M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L
The Johann Sebastian
Bach Journey 5–11 July 2015
Steven Isserlis Rachel Podger Gabrieli Consort & Players Vox Luminis Barocksolisten München Cantus Cölln Martina Pohl
M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L
The Johann Sebastian
Bach Journey 5–11 July 2015
Gotha, Thuringia, lithograph c. 1840
Contents The Musicians.................................3–4 The Programme........................... 5–10 The Speaker........................................ 6 Joining & leaving the festival...........11 Accommodation & prices.......12–13 Pre-festival tours.......................14–16 Booking form.............................17–18 Making a booking.............................19 Booking Conditions.........................19
J
ourneying to the places where Johann Sebastian Bach lived and worked is an experience as near to pilgrimage as is offered by the history of music. And hearing his music in buildings which he frequented, or even where it was first performed, must rank among the highest delights available to music lovers. This unique festival provides the opportunity.
The distances travelled are quite small, but the event is emphatically a journey. It starts, as Bach did, in the little towns and cities of the principality of Thuringia and finishes, again like Bach, in the free city of Leipzig. The audience stays in hotels in three places, Mühlhausen, Weimar and Leipzig, and the concerts take place here and in four other towns.
Twelve concerts, ranging from a solo violin partita to the St Matthew Passion, in several different venues, present a comprehensive range of Bach’s output. For this, the sixth Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, we have assembled artists and ensembles who are world leaders in performance of the repertoire.
Admission to the concerts is exclusive to those who take a complete package which includes hotels, flights from the UK, coach travel, most dinners and lectures. Except in Mühlhausen, where the only hotels are of 3-star standard, a range of hotels from 3-star to 5-star is offered.
Australia: Telephone 1300 55 95 95 USA: Telephone 1 800 988 6168 Martin Randall Travel Ltd New Zealand: Telephone 0800 877 622 Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, anz@martinrandall.com.au London, United Kingdom W4 4GF Telephone 020 8742 3355 Fax 020 8742 7766 Canada: Telephone 647 382 1644 canada@martinrandall.ca info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com 5085
M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L
The Musicians
Steven Isserlis (©Satoshi Aoyagi)
Steven Isserlis Acclaimed worldwide for his technique and musicianship, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator and author. In addition to playing with most of the major orchestras of the world and giving regular recitals, Steven Isserlis loves to programme chamber music series, in which he performs with his many musician friends. He takes a strong interest in authentic performance, is a keen exponent of contemporary music, and enjoys playing for children. As a prolific recording artist, recent releases on the Hyperion label include the Dvořák Concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Daniel Harding, and Beethoven’s complete music for cello and piano, with Robert Levin. He has also written two books for children about the lives of the great composers, and gives frequent masterclasses all around the world. For the past sixteen years he has been Artistic Director of the International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall.
Rachel Podger Rachel Podger is one of the most creative talents to emerge in the field of period performance. Over the last two decades she has established herself as a leading interpreter of the music of the Baroque and Classical periods. She records exclusively for Channel Classics and has won numerous prestigious awards. Her highly acclaimed interpretations of J. S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin and his Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (with Trevor Pinnock) were both awarded first place by the BBC’s ‘Building a Library’ programme. Rachel is an honorary member of both the Royal Academy of Music, where she holds the Micaela Comberti Chair for Baroque Violin, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she holds the Jane Hodge Foundation International Chair in Baroque Violin. She is also Artistic Director of her own festival: the Brecon Baroque Festival.
This brochure was produced inhouse. The text was written chiefly by Martin Randall and Maddy Anedda. It was designed by Jo Murray. It was sent to print on 1st August 2014.
