Concerts & Castles! A Magical Journey to with Stephanie Elkins August 21-Sept 1, 2015 seen from Calton Hill

Join WPR’s Stephanie Elkins, TOUR HIGHLIGHTS: popular host of Morning Classics • Prime tickets to six performances at the Edinburgh Festival, including the London Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, an opera, and Simply Folk for a magical and the grand festival finale of Fireworks to orchestral musical journey to bonnie Scotland. The highlight is the 68th annual accompaniment Edinburgh International Festival, arguably the world’s best arts festival, • Optional performance of the Royal Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle in one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals. You will hear performances • Private concert of Scottish folk music in the Highlands by the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, the San • Private guided tours of major sites in Edinburgh and the Highlands, Francisco Symphony led by Michael Tilson Thomas, an all-Beethoven including Culloden Battlefield, Eilean Donan Castle, Cawdor Castle, recital by Rudolf Buchbinder, a wildly imaginative Magic Flute, and Dumferline Abbey, Holyrood Palace, National Portrait Gallery much more, climaxed by a grand Fireworks display over Edinburgh and others Castle to orchestral accompaniment. • Commentary by WPR’s Stephanie Elkins on all the music you will hear

From its famed castles and abbeys • Deluxe accommodations in Edinburgh and the Highlands to its stunning landscape of • Private motorcoach transportation to activities in the itinerary mountains, glens, lochs and moors, • Plenty of free time to attend other performances or pursue your Scotland has beguiled the romantic own interests traveler for centuries. Scotland’s colorful and dramatic history, STEPHANIE ELKINS is the host particularly its long battle for and producer of Simply Folk and Morning Classics. independence from England is She has been a music host on WPR since 2007, rich with colorful figures: William including co-hosting The Midday with Norman Wallace, “Braveheart”; ; Mary, Queen of Scots; Gilliland. In addition to her on-air duties, Bonnie Prince Charlie, not to mention its great writers from Robert Stephanie served as WPR’s interim marketing Burns to Robert Louis Stevenson. We’ll trace the lives of many of these director in 2009 and 2010. She started in public while visiting several of the country’s most notable monuments. radio at WDIY-FM in Allentown/Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and before joining WPR she hosted Musica Antiqua for 10 years at WORT-FM in Madison. Stephanie Our first four nights are in a lovely 19th century manor in the Scottish earned a bachelor of arts in political science and French from the University of Highlands, the Coul House Hotel, in the village of Contin. There we Rhode Island. She did two years of graduate work in applied economics at the will visit evocative castles and quaint villages while passing through University of Central Florida and studied at the Sorbonne in France for a year. some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, as well as listen Stephanie is also a vocalist and guitarist. to a private concert of Scottish folk music. All the while we will lodge in deluxe accommodations and sample Scottish and a cosmopolitan TOUR COST: $5,565 per person, ground only, based on double occupancy. cuisine in some of Britain’s finest restaurants. Stephanie’s Tour limited to 25 participants. The WPR Scotland tour is organized by THE GRAND TOUR Travel Company, commentary completes a trip you won’t want to miss! Peterborough, New Hampshire Daily Itinerary

