London & Paris

The tour starts at 6.30pm on Sunday 12 January, with welcome drinks and dinner at The Bloomsbury Hotel, London.

The tour ends after breakfast on Sunday 26 January, in the Royal Saint-Honoré Hotel, Paris.

Airport transfers to our hotel in London will be arranged by Academy Travel. In the evening, we meet for introductions and welcome drinks in the hotel, followed by dinner. Overnight London (D)

Our first day in London begins with a talk in our hotel before we make our way to the National Portrait Gallery. A major exhibition featuring Francis Bacon portraits from the 1950s onwards will be the highlight of our visit. Over 100 works from both public and private collections will convey the artist’s life through portrayals of his closest relationships, alongside self-portraiture. After free time to also explore the gallery’s extensive collection, we then gather for our welcome lunch in the gallery’s fine restaurant. In the afternoon we continue to the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House. Founded in the 1930s by a group of collectors and philanthropists led by industrialist Samuel Courtauld, the gallery holds many important Impressionist paintings. Our focus here will be the special exhibition Monet and London: Views of the Thames, featuring paintings from his visits to the city between 1899 and 1901. Originally shown in Paris, this new showcase marks the first UK exhibition dedicated to these works, finally fulfilling Monet’s dream to have them shown in London. This evening we make our way to the West End for the first-ever stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s immortal Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove. Seven-time BAFTA Award winner Steve Coogan stars as the lead, playing multiple roles. Overnight London (B, L)

Performance I
Venue: Noël Coward Theatre, West End
Program: Play, Dr. Strangelove

Heading out of London today we travel to Oxford, the fabled “city of dreaming spires”. Here our guided walking tour gives us special access to the historic heart of this university town, including the Sheldonian Theatre and Harris Manchester College Chapel. The chapel, an unexpected jewel in one of Oxford’s smallest colleges, was built in the arts and crafts style and is beautifully illuminated with striking stained-glass windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. Lunch is enjoyed on Oxford’s bustling High Street, before the afternoon is spent at the Ashmolean Museum – home to extensive collections from Egyptian mummies all the way to contemporary art. Our visit to Oxford concludes with Evensong in the lovely chapel at Christ Church College. Returning to London the evening is at leisure. Overnight London (B, L)

After a talk in our hotel this morning we make our way to the Royal Academy of Arts for a major exhibition covering three titans of the Italian Renaissance. At the turn of the 16th century, Republican Florence witnessed one of the most extraordinary encounters – Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael – and this exhibition explores this brief but decisive crossing of paths. Starting with Michelangelo’s celebrated Taddei Tondo, this exhibition covers the rivalry between Michelangelo and Leonardo, and the influence they both had on the young Raphael. You may wish to explore more of the collection, housed across a 17th-century mansion on Piccadilly and a grand 19th-century former university building, before returning to the hotel. We meet again this evening for our second peformance, making our way to the Royal Festival Hall on South Bank. Violinist Isabelle Faust joins the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a program of Strauss, Berg and Brahms, with principal conductor Edward Gardner on the stand. Overnight London (B)

Performance II
Venue: Royal Festival Hall, South Bank
Program: Strauss, Metamorphosen; Berg, Violin Concerto; Brahms, Symphony No. 2

The Wallace Collection, assembled by the Marquesses
of Hertford and bequeathed to the British nation in the late 19th century, is superbly displayed in what was once the family’s London residence. This morning we explore this excellent collection, which surveys European fine and decorative art from the Renaissance to the 19th century and includes Frans Hals’ famous work The Laughing Cavalier. After a break for lunch, we then visit the superb British Museum. Opened in 1753, it was the world’s first national public museum and it contains a breathtaking collection of over eight million objects that paint an interconnected portrait of the world’s cultures. We also take in the museum’s latest special exhibition, Silk Roads. From Indian garnets found in Suffolk to Iranian glass unearthed in Japan, this innovative collection will offer a unique chance to see objects from the length and breadth of the Silk Roads, while revealing the astonishing reach of these networks. It’s then a short walk back to our hotel, with the evening at leisure. Overnight London (B)