Rachel Podger (©Jonas Sacks)
Gabrieli Consort & Players Founded by Paul McCreesh in 1982, Gabrieli Consort & Players are worldrenowned interpreters of great choral and instrumental repertoire from the Renaissance to the present day. Their performances encompass major works from the oratorio tradition, virtuosic a cappella programmes and mouldbreaking reconstructions of music for historical events. They are regular visitors to the world’s most prestigious concert halls and appear frequently at London’s major venues, with their own promotions often held in the splendidly refurbished Christ Church, Spitalfields. Gabrieli are acclaimed interpreters of Handel’s
‘Sublime. I am still on a high. I loved the St. John and the Mass particularly, just glorious.’ ‘A journey of a lifetime.’ oratorios and Bach Passions and their recordings with Deutsche Grammophon have garnered numerous international awards. Paul McCreesh is the founder and Artistic Director of the Gabrieli Consort & Players which he established in 1982 and with whom he has toured world-wide and
The Gabrieli Consort
Directors of Martin Randall Travel: Martin Randall (Chief Executive), Sir Vernon Ellis (Chairman), Ian Hutchinson, Neil Taylor, Fiona Urquhart.
Front cover illustration: J. S. Bach, mezzotint c. 1890 after Elias Gottlob Haußmann (1695–1774) Back cover: Eisenach, 20th-century etching
The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
The Musicians Barocksolisten München
Cantus Cölln
made many award-winning recordings. McCreesh is well-known for the energy and passion that he brings to his musicmaking, and he has guest conducted many of the major orchestras and choirs across the globe. He has also established a strong reputation in the opera house and has conducted productions at the Teatro Real Madrid, Royal Danish Opera, Vlaamse Opera and at the Verbier Festival. McCreesh is especially passionate about working with young musicians and broadening access to classical music; he works regularly with youth orchestras and choirs and is active in building new educational initiatives whenever possible.
Barocksolisten München Founded in 2010 the Barocksolisten München are a young and exciting new ensemble united by the players’ desire to perform Baroque music on historic instruments. Their repertoire ranges from Vivaldi, Fasch and the Bach family to Haydn and Mozart. The ensemble is led by Dorothea Seel, who since 1997 has appeared regularly as a soloist with The English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the New London Consort, The Hanover Band and the London Baroque and London Classical Players under conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Roger Norrington, Trevor Pinnock and Charles Mackerras.
Cantus Cölln The vocal ensemble Cantus Cölln was formed in 1987 by lutenist Konrad Junghänel. It comprises singers, all of whom have successful solo careers, and is recognised as one of the most accomplished ensembles in the world.
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Vox Luminis
Core repertoire includes German and Italian vocal literature of the Renaissance and the Baroque and their numerous CDs include highly-acclaimed recordings of Bach motets and cantatas. In 2000, they received the prestigious Buxtehude Prize for extraordinary achievement in the field of sacred music. Konrad Junghänel is one of the most celebrated lutenists of the day and a great interpreter of J. S. Bach. Since 1994 Junghänel has been a professor at the state conservatory of music in Cologne.
Vox Luminis Founded in 2004 in Namur, Belgium, Vox Luminis is an ensemble specialising in the performance of 16th- to 18thcentury vocal music. The ensemble has been praised for its seamless blend of high quality individual voices, exquisite tuning and clarity of sound. Critics have also commented on the ensemble’s enthusiasm in sharing its passion for early music with an audience. The majority of the group
met at one of the most significant centres for early music in Europe: the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Vox Luminis has performed in festivals and venues all over Europe, and the 2013/2014 season saw them make their debut in London with performances at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music.
Martina Pohl Martina Pohl studied at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik (College for Church Music) in Halle with instruction from the Cathedral organist Michael Pohl (Berlin). She has accompanied well-known soloists, instrumentalists and choirs on concert trips in Germany and abroad, and since 2004 has worked in Sangerhausen, where her main task is the supervision of the historical Hildebrandt organ.
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
The Programme ‘A fantastic tour! I cannot speak highly enough about it. Unusual, satisfying, extremely professional and exceptionally well organised. Thank you.’ Day 2, Monday 6th July Mühlhausen, Eisenach The morning is spent in Mühlhausen. There is a lecture followed by a short recital in the town hall, which is little changed since Bach’s time.
