OPERA IN NEW YORK APRIL 18-27, 2018 TOUR LEADER: CHRISTOPHER MENZ Anna Netrebko Placido Domingo Pretty Yende Joyce DiDonato David Robertson Sonya Yoncheva OPERA IN Overview NEW YORK April 2018 sees a star-studded line up of performers at New York’s Tour dates: April 18-27, 2018 Metropolitan Opera, unrivalled by any other opera company anywhere in the world in the 2017-18 season. Academy Travel is delighted to offer Tour leader: Christopher Menz lovers of vocal music a 10-day program that includes six outstanding performances at the Met. We’ve secured seats for all performances in the Grand Tier, in our view the best seats in the theatre for acoustics and Tour Price: $9,250 per person, twin share sight-lines. Single Supplement: $2,300 for sole use of The performance program is complemented by visits to a select range of double room small galleries and museums, background talks and plenty of time to relax and enjoy New York. Tour leader Christopher Menz will provide both Booking deposit: $500 per person background talks on the performances and expert information on some of the galleries and museums we visit. Recommended airline: Qantas Accommodation is in spacious Premier Plus rooms at the Warwick Hotel Maximum places: 20 in midtown New York. The Warwick is close to restaurants, cafes and a number of museums and historical sites. Academy Travel has conducted Itinerary: New York, 9 nights, with 6 long-stay tours to New York since 2007. We have a thorough and up-to- performances at the Metropolitan Opera date knowledge of most of the cultural attractions of the city. Date published: January 10, 2017 Your tour leader Music lover Christopher Menz has led music and literature tours to Europe and the US for Academy travel and Australian Book Review for which he is a regular arts reviewer. Christopher is a former director of the Art Gallery of South Australia and before that held curatorial positions at the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, and National Gallery of Victoria, specialising in decorative arts. Not surprisingly, Christopher identifies the operas and the performers as the chief attraction of this tour. ‘For me the program on offer at the Met in April 2018 is a not to be missed opportunity to experience an amazing series of operas performed by the greatest singers in one of the world’s best opera houses.’ As a former gallery director who has taken groups to New York in the past, Christopher is also very familiar with the city’s non-musical attractions. ‘New York offers visitors so much. Apart from fantastic opera, music and theatre it has superlative museums and galleries, fabulous buildings, and Enquiries and amazing energy.’ bookings Some traveller feedback on our April 2017 Alps to the Rhine music tour… For further information and to “I appreciated not only Christopher’s wide knowledge of opera and music secure a place on this tour but also his specific research into the productions we were to see.” please contact Jemma York at Academy Travel on 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 (outside Sydney) or email This tour is run in association [email protected] with ADFAS Travel Performances COSI FAN TUTTE Phelim McDermott’s new production of Mozart’s tale of young love and fidelity was jointly developed by the Met and the English National Opera. It has its first run in New York in April 2018. Lyric soprano Amanda Majeski and Italian mezzo Serena Malfi play the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella with English baritone Christopher Maltman as Don Alfonso. The Sydney Symphony’s David Robertson conducts. LUISA MILLER Bertrand de Billy will conduct Verdi’s fine middle period opera, with the newly-established dramatic soprano Sonya Yoncheva in the title role. She is admirably supported by Polish tenor Piotr Beczala as Rodolfo and the much-loved Placido Domingo in the baritone role of Luisa’s father. The production is directed by Elijah Moshinsky, known to Australian audiences for his work with Opera Australia. ROMÉO ET JULIETTE Bartlett Sher’s hit production of Gounod’s stirring opera stars brilliant young American soprano Ailyn Pérez and Bryan Hymel. LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR Coloratura soprano Pretty Yende has astounded audiences around the world with her performance in the title role of Donizetti’s dramatic bel canto opera. CENDRILLON Jules Massenet’s rendering of the Cinderella story is something of a rarity outside of France. The sumptuous 1899 score was written for the Opéra-Comique in Paris. It is sure to come alive in Laurent Pelly’s production. Celebrated mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato brings technical brilliance, a rich mezzo voice and fine acting skills to the title role. TOSCA Russian diva Anna Netrebko is sure to provide a searing interpretation in the title role of this most dramatic of Puccini’s verismo operas. German baritone Michael Volle plays the police chief Scarpia, with Met regular Marcelo