winter festivals

Day 1 | Monday 18 January
Arrive Valletta
Malta has occupied a strategic position in Mediterranean affairs since antiquity. Its harbour, among the finest natural anchorages in the region, drew successive waves of Phoenician traders, Roman governors and medieval powers. When the Knights of St John arrived in 1530, they were granted the islands by Charles V, and they recognised Malta’s potential as a base from which to contest Ottoman expansion. Valletta, our base for the first eight nights of our journey, rose as both a stronghold and a showcase, its grid of streets lined with auberges, churches and palaces that expressed the Order’s wealth and power. After settling into our centrally located hotel today, we gather this evening for a welcome briefing on the program ahead, followed by dinner together. Overnight Valletta (D)

Tuesday 19 January
Valletta | Valletta Baroque Festival
Established in 2013, the Valletta Baroque Festival celebrates Malta’s musical heritage and its enduring connections with the Baroque world of the Knights of St John. Each January, churches, palaces and theatres across the islands become settings for historically informed performances, linking the music of the period with the architecture in which it first flourished. Our exploration of Valletta begins at the Upper Barrakka Gardens this morning, where elevated terraces command views across the Grand Harbour to the Three Cities. The surrounding bastions reflect the capital’s dual role as both a military stronghold and a ceremonial centre of the Order. Continuing through Castille Place and along Merchants Street, we trace the relationship between Valletta’s harbour, commercial life and institutions of government. Following lunch together, the afternoon is at leisure before we attend our first Festival performance within the richly decorated interior of St John’s Co-Cathedral. Centred on the ancient Latin prayer ‘Give peace, O Lord’, the program brings the festival’s music into direct dialogue with the ceremonial and religious world of the Knights of St John. Overnight Valletta (B, L)

Day 3 | Wednesday 20 January
Maltese Baroque | Valletta Baroque Festival
The artistic patronage of the Knights of St John extended beyond ecclesiastical commissions to encompass the full spectrum of visual arts. Today begins with a visit to MUŻA – Malta’s national community art museum, whose collections trace the development of Maltese painting, sculpture and decorative arts from the medieval period through the Baroque flowering under the Knights to the 19th century. The museum’s holdings include works by Mattia Preti, the Calabrian master who dominated Maltese art in the late 17th century, and Antoine de Favray, whose portraits of Grand Masters and Maltese nobility document the Order’s final decades on the island. Following the visit, there is time at leisure for further independent exploration of Valletta before our evening festival performance at St Dominic’s Church. Here, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann – two towering figures of the German Baroque – is heard within its resonant Baroque interior. Overnight Valletta (B)

Day 4 | Thursday 21 January
Caravaggio in Malta | Valletta Baroque Festival
Caravaggio’s presence in Malta represents one of the most dramatic episodes in the artist’s turbulent biography. Having fled Rome following a fatal brawl, he sought refuge with the Knights of St John, hoping their patronage might secure a Papal pardon. Following a morning lecture, we return to St John’s Co-Cathedral to examine The Beheading of St John the Baptist. At nearly four metres wide, it is the largest canvas Caravaggio ever painted and the only work he signed, his name traced through the blood pooling beneath the saint. We then travel to Verdala Palace for a midday Festival program spanning music by Montserrat, Purcell, Handel, Strozzi, Conti and Lully, heard within the formal setting of this historic residence. On our return Valletta, we pause for a lunch break before enjoying a guided tour of the Teatru Manoel. Built in 1731 and among Europe’s oldest working theatres, its intimate horseshoe auditorium preserves the atmosphere of 18th-century performance. In the evening, the Casino Maltese provides a contrasting setting for a further Festival performance, with works by Scott, Glass, Pärt and Stravinsky. Overnight Valletta (B)

Day 5 | Friday 22 January
Grand Masters Palace & Winery Lunch
Beyond the Order’s institutional architecture, Valletta’s aristocratic families built private residences that expressed their wealth, lineage and social standing. We begin with a private visit to Casa Rocca Piccola, the historic home of the de Piro family and still a lived-in family residence. Its furnished rooms, paintings and archives offer an intimate view of Maltese domestic life from the Baroque period to the present. We then continue to the Grand Master’s Palace, the seat of power for the Knights, later for British colonial governors, and now for Malta’s parliament. Its state rooms and armoury display the ceremonial and military apparatus through which the Order projected authority across the Mediterranean. Following our explorations, we travel into the countryside around Attard for lunch at a local winery, where we sample Maltese wines produced from indigenous grape varieties cultivated since Phoenician times. Later in the afternoon, we return to our hotel for an evening at leisure. Overnight Valletta (B, L)