Celebrating its bicentennial in 2024, London’s National Gallery holds a justifiable place as one of the world’s premier art institutions. We spend the morning here exploring the exceptional permanent collection before taking in the gallery’s special anniversary exhibition, Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers. Focusing on Van Gogh’s time in Arles and Saint-Rémy in the South of France, the exhibition will bring together over 50 of his much-loved paintings from across the globe, some of which are rarely seen in public. After a break for lunch we continue to the Tate Britain, a veritable temple of British art from 1500 to today. Our time here will take in the eclectic work of the four artists shortlisted for the 2024 Turner Prize and a new exhibition – The 80s: Photographing Britain, which spotlights photographers, collectives, and publications that responded boldly to the tumultuous Thatcher era. Returning to the hotel, we freshen up before making our way to the Royal Opera House for Puccini’s passionate opera, La Bohème. Richard Jones’ beloved staging returns, with Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska starring as Mimì. Overnight London (B)

Performance III
Venue: Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Program: Opera, Puccini’s La Bohème

This morning we visit the newly renamed King’s Gallery
at Buckingham Palace, which rose from the ruins of Queen Victoria’s private chapel, destroyed in an air raid in 1940. Totally renovated for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, the gallery displays a beautifully curated, and ever-changing selection of treasures from the Royal Collection, which holds many works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Hans Holbein and exquisite decorative pieces by Fabergé. We then make our way to the lavish London Coliseum for a matinee performance of Giselle with the world-class English National Ballet. Mary Skeaping’s celebrated production retains its seductive power, ably driven by principals Katja Khaniukova and Aitor Arrieta. Returning to the hotel, the evening is set aside to pack for tomorrow’s transfer to Paris. Overnight London (B)

Performance IV
Venue: London Coliseum, West End
Program: Ballet, Giselle

An early departure this morning takes us to historic St Pancras railway station, where we join the high-speed train for Paris. Arriving in the early afternoon, we begin the next chapter of our adventure at the magnificent Musée d’Orsay. Originally a beaux-arts railway station, the Gare d’Orsay was transformed into France’s national museum of 19th-century art in the late 1980s, with interiors skillfully and sensitively designed by Italian architect Gae Aulienti. We have a guided tour of the collection before enjoying the special exhibition focusing on Gustave Caillebotte and his predilection for masculine forms and portraits of men. Inspired by the d’Orsay’s recent acquisition of two of Caillebotte’s major works, this exhibition will present around 70 pieces centred around the masterpiece Paris Street; Rainy Day. Making our way across the Seine to our hotel, this evening we enjoy an aperitif followed by dinner together. Overnight Paris (B, D)

The Musée Jacquemart-André was inaugurated in 1913, the generous gift of Nélie Jacquemart and her husband Edouard André who built a sumptuous mansion on one of Hausmann’s grand new boulevards in the late 19th century and filled it with a magnificent collection of fine and decorative art gathered on their travels around the world. After a talk in the adjacent hotel, we explore the newly renovated private museum, with a break for lunch in the museum café. We then walk the short distance to the lovely Parc Monceau, a genteel oasis established in the late 18th century by Phillippe d’Orléans, cousin to Louis XVI. Painted by Monet and beloved by Berlioz, the park’s informal layout in the “English” style makes it a popular destination for an afternoon promenade. Tonight sees us head to the Art Deco Théâtre des Champs-Élysées for Mozart’s masterpiece of pleasure seeking, seduction and fate, Don Giovanni. Baritone Florian Sempey plays the seductive and conquering Don Juan, soprano Ana Maria Labin as the tempted and rebellious Donna Anna, and mezzo-soprano Marion Lebègue as the impulsive and wildly in love Donna Elvira. Overnight Paris (B)

Performance V
Venue: Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris
Program: Opera, Mozart’s Don Giovanni

The historic heart of Paris opera, the Palais Garnier, is an opulent and extravagant 19th-century temple to music, adorned with gold leaf, coloured marble, and artworks commissioned from the leading artists of the time. This morning our tour leader guides us through the Palais, revealing the fascinating history of this extraordinary building. After our visit we make our way to le Chimère, a local restaurant with a chic 70s vibe offering an excellent seasonal menu. This afternoon we stroll through the covered walkways of the Passages Couverts, beautiful shopping arcades dating from the Belle Epoque which are now home to a range of elegant boutiques and cafes. Returning to our hotel there is time to freshen up before our evening performance of Leoš Janáček’s truly sumptuous opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, at the Opéra Bastille. André Engel sets out to stage men and animals, with acclaimed soprano Elena Tsallagova playing the vixen. Overnight Paris (B, L)

