MUNICH

With La Fille du regiment (Graham, Brownlee), Le nozze di Figaro (Luciano, Bengtsson, Röschmann), Don Giovanni (Krimmel, Fischesser, Boecker), Così fan tutte (Kulchynska, Kränzle), Kát’a Kabanová (Siljanov, Urmana, Wilson) and Cavalleria Rusticana/ Pagliacci (Semenchuk, Grigolo/Kaufmann, Pérez)

Superb meals and guided tours; Day trip to Nymphenburg.

5-star Bayerischer Hof Hotel.

Munich has one of the finest opera festivals in the world, and we will see and hear the best singers in the world perform with one of the finest orchestras on the planet in 2025. As always, we will present a tour in a way that no one else can–with best seats in all venues, the finest guide in the city, Deluxe rooms at the 5-star Bayerischer Hof Hotel, and superb meals and daytime events.

Our touring will include the unparalleled visual art experiences to be had in Munich, as well as a day trip to the majestic Nympenburg Palace, just outside of the city.

This tour is limited to 16 members. To register now, click here.

ITINERARY

SUNDAY, JUNE 29

Departures from your country of residence (for overnight flights).

MONDAY, JUNE 30

Upon arrival at Munich Airport, you are met and transferred to the 5-star Hotel Bayerischer Hof in the city centre.

19.00 Gather in the hotel’s Garden Restaurant for a Welcome Dinner.

TUESDAY, JULY 1

10.00 Following breakfast, included at the hotel each morning, we embark on a private walking tour of the city’s historic centre.

13.00 Lunch is included afterward at the Zum Franziskaner.

18.20 In the evening we walk to our first performance at the Nationaltheater, Donizetti's La fille du régiment. 19.00 curtain.

La fille du régiment, or the “regiment’s daughter”, is what they call the young Marie, who was found when just a child on the battlefield by soldiers. The troops commit to raising the evidently abandoned girl themselves. A young man of course must soon enter the scene and stir a special interest in her, and the secret of her origins will soon also be revealed. In the best tradition of French opéra comique, with his team of librettists, Gaetano Donizetti created a piece that in a truly original way combines Alpine idyll, patriotic enthusiasm and romantic love with comic situations and heightened conflicts. While Donizetti’s piece was at times extremely popular, the “regiment’s daughter” faded from favour somewhat in the 20th century. It can now be rediscovered, from the famous overture right through to the both amusing and cryptic music, in its first new production at the Bayerische Staatsoper in almost ninety years

Damiano Michieletto places the question of true identity front and centre in his staging. “The story moves between two levels – nature and the city. Nature as the symbol of an instinctive and spontaneous world and the city as a world of fine manners and high culture. The performance plays these two opposites off against one another, with extravagant costumes and jolly characters, who right at the end, are finally freed from social labels and can happily assume their own identities.”

Conductor Stefano Montanari

Production Damiano Michieletto

Set Design Paolo Fantin

La Marquise de Berkenfield Susan Graham

Tonio Lawrence Brownlee

Sulpice Misha Kiria

Hortensius Martin Snell

Ein Korporal Christian Rieger

Ein Landmann Dafydd Jones

Marie Serena Sáenz

La Duchesse de Crakentorp Sunnyi Melles

WEDNESDAY, JULY 2

10.00 Meet in the lobby and tour through the Englischer Garten by rickshaw, ending with lunch at the Seehaus Beer Garden (12.30).

14.30 Coach return the hotel after lunch.

Tonight we include a special performance (TBA).

THURSDAY, JULY 3

10.00 Gather in lobby and depart for a tour at the Alte Pinakothek (Old Picture Gallery), one of the finest visual art experiences in the world.

Lunch is at leisure.

16.45 Gather in the lobby and depart for an early dinner at Spatenhaus an der Oper before Le nozze di Figaro at the Nationalheater. 19.00 start.

Count Almaviva has himself abolished the iusprimae noctis, or "right of the lord". A fact, however, which does not prevent him from trying to seduce the Countess’s maid, Susanna, just before her marriage to Figaro. A clear case of sexual harassment. But, what happens when the culprit has plenty of money and power? Or, can even bend the law to suit their wishes? Le nozze di Figaro was more than just a comedy back in Mozart’s day. The world portrayed is brim full of criminal machinations and blatant fraud and chicanery by the powerful and almighty. Lorenzo Da Ponte’s libretto based on the scandalous play by the French revolutionary, Beaumarchais, leads the colourful characters of a comedy of the classes into situations so hopeless that emptiness and the desire to die spread to all quarters. And so the Count’s love for his new wife following their marriage suddenly goes ice-cold, although he has just recently spectacularly freed her from the clutches of her custodian. The resourceful Figaro of all people had helped him here, and in gratitude, the Count now employs him as his personal valet, perhaps as questionable compensation for Susanna’s harassment. Hardly conquered, the countess finds herself neglected and longs for either Almaviva's love or her own death. It takes a great deal of intrigue and counter-intrigue to disempower the encroaching count and allow Susanna's wedding to her beloved Figaro to take place after all.