Concert, 11.00am Mühlhausen, Town Hall Rachel Podger violin Violin Solo 1 Across three recitals, Rachel Podger performs all three of Bach’s partitas for solo violin and two of the three sonatas. This morning she plays Sonata No.1 in G minor (BWV 1001) and Partita No.1 in B minor (BWV 1002).
Day -1, Saturday 4th July Mühlhausen
Day 1, Sunday 5th July Mühlhausen
We are offering the option of arriving at your hotel in Mühlhausen a day earlier.
For information on travelling to Mühlhausen please see page 11.
The supplement includes the amended flight, the transfer from Frankfurt to Mühlhausen and an extra night at your chosen festival hotel. Lunch or afternoon tea are included depending on your arrival time. Dinner is independent.
Mühlhausen, where Bach had the post of organist at the church of St Blasius 1707–8, is one of the delights of Germany, a dense matrix of streets and alleys and little open spaces threaded between halftimbered and stone-built buildings. Six Gothic churches rise heavenwards, and all is bounded by a complete circuit of mediaeval walls. Some of the streetscape bears comparison with, say, Lucca or Avignon, with this striking difference: there are practically no tourists.
For information on travelling to Mühlhausen please see page 11. Overnight Mühlhausen.
The first festival event is dinner for all participants at the Brauhaus. Overnight Mühlhausen.
Illustration: ‘Rehearsal of the Oratorio of Judith’, after William Hogarth (1697–1764)
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Drive after lunch to Eisenach, the town where J. S. Bach was born in 1685 and where he was raised until the death of his father ten years later. He was baptised in the Gothic church of St George, now a cathedral. The font is still there, and it retains its 17th-century Protestant appearance with three tiers of galleries filling the side aisles. There is time to visit the excellent Bach Museum.
Concert, 4.30pm Eisenach, Church of St George Vox Luminis Lionel Meunier director Johann Sebastian’s Uncles In the church where Johann Sebastian was baptised there is a concert of cantatas by older members of the Bach family, great uncle Johann Bach (1604– 73), uncles Johann Michael (1648–94) and Johann Christoph (1642–1703, also organist at this church), and distant cousin Johann Ludwig (1677–1731). It finishes with a Johann Sebastian cantata. Return to Mühlhausen for dinner. Overnight Mühlhausen.
the programme
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
The Programme
The Speaker Sir Nicholas Kenyon is Managing Director of the Barbican Centre and former Director and Controller of the BBC Proms. He has been music critic for The New Yorker and The Observer, music editor of The Listener and editor of Early Music. He is the author of the Faber Pocket Guide to Bach and edited Authenticity and Early Music.
‘This was a very special holiday. Congratulations on organising it so well - it was a complex operation!’ Left: Eisenach, 20th-century etching Opposite page: Arnstadt, steel engraving c. 1850
Thuringia Less than a century elapsed between the first record of a Bach in Thuringia and the birth there of Johann Sebastian in 1685. By then the exceptional musical and procreative talents of the family had led to the establishment of several Bachs as prominent professional musicians throughout the region. Not only did Johann Sebastian follow the family tradition, but for the first half of his working life he did so in the same provincial German backwater as the rest of his clan. Thuringia is – as it was in Bach’s time – a region of rolling hills, deciduous woodland, patchwork fields, compact red-roofed villages and proud little towns. Being then divided into some of the smallest city-states and princedoms of pre-unification Germany, and later only patchily affected by the ravages of 6
the programme, speaker
industrialization and war, its appearance remained little changed throughout the twentieth century. Forty years in the chill embrace of the Communist state further impeded ‘progress’. All this gives rise to a strange paradox: though at the geographical centre of Germany, Europe’s economic and cultural powerhouse, Thuringia feels strangely provincial and peripheral. For those who knew East Germany before 1989, the subsequent changes appear little short of miraculous – major transformation of infrastructure, cleaning, painting and restoration of the architecture, recrudescence of commercial and social life on a par with almost anywhere else in Europe.