Performance VI
Venue: Opéra Bastille, Paris
Program: Opera, Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen

Joining our coach this morning we head north of Paris to the town of Chantilly where we visit the château, built in 1882 for the son of King Louis-Phillipe I, Henri d’Orléans, Duc d’Aumale. Exiled in 1886, D’Aumale was permitted to return to France once it was revealed that he had bequeathed the château, his extensive art collection and extraordinary library to the Institut de France. A noted collector and bibliophile, d’Aumale’s art collection includes works by Raphael, Van Dyck, and Delacroix and his library has over 17,500 volumes and illustrated manuscripts including the magnificent Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. Following our visit we’ll have a break for lunch in the town before returning to Paris. Tonight’s performance is at the Philharmonie de Paris – an unprecedented complex designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, with its striking asymmetrical ‘Pierre Boulez Symphonic Hall’. Violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann joins the Orchestre de Paris in a program featuring Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dmitri Slobodeniouk conducts. Overnight Paris (B)

Performance VII
Venue: Philharmonie de Paris
Program: Felix Mendelssohn, Le Songe d’une nuit d’été;
Edward Elgar, Concerto pour violin

In the 1360s Charles V transformed an existing fortress into a royal château and the Palais du Louvre remained a royal residence – demolished, rebuilt and extended by successive monarchs – until Louis XIV took his court to his splendid new palace at Versailles. After the Revolution, the Louvre became a public museum and today contains one of the world’s great collections of art and sculpture. Our guided visit this morning looks at some of the highlights of this magnificent collection followed by time to explore at leisure. In the early afternoon we make our way through the Tuileries to the Hôtel de la Marine, a beautiful neo-classical building which served as the French Naval headquarters for over 200 years. Today the Hôtel displays beautifully restored 18th-century apartments as well as precious objects from the extensive collection of Sheik Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani. Tonight sees us return to the Palais Garnier for Jean-Baptiste Rameau’s sensational work, Castor et Pollux. American Peter Sellars presents the original 1737 version, making for a tantalising blend of classic and contemporary greatness. Overnight Paris (B)

Performance VIII
Venue: The Palais Garnier Paris
Program: Opera, Jean-Baptiste Rameau’s Castor et Pollux

Today our walking tour takes us across to the left bank of the river - the Rive Gauche - where we explore this fascinating quartier, renowned for its association with artists, writers and philosophers of the counterculture since the days of Pierre Abélard’s subversive teachings in the 12th century. We continue to the Hôtel Biron, better known today as the Musée Rodin, and enjoy lunch at the museum restaurant before our visit. August Rodin bought the 18th-century Hôtel Biron in 1908, using the residence as a home and studio until his death in 1917. He bequeathed his entire collection to the French State and the building opened as the Musée Rodin in 1919. Today the museum and sculpture garden which surrounds it offer an extraordinary insight into the sculptor’s life, with many of his greatest works on display. Returning to the hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Paris (B, L)

Once a hunting lodge on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, the Musée Marmottan Monet is now an exceptional collection of Impressionist works, established with bequests from Doctor Georges de Bellio, an early supporter of the Impressionist movement, and Claude Monet’s son and heir Michel. Despite a daring heist in 1985 which temporarily relieved the collection of some key works, we can appreciate over 300 Impressionist and post-Impressionist works by Monet and his contemporaries on our visit today. The afternoon is at leisure before we make our way to the Centre Pompidou, the National Museum of Modern Art, in the early evening. Designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, the now iconic building was considered an architectural outrage by many when first opened in 1977. Now nearly 50 years old the Pompidou is showing its age, so we have a very special opportunity to enjoy both the building and its superb collection before it closes for renovation and expansion till 2030. Following our visit, we take the escalator to Georges, the museum’s glamorous rooftop restaurant, where we enjoy farewell drinks and dinner with stunning, panoramic views across the city. Overnight Paris (B, D)

The tour ends after breakfast. Please refer to individual travel documents for ongoing travel plans. (B)