Our spring Tours to Paris have been invariably
sold out in recent years, with our travelers consistently
rewarded by a wide variety of exciting performances in the
city’s plethora of beautiful theatres. Now we have chosen
an exceptional week for early June of 2010, which will include
a total of SIX VARIED PERFORMANCES featuring today’s
most sought-after international stars. We are pleased that
these performances will take us to four of the city’s
glamorous theatres – the state-of-the-art Bastille Opera
which is now the home of the Opéra National de Paris;
the elegant ‘art nouveau’ Théâtre
des Champs-Elysées; the Parisians’ own favorite
Théâtre du Châtelet; and the popular vernacular
Opera Comique which specializes in the landmarks of the French
repertoire. All of our tickets have already been confirmed
in excellent locations.
First,
we are fortunate to include a pair of performances at the
Champs-Elysées: a new production of Don Giovanni ,
which will be a highlight of a cycle of the three peerless
Mozart/Lorenzo da Ponte operas; and a solo Recital by the
versatile American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato who is at
the height of her extraordinary career. Another pair of evenings
will take us to the Bastille Opera for Wagner’s Die
Walküre – the most lyric and melodic segment of
his towering Ring tetralogy; and a concert of works by Schumann,
Brahms and Webern by the esteemed Paris Opera Orchestra led
by the Swiss maestro, Philippe Jordan. Our third theatre will
be the city’s venerable Chatelet, where the Italian
conductor Daniele Gatti will lead the Orchestre National de
France in an all-Mahler program featuring the German soprano
Christine Schaefer as the soloist. Finally, we are very pleased
to return to the colorful Opéra Comique after too long
a hiatus for the eagerly anticipated new production of Claude
Debussy’s romantic French opera Pelléas et Mélisande,
under the baton of Britain’s eminent Sir John Eliot
Gardiner. Altogether, this unusual and concise week embracing
three operatic masterworks, two rich orchestral concerts,
and a dazzling Recital by DiDonato will provide a plethora
of musical rewards. Judging from our own recent experiences,
we have come to expect no less from the variety of the major
Parisian opera houses.
Mid-May
promises to be ideal weather to enjoy the natural beauty of
Paris and the richness of the city’s architecture. Our
excursions will combine a visit to Claude Monet’s House
and Garden at Giverny and the often overlooked Marmottan Museum
in the heart of Paris. In view of the unusual variety of our
confirmed performances, we expect another sold-out Tour of
new and old friends for this exciting week in the French cultural
capital.
Thursday,
June 10th, departure from New York’s Kennedy Airport
at 5:45 p.m. on Air France flight #17, scheduled to arrive
at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 7:30 a.m. on the
morning of the 11th. Or independent travel to Paris.