With much love for tempo and situation comedy, the staging by Evgeny Titov examines the question as to why humanity proves time and again how fragile it is and where the weak points are. For this, the immense versatility of Mozart’s music unfurls its very own dynamic in the unleashing of jealousy and desire.

Conductor Susanna Mälkki

Production Evgeny Titov

Set Design Annemarie Woods

Il Conte di Almaviva Davide Luciano

La Contessa di Almaviva Maria Bengtsson

Susanna Julie Fuchs

Figaro Philippe Sly

Cherubino Emily D'Angelo

Marcellina Dorothea Röschmann

Bartolo Willard White

Basilio Tansel Akzeybek

Don Curzio Kevin Conners

Barbarina Eirin Rognerud

Antonio Martin Snell

Mädchen Ekaterine Buachidze/ Seonwoo Lee

FRIDAY, JULY 4

10.00 We gather in the lobby and board our coach for a private tour of the excellent Design Museum, founded in 1907. It is one of the leading museums of its kind in the world, with the largest collection of industrial and product design anywhere.

13.15 Lunch is included at Brasserie Cuvilliés.

18.30 Depart for the Nationaltheater and a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. 19.00 curtain.

“Chi è morto, voi o il vecchio?,” jokes the servant Leporello cryptically, after Don Giovanni has murdered “Il Commendatore”. The story of the “punished debauchee” has long since been the stuff of myth. Don Giovanni plays out in a field of tension between heaven and hell, as opposites collide in this dramma giocoso, set among amorous desires and the fall of angels. In this kaleidoscope of situations and characters, there is an absolute absence of clarity, evident alone in the fact that each of these characters lies – either to each other or to themselves. The timeless comedy motifs of role and dress change assume an oppressive ambiguity here. The master of transformation Don Giovanni, this polyerotic hedonist, is hard to fathom. In endless metamorphoses, he appears just as suddenly as he then immediately disappears again. The other characters know – they need him, as a mirror of themselves. And so for Leporello it becomes clear after his master’s death that Don Giovanni leads an eternal life and will affect ours again and again. This Don Giovanni now completes the Da Ponte cycle. “Faust” winner David Hermann stages at the Bayerische Staatsoper for the first time. General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski conducts the piece, in which Mozart threw open the doors to a new world, from which there can be no return.

Conductor Vladimir Jurowski

Production David Hermann

Set Design  Jo Schramm

Don Giovanni  Konstantin Krimmel

Der Komtur  Christof Fischesser

Donna Anna  Vera-Lotte Boecker

Don Ottavio  Giovanni Sala

Donna Elvira  Samantha Hankey

Leporello Kyle Ketelsen

Zerlina Avery Amereau

Masetto Michael Mofidian

SATURDAY, JULY 5

Enjoy the full day at leisure.

18.20 Gather and walk to the Nationaltheater for Mozart's Così fan tutte. 19.00 curtain.

Nothing is for forever. And people make mistakes. And yet, letting go is the hardest challenge when you're burning with love for the first time and want nothing more than to hold on to it forever. But can you feel as intensely forever as you did in the beginning? Così fan tutte in Benedict Andrews’s new production deals with the exuberant feelings that drive young love in the rush of hormones. Sometimes it touches the fringes of human relationships, where one threatens to lose oneself in the search for intensity. Mozart's opera of 1790 would not be so significant to this day had he not also immediately dealt with the instability of it all. Thus the two young couples, who think they have already discovered the essence of true love, meet two experienced counterparts in Don Alfonso and Despina. An experiment begins in which the men put the fidelity of their partners to the test by playing a game of disguise. What remains is disillusionment. And the possibility of a painful realization: only freedom and the longing for union are certain. Disappointment and rejection are part of the game – because no love is ideal.

Conductor Christopher Moulds

Production Benedict Andrews

Set Design  Magda Willi

Fiordiligi Olga Kulchynska

Dorabella Avery Amereau

Guilelmo Andrei Zhilikhovsky

Ferrando Daniel Behle

Despina Sandrine Piau

Don Alfonso  Johannes Martin Kränzle

SUNDAY, JULY 6

10.00 Today we embark by private coach for a tour to the Medieval town of Regensburg, with it’s stunning Gothic cathedral.

14.00 Lunch is included at the wonderful Roter Hahn.

17.00 Back at the hotel, where the evening is at leisure.

MONDAY, JULY 7

10.00 Gather in the lobby and depart for a tour the stunning Residenz, the largest city palace in Germany and today the home of room decorations and displays from former royal collections.

