LONDON WINTER

Price Per Person:
Based on double occupancy:
$3,685.00
Single Supplement:
$690*
Super Apex Economy Fare:
$592

*We regret the high single supplement charged by British hotels.









WINTER WEEK IN LONDON
February 8- 16, 2003

Britain’s cultural capital usually enjoys far milder winter weather than most of the major European cities. In addition, London – like New York – is blessed with a particularly vital music and theatre season during the winter months.
For these reasons, we are often drawn to England to experience a plethora of wonderful performances when museums and restaurants are refreshingly uncrowded. London is peaceful and relaxed in February, with no hordes of tourists and only a minimum of traffic.

London boasts two of the world’s leading opera companies – the gloriously renovated Royal Opera at Covent Garden, and the traditional English National Opera (ENO) where everything is sung in English. We have selected our week in February to coincide with a pair of intriguing performances at each of these acclaimed companies.
ENO

First, the Royal Opera will be offering an all-star cast in Verdi’s autumnal human comedy Falstaff, showcasing the great Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel in the title role and the latest tenor sensation Juan Diego Florez as Fenton. The new Music Director Antonio Pappano will be conducting Verdi’s miraculous score. Also at Covent Garden will be an innovative new production of Mozart’s beloved German singspiel Die Zauberflöte, with alternate casts and conductors drawn from a wealth of European Mozart stylists under the baton of Sir Colin Davis/Philippe Jordan.
London Bridge
Tate Modern Museum

The English National Opera will continue to explore a wide-reaching repertory with two eagerly anticipated rarities. First, Musssorgsky’s brooding political drama of 17th century Russia, Khovanshchina, will prove a fascinating choice for performance in English, benefiting from the immediacy of the dramatic confrontations in our own language. Britain’s bass John Tomlinson, Bayreuth’s consummate Wotan in Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’, will head a cast of predominantly male protagonists.
Covent Garden

The ENO will celebrate the Hector Berlioz Bi-Centennial with a daring new production of Les Troyens, with the company’s riveting dramatic soprano Susan Bickley as Cassandra. ‘The Trojans’ will be staged in two separate evenings throughout the season, and we will attend Part I, The Capture of Troy.


Our week will be completed with two non-operatic evenings for a welcome change of pace. A program of German Romanticism will be featured in a Concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra. Maestro Cristoph von Dohnanyi will conduct works by Brahms, Schumann and Mendelssohn at Royal Festival Hall. Finally, we look forward to experiencing London's rich theatre season with a West End Play to be selected from the many choices which will be opening this fall. (Play TBA at a later date.)
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