Day 6 | Saturday 23 January
Layers of a City | Valletta Baroque Festival
Malta’s material culture extends far beyond the Baroque era, reflecting successive waves of Mediterranean settlement and exchange. The National Museum of Archaeology houses remarkable collections from Malta’s prehistoric temple cultures, and this morning we examine carved reliefs, terracotta figures and ritual objects from sites including Ħaġar Qim and the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, placing the islands within the wider story of Mediterranean prehistory. We then continue to the intimate architectural gem of St Mary Magdalene Church for our next festival performance, with a program inspired by Erato, the classical muse of lyric poetry and song. An afternoon at leisure follows before we cross the Grand Harbour to Birgu this evening for Vulnerasti Cor Meum: Motets from the Song of Songs at St Lawrence Church, where sacred settings of the biblical text are heard within one of the Three Cities’ principal historic churches. Overnight Valletta (B)

Day 7 | Sunday 24 January
Fort St Elmo | Valletta Baroque Festival
The Great Siege of 1565 represents a defining moment in Malta’s history and in the broader contest between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Fort St Elmo, positioned at the tip of the Sciberras Peninsula and commanding both Marsamxett and Grand Harbours, bore the initial Ottoman assault when Suleiman the Magnificent’s forces arrived. Though the fort fell after weeks of brutal fighting, the resistance bought crucial time for reinforcements to reach Malta, ultimately securing the island’s survival. Following a morning lecture in our hotel, we visit Fort St Elmo itself, now housing the National War Museum. Standing on its bastions, the position offers spectacular views across both harbours, immediately revealing why control of this position proved decisive. The remainder of the day is at leisure to explore Valletta’s streets one last time before we gather for our final concert of the Valletta Baroque Festival. Overnight Valletta (B)

Day 8 | Monday 25 January
Mdina & Tarxien
Before the Knights arrived, Malta’s power resided inland at Mdina, the medieval walled city perched on a limestone plateau with beautiful views across the island. Travelling through Malta’s countryside today, we arrive at this remarkably preserved citadel. The narrow streets, lined with honey-coloured palaces of Malta’s oldest noble families, lead to the cathedral dedicated to St Paul, whose legendary shipwreck brought Christianity to Malta in 60 CE. Inside, Lorenzo Gafà’s baroque interior showcases the work of Malta’s foremost 17th-century architect, whilst the Cathedral Museum reveals an unexpected treasure, works by Dürer and other European masters. Nearby, Rabat, the town that spilled beyond Mdina’s fortified walls, adds further layers to our understanding of Malta’s medieval past. Following lunch together, we journey to Tarxien, where one of Malta’s most important prehistoric temple complexes awaits. The intricately carved stone reliefs and sophisticated architectural planning reveal a civilisation of remarkable achievement, flourishing millennia before the classical world emerged. We then return to our hotel for a final evening in the fortified capital. Overnight Valletta (B, L) 

Day 9 | Tuesday 26 January
Valletta to Salzburg
Leaving Valletta behind, we travel from one great musical setting to another – from the Mediterranean atmosphere of the Valletta Baroque Festival to the Alpine city that hosts the renowned Mozart Week. This transition also marks a shift between two Baroque worlds. Valletta’s Knights of St John created a fortified city projecting military and religious authority, while Salzburg’s prince-archbishops – rulers who combined ecclesiastical authority with temporal sovereignty – transformed their city into an architectural expression of counter-reformation confidence and artistic patronage. In the morning we transfer to the airport for our flight to Munich, where we continue onward to Salzburg. Upon arrival, we venture into the city where lunch is enjoyed together. The afternoon is set aside to settle into our hotel before an evening at leisure. Overnight Salzburg (B, L)