17.00 Dinner is included at the Brenner Grill.

18.45 Walk next door to the Nationaltheater for Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová. 19.00 curtain.

In Leoš Janáček’s opera, Kát’a Kabanová, the eponymous heroine is ensnared at the heart of an ominous mesh of relations. Her domineering mother-in-law, Kabanicha, oppresses and controls her son Tichon, whose marriage to Kát’a suffers massively from heteronomy. Because Kát’a finds no fulfilment in this family, she flees and fulfils her unsatisfied erotic desires in an affair with Boris. As composer and librettist, Janáček bundles the plot of the literary template, Alexander N. Ostrovsky’s drama, The Storm. The libretto largely dispenses with the portrayal of the external social circumstances, from whence Kát’a’s essence and choices are decisively determined. Instead, Janáček traces the development of the title character in a psychological-sensitive musical language. Kát’a’s feelings of guilt increase continuously until they discharge into a public confession as an emotional storm. The turbulent and in places fanciful music opens the space for passages of lyrical grace and allows us to experience the essence of the characters. In Kát’a, director Krzysztof Warlikowski sees an outsider, who is denied a life in harmony with her desires, and at the end prefers death over lies. The destructive power of religion behind it all is not only found in a small Russian town on the banks of the Volga in the 1860s, where the libretto places the plot, but rather can also be seen everywhere all over the world.

Conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla

Production Krzysztof Warlikowski

Set Design Małgorzata Szczęśniak

Savjol Prokofjevič Dikoj Milan Siljanov

Boris Grigorjevič Pavel Černoch

Marfa Ignatěvna Kabanová (Kabanicha) Violeta Urmana

Tichon Ivanyč Kabanov John Daszak

Katěrina (Káťa) Corinne Winters

Váňa Kudrjáš James Ley

Varvara Rachael Wilson

Kuligin Thomas Mole

Glaša Ekaterine Buachidze

Fekluša Elene Gvritishvili

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10.00 We gather in the lobby and board our coach for a private tour of the Glyptotek, with its superb collection of Greek and Roman sculptures.

19.00 Following an afternnon at leisure, we meet for an unforgettable dinner at Michelin-starred Les Deux.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

Enjoy the final morning at leisure to rest and pack.

14.00 Meet for a special late luncheon before our final performance: the traditional double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at the Nationaltheater. The former features Ekaterina Semenchuk and Vittorio Grigolo, while Pagliacci features superstars Ailyn Pérez and Jonas Kaufmann.

“The artist is a man, and he must write for men. … and you will see true hatred and its bitter fruit.” In the Pagliacci prologue, Tonio tells us what this opera is about – it seeks to put the reality of life on the stage. This applies for both works, which will now enjoy their first new staging at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 46 years (1978). Together Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo simply exemplify verismo. The basic situation: A woman is unfaithful. Another reveals this to the husband, and he, spurred on by this woman, takes bloody revenge on the lover. Cavalleria rusticana is about Turiddu, who returns to find his old flame Lola again, but she is now married to the carter, Alfio. Turiddu then consoles himself by seducing Santuzza. But the old love is reignited, and Lola betrays her husband, and Turiddu his girlfriend. In Pagliacci, the plot revolves around Nedda and her husband Canio, the leader of a group of comedians. Nedda’s love for him has grown cold, so she turns to the farmer, Silvio.

The direction team at Francesco Micheli’s side have found a common thread for the two operas, written independently of each other, but often performed together: “We want to construct one single story, the story of a man who in Cavalleria rusticana has lost his roots and in Pagliacci tries to re-establish his original ties in a new society, however fails miserably in doing so.”

Conductor Andrea Battistoni

Production Francesco Micheli

Set Design Edoardo Sanchi

Cavalleria Rusticana

Santuzza Ekaterina Semenchuk

Turiddu Vittorio Grigolo

Lucia Rosalind Plowright

Alfio Wolfgang Koch

Lola Rihab Chaieb

Pagliacci

Nedda Ailyn Pérez

Canio Jonas Kaufmann

Tonio Wolfgang Koch

Beppo Granit Musliu

Bauer Christian Rieger

Silvio Andrzej Filończyk

THURSDAY, JULY 10

Transfers are included to Munich Airport for departure flights.

TOUR INCLUDES

• Top Category seats for 7 operas and 1 additional performance

• 10 nights in Deluxe rooms at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof (5-star)

• Full breakfast daily, 5 lunches and 4 dinners 

• Private tours as listed

• Airport-hotel transfers 

• On-site Tour Direction

• Comprehensive Tour Guidebook

FLIGHTS

Flights are not included in tour pricing. Return flights should be booked to Munich for arrival on June 30, departure on July 10.

TRANSFERS

We provide airport/rail station—hotel transfers for arrivals and departures within within 3 days of the start/end of our tour. We also provide transfers for group meals and performances that are beyond a 10 minute walk.

MOBILITY

There is minimal walking with some stairs during the guided tours. As for all of our tours, we are happy to accommodate you regardless of your mobility level. Please make clear your mobility concerns at the time of registration. We provide transfers for group meals and performances that are beyond a 10 minute walk.

INSURANCE

We strongly recommend that all tour members purchase cancellation insurance upon registration. We can assist you with this, though you are welcome to purchase a policy at your own discretion. For more information about our travel insurance, click here.