Alvarez as the hero Cavaradossi. Sir David McVicar’s new production for the Met is a traditional interpretation, with stunning sets and costumes by John McFarlane. Detailed itinerary Included meals are shown with the symbols B, L and D. Begin the tour relaxed In order to get the most from performances we strongly recommend that you plan to arrive in the United States one or two days before the tour begins. Academy Travel can arrange additional accommodation in New York or another city. Wednesday 18 April Arrive New York Meet your tour leader and fellow tour participants over welcome drinks and finger food in our hotel. Thursday 19 April Così fan tutte Downtown Local guide Matt Postal takes us through the Times Square, Madison Park, Chelsea and SoHo districts to the Financial District, where we explore the history and architecture of Manhattan’s downtown. After a welcome lunch at the historic Above: Our walking tour of the Financial District encompasses the Fraunces Tavern, Christopher Menz guides us through tonight’s early history of New York, historic sites such as the Fraunces Tavern opera, Mozart’s comedy Così fan tutte. Sopranos Amanda and the Trinity Church (above), Art Deco Skyscrapers and Wall St Majeski and Serena Malfi lead the excellent cast, with English Below: Ingres’s 1845 portrait of the Comtesse d’Haussonville is one baritone Christopher Maltman as the cynical Don Alfonso and of the many masterpieces to adorn the walls of the Frick Collection the Sydney Symphony’s David Robertson conducting. Phelim McDermott’s production, created jointly for the English National Opera and the Met, uses a circus-like setting to deal with the fleeting and somewhat impossible story line. (B, L) Performance details Venue: Metropolitan Opera Program: Mozart, Così fan tutte Performers: Amanda Majeski (Fiordiligi), Serena Malfi (Dorabella), Kelli O’Hara (Despina), Christopher Maltman (Don Alfonso), David Robertson (conductor) Friday 20 April Frick Collection – Rockefeller Center This morning we visit the former Fifth Avenue home of ‘robber baron’ Henry Clay Frick. Set on an entire block, this elegant home has been a museum since shortly after Frick’s death in 1913. It contains a superb collection of Renaissance to 18th- century European art, accompanied by exquisite furniture and decorative arts. This afternoon we visit the Rockefeller Center, completed in the Great Depression and a supreme example of New York skyscraper architecture. Christopher Menz gives a background talk on Verdi’s Luisa Miller in one of the Center’s meeting rooms. This evening is free, but there are plenty of performance options available, including the New York Philharmonic and an orchestral concert at Carnegie Hall. (B) Saturday 21 April Luisa Miller Museum of Art and Design We depart the hotel on foot, calling in first at the Museum of Art and Design, overlooking Central Park on Columbus Circle. The Museum hosts constantly-changing exhibitions of decorative arts and design from around the world. We continue the short distance to the Lincoln Center, and our matinee performance of Verdi’s Luisa Miller. Written in the period immediately before Il Trovatore, La Traviata and Rigoletto, the dramatic tale of Luisa and her father is brimming with typically Verdian motifs – father- daughter relationships, public and private morality, not to mention a love triangle. Soprano Sonya Yoncheva sings the title role. Yoncheva thrilled New York audiences in January 2016 with her performances in La Traviata (seen by an Academy Travel group). She was invited back to open the Met’s 2016-17 season and since then she has performed in many of the great opera houses of the world. Polish tenor Piotr Beczala returns to the Met after a 10-year absence and veteran Placido Domingo sings the baritone role of Miller in this Elijah Moshinsky production. Bertrand de Billy, who made his Met debut in 1998, will lead tonight’s performance. (B) Performance details Venue: Metropolitan Opera Above: In recent years Placido Domingo has taken on major Program: Verdi, Luisa Miller baritone roles, such as Simon Boccanegra (above, ROH) and Performers: Sonya Yoncheva (Luisa), Piotr Beczala (Rodolfo), Macbeth Placido Domingo (Miller), Bertrand De Billy (conductor) Sunday 22 April Below: Gustav Klimt’s celebrated portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Neue Galerie, Central Park “The Woman in Gold” and centrepiece of the Neue Galerie The Neue Galerie, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, was established by the art dealer Serge Sabarsky and the art-loving entrepreneur Ronald S Lauder. The collection focuses on early 20th-century painting and decorative arts from Vienna, and its centrepiece is Gustav Klimt’s portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer, subject of the recent film, The Woman in Gold. Our before-hours tour will also include a visiting exhibition of early 20th-century art (the Neue regularly holds exhibitions of the highest calibre).