Opera IN New York

Day 1 | Thursday 2 April
Arrive New York | Tristan und Isolde
In the afternoon, we meet for brief introductions over a welcome drink in our hotel before making our way to the Metropolitan Opera where the electrifying Lise Davidsen kicks off our performance program as she tackles one of the ultimate roles for dramatic soprano: the Irish princess Isolde in Wagner’s transcendent meditation on love and death. This momentous occasion also marks the advent of a new, Met-debut staging by Yuval Sharon – hailed by The New York Times as “the most visionary opera director of his generation” and the first American to direct an opera at the famed Wagner festival in Bayreuth – as well as Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first time leading Tristan und Isolde at the Met. Heroic tenor Michael Spyres will star opposite Davidsen as the love-drunk Tristan, while mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova reprises her signature portrayal of Brangäne. Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green makes an important role debut as King Marke. Overnight New York (LD)

Day 2 | Friday 3 April
Good Friday
Our morning begins with a lecture in the hotel on Johann Sebastian Bach, exploring his role as the foremost composer of sacred music in the Lutheran tradition and the enduring resonance of his Passion settings. With this context in mind, the remainder of the day is set aside to mark Good Friday through music. We plan to attend a performance of Bach’s St John Passion in one of New York’s great churches, possibly at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, where the renowned Choir of Men and Boys upholds one of the city’s finest choral traditions. This moving occasion places us at the intersection of faith, history and music, creating an unforgettable Good Friday experience. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Photo: Ingfbruno

Day 3 | Saturday 4 April
Opera’s Most Beloved Tragedy | La Traviata
This morning’s lecture in the hotel turns our attention to our next Met opera – Verdi’s La Traviata, one of the most beloved works in the operatic repertory. Sandy will trace the opera’s origins in Paris, its themes of love, morality and mortality, and the enduring power of Verdi’s music to move audiences across generations. We then take our seats at the Met for a matinee performance of La Traviata, with Lisette Oropesa appearing in the touchstone role of Violetta Valéry, the doomed Parisian courtesan whose struggle for love continues to stir hearts. Lisette is joined by Piotr Buszewski as her passionate lover Alfredo Germont, and Luca Salia as his stern father Giorgio Germont. On the podium, conductor Antonello Manacorda brings Verdi’s soaring score vividly to life, while Tony Award–winning director Michael Mayer’s staging creates a dreamlike setting that enhances the poetry and passion of this unforgettable tragedy. On return to our hotel, the remainder of the day is at leisure. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Day 4 | Sunday 5 April
Easter Sunday on Fifth Avenue | Broadway
We begin this festive day by joining the crowds along Fifth Avenue for the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival. Since the late 19th century, New Yorkers have celebrated Easter morning in their finest attire, and today the tradition continues with elaborate bonnets and creative costumes bringing colour and pageantry to the city’s most famous boulevard. In the afternoon, we turn from Fifth Avenue to Broadway for a lively matinee performance. Experiencing the best of American musical theatre in the heart of the theatre district offers a vibrant counterpoint to our operatic evenings. Following our performance, the evening is at leisure. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Day 5 | Monday 6 April
Midtown Manhattan | Innocence
Following a lecture in our hotel this morning, we take a guided tour of the historical and architectural landmarks of New York’s Midtown district. We begin at the Rockefeller Center, an Art Deco masterpiece, before venturing along Fifth Avenue to admire St Patrick’s Cathedral, the General Electric Building and the grand department stores that have long defined this celebrated boulevard, as well as modernist icons such as Lever House and the Seagram Building. Our tour concludes high above the city at the Top of the Rock Observation Deck, taking in the sweeping views across Manhattan. Tonight we head to the Lincoln Center and enjoy a true New York experience – dinner at the famous Grand Tier Restaurant – followed by our third Met Opera. Depicting the wide web of trauma left in the wake of a school shooting, the late, great Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s work, Innocence, is a raw cri de coeur in response to the senseless violence of our modern age. For its Met premiere, in Simon Stone’s powerfully direct original production, the cast is anchored by mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as a grieving mother and Finnish ethno-pop singer Vilma Jää as the daughter she lost in the shooting, as well as soprano Jacquelyn Stucker and tenor Miles Mykkanen as a young couple whose wedding, a decade after the tragedy, reopens old wounds. Maestro Susanna Mälkki, a close friend and collaborator of Saariaho’s, conducts. Overnight New York (B, D)

