Opera IN New York

The tour starts at 6.00pm Monday 21 April, at the WestHouse Hotel, New York.

The tour ends after breakfast on Wednesday 30 April, at the WestHouse Hotel, New York.

Flights from Australia arrive in New York in the late afternoon. In the early evening, meet your tour leader and fellow tour participants over welcome drinks in our hotel, followed by a light welcome dinner in a local restaurant. If you have arrived early we suggest you take the AIA harbour cruise today. Academy Travel can arrange bookings. (D)

We begin the day with a lecture in our hotel on tonight’s performance, followed by a guided tour of the historical and architectural landmarks of New York’s Midtown district, starting at the incredible Art Deco masterpiece, the Rockefeller Center, then continuing on to other masterpieces such as Lever House, the Seagram Building, St Patrick’s Cathedral, the General Electric Building and grand stores of 5th Avenue. After a light supper which is served in our hotel each everning, we head to the Lincoln Center to kick off our performance program at the Met with Mozart’s comic masterpiece, Le Nozze di Figaro. Conductor Joana Mallwitz will make her Met debut leading acclaimed bass-baritone Michael Sumuel as the clever valet Figaro, opposite soprano Olga Kulchynska as his betrothed, the wily maid Susanna. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Performance I
Venue: Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
Program: Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro

Following a morning lecture covering tonight’s performance, 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. Reopening in late 2024 following an extensive renovation, the space has been expanded to include a new second-floor gallery to house its superb collection of Renaissance to 18th-century European art, exquisite furniture and decorative arts. From here we make our way into Central Park, one of the greatest achievements in urban landscape architecture, and take in many of the unique but often missed features designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Tonight, Simon McBurney’s uproarious production of Mozart’s beloved fable Die Zauberflöte returns to the Met stage following its celebrated 2023 premiere – complete with its ingenious theatrical concoction of projections, puppetry and special effects. Tenor Ben Bliss and soprano Golda Schultz are the noble lovers Tamino and Pamina. Evan Rogister conducts. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Performance II
Venue: Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
Program: Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte

Today we embark on a walking tour in New York’s Downtown area where the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was founded in the 17th century. We walk down some of New York’s oldest streets, working our way up into the Financial District as we visit sites such as the elegant Beaux-Arts style Customs House, Trinity Church, New York City Hall and the Woolworth Building. After enjoying a typical Wall Street power lunch together, we then visit the moving 9/11 Memorial and the Santiago Calatrava-designed St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and the Oculus. This evening we head to Broadway for the Sondheim/Styne/Laurents classic, Gypsy. Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald will be starring as Mama Rose as she fights for her daughter’s success (while secretly yearning for her own). Overnight New York (B, L, LD)

Performance III
Venue: Majestic Theatre, Broadway
Program: Musical, Gypsy

The legendary Carnegie Hall is synonymous with New York’s performing arts, long providing superb acoustics and a tradition of outstanding concerts. Built by its namesake industrialist founder in 1891 and saved by violinist Isaac Stern from the wrecking ball in the 60s, the list of celebrated performers who have graced its stages is almost endless – from Tchaikovsky to Mahler, The Beatles to Sinatra. We begin the day with a private tour, uncovering more than 130 years of stories in this iconic venue. We then make our way to one of New York City’s often-overlooked gems – the Morgan Library. Once the private residence and library of the financier, J.P. Morgan, it contains an exquisite collection of extremely rare manuscripts and books. After a guided tour through the permanent collection, there is time to enjoy lunch in the glass-enclosed central court. Tonight we head to the Lincoln Center for Bartlett Sher’s madcap production of Rossini’s effervescent comedy, The Barber of Seville. Star mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard headlines a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine Rosina, alongside high-flying tenor Lawrence Brownlee as her secret beloved Count Almaviva. Baritone Davide Luciano stars as the infamous barber of Seville, with Giacomo Sagripanti conductng. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Performance IV
Venue: Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
Program: Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

One of New York’s most picturesque neighborhoods, Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan has long been a center of bohemian culture and intellectuals. Home to ivy-covered brownstones, artsy boutiques and sidewalk cafes, our walking tour this morning takes us from the bucolic 18th century village of Greenwich, to the early 19th century summer getaway from ‘the city’, through the days of the bohemian intelligentsia of the 1920s to the rockers and radicals of the 1960s, uncovering a roll call of artists and writers that include Edgar Allan Poe, Edward Hopper, and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney to name just a few. The afternoon is then free to explore New York at leisure. You may like to spend it at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where you can select from the 50 departments presenting outstanding art from pre-history to the 20th century and from all corners of the globe. This evening we return to Carnegie Hall for a concert in the historic Stern Auditorium. The 170 voices of Cecilia Chorus of New York will pair Brahms’s Requiem with Hailstork’s The World Called, performed alongside words by former poet laureate Rita Dove, who will recite her work from the stage. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Performance V
Venue: Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall
Program: The Cecilia Chorus of New York with Orchestra

For early risers, we enjoy the opportunity to participate in a Gospel church service in Harlem, as joyous music carries the powerful message of praise, sacrifice and hope, before taking in some of the other northern Manhattan sights. There will be a lecture in our hotel, before we return to the Met in the afternoon where Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for Michael Mayer’s spectacular new staging of Verdi’s Aida, bringng audiences inside the towering pyramids and gilded tombs of ancient Egypt. Soprano Angel Blue makes her long-awaited Met role debut as the Ethiopian princess torn between love and country, one of opera’s defining roles. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Performance VI
Venue: Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
Program: Verdi’s Aida

A highlight of our tour is this morning’s private tour of MoMA, New York’s famous Museum of Modern Art. Set in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, New York’s famous Museum of Modern Art re-opened in 2019 after a significant expansion of its space. Before the doors open to the public, a museum lecturer guides us through the museum’s greatest works, with the likes of Picasso, Gauguin and van Gogh set to delight. We follow our tour with lunch at The Modern, the Michelin two-star restaurant that overlooks MoMA’s sculpture courtyard. After lunch, the remainder of the day is free to enjoy the museum or visit some of the other interesting sites nearby. Overnight New York (B, L, LD)

We begin the day with a lecture on our final performance, followed by a stroll along the High Line – a beautiful urban park situated on a former elevated rail line that takes us through the chic Chelsea and Meatpacking districts. After free time in Chelsea Markets, we visit the Whitney Museum of American Art, founded in 1930 by American socialite Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and moved to its new home in 2015, a Renzo Piano designed edifice. This huge, airy space perched on the Hudson River holds one of the world’s foremost collections of modern and contemporary American art. The evening sees us return to the Lincoln Center for our final performance and a true New York experience – dinner at the famous Grand Tier Restaurant. Following dinner, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will conduct his first Met performance of Strauss’s white-hot one-act tragedy, Salome, which receives its first new production at the company in 20 years. Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story a psychologically perceptive Victorian-era setting rich in symbolism and subtle shades of darkness and light. Headlining this new staging is soprano Elza van den Heever as the abused and unhinged antiheroine, who demands the head of Jochanaan, sung by celebrated baritone Peter Mattei. Overnight New York (B, D)

Performance VII
Venue: Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
Program: Strauss’s Salome

Before we farewell New York, our final morning is free for those interested in squeezing in some extra shopping or additional sights. (B)