Friday, August 21 Parliament and Downton Abbey’s Highclere Castle. There which features more than 500 performances day and The optional group flight on United departs Chicago we tour the castle and also take in an amazing falconry night throughout the city. You have the option tonight O’Hare non-stop, arriving in Edinburgh the next day. display! Lunch on your own in Dornoch, an attractive town of prime seats at the enormously popular Royal Edinburgh known for its championship golf course. Our final evening Military Tattoo. With the Edinburgh Castle as backdrop, SATURDAY, AUGUST 22 at Coul House features a private concert of traditional this is a spectacular evening of music, ceremony, theatre FÀILTE! [WELCOME]! Scottish folk music before dinner. and dance. Arrival at Edinburgh Airport and private motorcoach transfer to the Highlands of Scotland. We pass through WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26 SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 ROBERT THE BRUCE lovely Perthshire and over the Cairngorms mountains, EDINBURGH AND BEETHOVEN AND MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS with lunch en route in Blair Atoll, before we arrive at the We bid soraidh (farewell) to the Highlands and head south Our excursion out of Edinburgh takes us first to the manorial Coul House Hotel, near Inverness. Tonight we to Edinburgh. We check in to The George, a deluxe 4-star medieval Benedictine Abbey of Dumfermline, one of celebrate our arrival with a welcome dinner at the hotel. hotel in the city’s New Town, which occupies a classical Scotland’s most important cultural sites. Founded in the Robert Adam designed building of the 18th century. 12th century but then sacked in 1560, the Abbey was SUNDAY, AUGUST 23 The hotel is centrally located on George Street, Edinburgh’s allowed to fall into disrepair. Today some of the SHADES OF MACBETH most elegant address for boutique shops and fancy clubs. infrastructure of both the Abbey and attached Palace Breakfast daily at both hotels. Today we make our first Our arrival is in time to take in our first performance at remains, including the tomb of Robert the Bruce, a Scottish excursion in the late morning first to Culloden Battlefield. the Edinburgh International Festival: the last three sonatas king and hero buried here in 1329. Inchmahome Priory The last pitched battle on British soil, on April 16th, 1746, of Beethoven, all masterpieces of the piano literature, is situated on one of three islands in Lake Menteith and at Culloden was the decisive battle between the Jacobite performed by one of their greatest interpreters, Rudolf served as refuge for the four-year old Mary, Queen of forces of Charles Edward Stuart with several Buchbinder. Evening free and dinner on your own. Scots, after the disastrous defeat of the Scots army at clans and government loyalists, with the resounding loss Pinkie Cleugh. Lunch is near the dock of our boat out to of the former. After lunch nearby, we proceed to medieval THURSDAY, AUGUST 27 the island. Back in Edinburgh, Valery Gergiev leads the Cawdor Castle, forever linked to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, THE ROYAL MILE London Symphony Orchestra, perhaps Britain’s best, which we will tour and visit its lovely gardens. Dinner is Our private guided tour of Edinburgh’s Old Town begins in two great orchestral showpieces: Bartok’s Concerto for at the Abstract, a fine restaurant in the Glenmoriston where the city itself began—on Castle Rock. The Edinburgh Orchestra and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Hotel in Inverness along the River Ness. Castle is a former medieval fortress, Renaissance palace, and Army barracks and is still garrisoned. We will explore MONDAY, AUGUST 31 the upper part of the Royal Mile, the heart of the FIREWORKS FAREWELL! city’s fabled past with its romantic “wynds” and “closes” Today is free in Edinburgh to do your final sight-seeing branching off the old thoroughfare. After lunch at a and shopping or just relax. Tonight our farewell dinner typical Scottish restaurant, your afternoon is free. takes place at a classic French bistro near the hotel. Tonight, Berlin’s Komische Oper brings Mozart’s great Then you have a premium seat in Princes Garden for the opera, The Magic Flute, to Edinburgh in a spectacular Festival-closing, spectacular Fireworks over Edinburgh production blending animation and live action, with silent Castle, accompanied by the renowned Scottish Chamber movies, German expressionism, and Weimar cabaret! Orchestra.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 THE QUEEN’S PALACE & MTT The tour ends after breakfast before the group flight A morning private tour, exclusive to the group, takes us departs Edinburgh non-stop for Chicago. Coul House back to the Royal Mile. Holyrood Palace is a longtime Itinerary subject to change. MONDAY, AUGUST 24 favorite royal residence­—the Queen resides here when Meals in bold are included in the price of the tour. THE SPECTACULAR WEST she visits Edinburgh. Then back to our neighborhood, You don’t have to believe in the existence of the Loch a visit to the excellent National Portrait Gallery will Ness monster to enjoy the waters of the beautiful lake. acquaint you with many of Scotland’s most famous TOUR REGISTRATION We’ll board the Jacobite Queen this morning for a leisurely figures.Lunch is atop the chic Harvey Nichols department ride and disembark at Uruquart Castle. Then, it’s on to store in their fine restaurant. Your afternoon is free before TOUR COST: $5,565 per person, ground only, lunch near the misty Isle of Skye and the rocky peaks an evening Festival performance by the San Francisco double occupancy. Single supplement: $995 of the Black Cuillens. Famed Eilean Donan Castle is one Symphony. Michael Tilson Thomas, celebrating his 30th Optional group flight on United: $1,580 of Scotland’s most iconic and romantic images, known year as Music Director, leads the orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s DEPOSIT: $1000 per person first come, first served 5th Symphony and the Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 4 around the world. It stands at a point where three sea (includes a tax-deductible $500 contribution to WPR) with the fabulous Yuja Wang as soloist. lochs meet and is surrounded by majestic scenery. On the Balance deadline is June 5, 2015. After that date, way home, we’ll stop for an optional tour of the whiskey call for availability. distillery of Glen Ord and see how Scotland’s most famous SATURDAY, AUGUST 29 export is made. Dinner on your own and evening free. SONGS AND THE TATTOO Contact The Grand Tour, 800-727-2955 or [email protected] to reserve your place on the Two of the world’s most powerful musicians come tour with a credit card deposit, or send a check for the TUESDAY, AUGUST 25 together for a special morning recital. Baritone Matthias deposit amount to: WPR Scotland Tour, The Grand Tour, LOCH NESS, FALCONS, AND FOLK MUSIC Goerne, considered of the world’s finestlieder singers, PO Box 274, Peterborough, NH 03458. Registration Fairyland Dunrobin Castle has been the family seat of joins the Russian phenom Daniil Trifinov at the piano materials can be downloaded from www.wpr.org the Sutherland clan for 700 years. Begun in the 14th in songs by Berg, Schumann, Wolf, Shostakovich, and century Dunrobin was enlarged in the 19th in the French Brahms. The rest of your day is free to enjoy other Festival QUESTIONS? chateau style by Charles Barry, architect of the Houses of performances or dive into events at the vast Festival Fringe Contact Elizabeth Truchon at The Grand Tour at 800-727-2995 or [email protected]