Day 6 | Tuesday 7 April
Backstage at the Met
This morning we step behind the curtain of the Metropolitan Opera, the largest repertory opera house in the world. On a private backstage tour, we discover the immense scale and complexity of the Met’s productions, from the soaring stage machinery and cavernous set workshops to the costume and props departments where each detail is crafted to perfection. Our guide shares insights into the company’s history, productions and extraordinary logistics that bring operas to life across the season. We then turn our attention to another of New York’s most refined cultural landmarks – the Morgan Library & Museum. Originally the private library of financier J.P. Morgan, this jewel of Gilded Age architecture has been beautifully preserved and expanded into a museum of international stature. Its interiors, with richly decorated ceilings and walls lined with carved bookshelves, evoke the grandeur of a Renaissance studiolo, while the collection itself includes some of the world’s rarest literary and historical manuscripts. After visiting the permanent collection, the remainder of the day is at leisure. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Day 7 | Wednesday 8 April
Old World Masters in New York | NY Philharmonic
We begin today with a special private, before-hours tour of the Neue Galerie, an elegant Beaux-Arts mansion on Fifth Avenue dedicated to German and Austrian art of the early 20th century. The museum showcases the innovative spirit of artists such as Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and Otto Dix, however its most famous treasure is Gustav Klimt’s luminous Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, known as the Woman in Gold. We then continue along Fifth Avenue to the Frick Collection, housed in the refined former mansion of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. Recently reopened after an extensive renovation, the museum offers a superb viewing experience in beautifully restored Gilded Age interiors. The collection itself is among the most distinguished in the US, with masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt and Gainsborough. In the late afternoon we gather in our hotel for a talk, before heading to David Geffen Hall for an evening concert at the Wu Tsai Theater. Conductor Kwamé Ryan leads the New York Philharmonic with South African soprano Golda Schultz in Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, a haunting meditation on childhood memory and longing, alongside arias by Stravinsky and Carlisle Floyd. The program also features Charles Ives’s enigmatic The Unanswered Question and a new concerto by George Lewis, performed by the piano-and-percussion quartet Yarn/Wire. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Day 8 | Thursday 9 April
Stories of Carnegie Hall | Broadway
Few venues embody New York’s artistic spirit as completely as Carnegie Hall, long regarded as one of the world’s greatest concert halls. Built in 1891 by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the hall has been the setting for countless landmark performances, from the American debut of Tchaikovsky to appearances by Mahler, Bernstein, The Beatles and Frank Sinatra. Its unrivalled acoustics have made it synonymous with excellence in the performing arts. This morning we enjoy a private tour of this storied venue, including the elegant Stern Auditorium, renowned for its golden acoustics, as well as the more intimate Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall. We also explore the Rose Museum, whose fascinating displays trace the hall’s history through photographs, concert programs, costumes and other memorabilia. The afternoon is then at leisure before we return to Broadway in the evening for another exhilarating performance. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Day 9 | Friday 10 April
MoMA Private Viewing
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, MoMA 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. The remainder of the day is free to enjoy the museum or visit some of the other interesting sites nearby. Tonight we return to Carnegie Hall where superstar pianist Lang Lang joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Grieg’s beloved sole concerto. Lang Lang has performed this virtuosic concert staple with top orchestras worldwide, including in his 2001 Carnegie Hall debut. The concert also features Sibelius’s Symphony No. 1, performed at Carnegie Hall in the work’s New York premiere in 1907. Andris Nelsons is on the podium. Overnight New York (B, LD)

Day 10 | Saturday 11 April
The Curtain Call | La Bohème
Our final morning begins with a lecture in the hotel, introducing Puccini’s La Bohème and setting the scene for one of the world’s most beloved operas. We then return to the Metropolitan Opera for the final time, experiencing a matinée performance of this bohemian love story. Franco Zeffirelli’s legendary production captures 19th-century Paris in lavish detail, bringing to life the cafés, garrets and streets where Puccini’s characters live out their brief but passionate romances. Soprano Angel Blue stars as the fragile seamstress Mimì, with tenor Adam Smith as the ardent poet Rodolfo. Puccini’s spellbinding score – tender, exuberant and heartbreaking in equal measure – provides a fitting finale
to our performance program. After time to freshen up at our hotel, we reconvene for a farewell dinner this evening in one of New York’s fine restaurants. Overnight New York (B, D)

Day 11 | Sunday 12 April
Departure
Before we farewell New York, our final morning is free for those interested in squeezing in some extra shopping or additional sights. (B)