concert.
Program details to be advised.

Friday 28th October
ROME
We depart for a marvellously interesting day visiting the Villa d' Este, set in its splendid and mesmerising gardens of cypresses and fountains. Certainly Liszt found these mesmerising during his final years when he resided here. We are told he would sometimes spend full days in contemplation in the gardens before he wrote his superb late works incorporating the sounds evoked here.

AFTERNOON LECTURE and PERFORMANCE:
This day will include lunch in Tivoli and a lecture entitled, "Late Liszt" from Ruth Nye. We will also enjoy a performance of music from Liszt's Italian period.

We return to Rome where we bid goodbye to Ruth Nye.

Saturday 29th October
ROME
Today we commence with a morning guided tour, going further afield to St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican, returning via Trastevere, often referred to as the Village Within the City.

In the evening we meet for a Farewell Dinner.

Sunday 30th October
ROME
Our wonderful Liszt tour concludes after breakfast, after which it will be possible to extend your time in Rome. If you would like us to extend your booking at the Victoria Hotel Roma please let us know and we will be happy to liaise with them on your behalf.

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