Day 10 | Wednesday 27 January
Mozart’s Birthday | Mozart Week
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg on 27 January 1756, the seventh and youngest child of court musician Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria Pertl. On the anniversary of his birth, we begin with a guided walk through the Neustadt, taking in Mirabell Palace and its formal gardens before arriving at the Stiftung Mozarteum. Here, in the Mozarteum’s Großer Saal, we enjoy our first Mozart Week performance by the Academy Orchestra and vocalEnsemble of Mozarteum University. The program pairs Mozart with Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga – celebrated as the ‘Spanish Mozart’ – combining orchestral and sacred works with Arriaga’s lyric-dramatic scene Herminie. Our exploration then continues through Salzburg’s historic centre, including Trinity Church, St Peter’s Abbey and Mozart’s birthplace at Getreidegasse 9, where instruments, documents and personal objects illuminate his childhood and early career. In the evening, we bring Mozart’s birthday celebrations to a fitting close at the Großes Festspielhaus, where the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna Singverein, conducted by Christian Thielemann, perform Beethoven’s monumental Ninth Symphony. Overnight Salzburg (B)

Day 11 | Thursday 28 January
Salzkammergut
The Salzkammergut, the lake district extending east of Salzburg, takes its name from the salt deposits that generated princely and later imperial revenues for centuries. Its Alpine landscapes and lakes later made the region a favoured retreat for Austria’s aristocracy and cultural figures. Travelling through this countryside today, we first visit St Gilgen, the lakeside village where Mozart’s mother, Anna Maria Pertl, was born and where the family maintained close connections. We then continue to Bad Ischl, which developed as a fashionable spa town in the early 19th century and became the summer residence of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Following lunch together, we next visit the Kaiservilla, where the Emperor spent his summers from 1854 until his death in 1916. Its preserved interiors and personal collections illuminate the private world of the Habsburg court and the final decades of imperial rule. We return to Salzburg later this afternoon for an evening at leisure. Overnight Salzburg (B, L)

Day 12 | Friday 29 January
Leopoldskron Palace | Mozart Week
Schloss Leopoldskron, built in 1736 for Prince-Archbishop Leopold Anton von Firmian, ranks among Salzburg’s most refined Rococo palaces. Its lakeside setting, elegant façades and richly decorated interiors reflect the cultivated taste and political authority of the city’s 18th-century ruling elite. Purchased by theatre director Max Reinhardt in 1918, the palace later became a gathering place for leading figures in music, theatre and literature, contributing to Salzburg’s cultural revival between the wars. This morning, we explore its reception rooms on a private guided tour before returning to the city for lunch together. The afternoon is then at leisure before we gather this evening for a performance of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, the opera buffa he composed in 1789–90 during his mature Viennese period. Held at the Haus für Mozart concert hall, the musical direction is in the hands of Mozart specialist Ivor Bolton, who conducts the renowned Camerata Salzburg, celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2027. The star-studded cast includes Thomas Hampson as Don Alfonso, Kathryn Lewek as Fiordiligi, and Siyabonga Maqungo as Ferrando. Overnight Salzburg (B, L)

Day 13 | Saturday 30 January
Salzburg Residence | Mozart Week
Salzburg’s prince-archbishops shaped not only the city’s Baroque architecture but also the courtly musical culture in which Mozart’s early career developed. We begin today in the Großer Saal of the Stiftung Mozarteum, where the Mahler Chamber Orchestra is joined by concertmaster José María Blumenschein and violinist Augustin Hadelich for an all-Mozart program. Two violin concertos are framed by the Symphony in A major and the Overture to Il re pastore. Following the performance, we enjoy a farewell lunch before a guided tour of the Salzburg Residence. Expanded across the 16th and 17th centuries, its grand state rooms, elaborate stuccowork and painted ceilings reflect the ceremonial splendour of the prince-archbishops’ court. Our final Mozart Week performance follows at the Großes Festspielhaus, where Philippe Jordan conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Mozart’s Symphony No. 25 and Posthorn Serenade. Between them, Víkingur Ólafsson makes his Mozart Week debut as soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, bringing our musical program to a fitting close. Overnight Salzburg (B, L)

Day 14 | Sunday 31 January
Departure
Our journey through the baroque worlds of Valletta and Salzburg concludes after breakfast this morning. (B)