Yet the region has still not awoken fully from a half-century sleep, a degenerative, corrosive slumber which allowed much of the historic fabric of the towns and villages to slide into desuetude and dereliction. There are limits to the restoration and rebuilding that is possible, and the very dilapidation of much that remains contributes to a powerful sense of the continuity of the past. These are the towns where Bach grew up and where he plied his trade, the locations of his quotidian concerns as well as the exercise of his genius. Merely to walk the same streets and sit in the same pews is to enlarge and illumine one’s understanding of Bach’s music. To hear his compositions not only in the locale but in the very buildings where they were first performed is a lifeenhancing experience.
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
The Programme Day 3, Tuesday 7th July Ohrdruf, Arnstadt, Weimar Leave Mühlhausen and drive to Ohrdruf where Bach lived with an elder brother for five years after the death of his father. Beside a stream on the edge of this very small town there is a rambling Schloss, largely of 16th-century construction but with a newly refurbished hall on the top floor where the lecture and recital are held.
Concert, 11.00am Ohrdruf, Schloss Ehrenstein Rachel Podger violin Violin Solo 2 Sonata No.2 in A minor (BWV 1003), Partita No.3 in E (BWV 1006). Arrive in Arnstadt in time for lunch. Founded in 704, Arnstadt claims to be the oldest town in eastern Germany. Spreading down the side of a hill, it has retained much of its picturesque historic centre. Bach’s first significant employment (1707–1708) was as organist at the Neukirche, as it was then called, and there is a concert here. There is time also for the small Bach museum in the Schloss.
About us Martin Randall Travel aims to provide the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, music, history and archaeology in Britain and continental Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Asia and the Americas. Each year there are about 240 expert-led tours for small groups (10 to 20 participants), a dozen music weekends, symposia and music festivals and about 80 study days. For over twenty-five years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, setting the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards. MRT is Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.
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Concert, 4.15pm Arnstadt, Bachkirche Cantus Cölln Konrad Junghänel conductor Two Cantatas & a Motet Two of Bach’s early cantatas are performed here, Aus der Tiefen (BWV 131), written for the pastor of the Marienkirche in Mühlhausen 1707/8, and Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen (BWV 12), first performed in Weimar in 1714. There follows a motet from his maturity, the famous Jesu meine Freude (BWV 227), which was written in Leipzig 1730/35. Drive to Weimar. Weimar has few rivals among the smaller cities of Europe for its importance in the history of literature and music. Bach worked at the court in 1703 and again from 1708 to 1717, following such eminent musicians as Schütz and Westhoff. Liszt’s period of residence 1842–61 attracted many musical visitors including Wagner, Brahms, Smetana
and Borodin, and turned Weimar into an international centre of the musical avant-garde. Richard Strauss was court Kapellmeister 1889–94. Weimar is also revered as a centre of literature and Enlightenment thought largely owing to the sixty-year residence and service at court of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Herder, Schiller and Nietzsche are among the other great names to have spent time here. There is time to settle in and have dinner before a late-evening recital.
Concert, 9.45pm Weimar, Herderkirche (Church of St Peter & Paul) Rachel Podger violin Violin Solo 3 Rachel final recital includes just one piece, the Partita No.2 in D minor (BWV 1004) which concludes with the great Chaconne. First of two nights in Weimar.
the programme
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
The Programme The concerts Private events. All the concerts are planned and administered by Martin Randall Travel, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the full festival package. The concerts are therefore private. Seating. Specific seats will not be reserved. You sit where you want. Seating in the churches may be a little uncomfortable; consider bringing a cushion. Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with locale and authenticity than with acoustical perfection. Some venues have idiosyncrasies or reverberations of the sort which are not found in modern purpose-built concert halls.
Day 4, Wednesday 8th July Weimar
Concert, 10.30am & 4.00pm Weimar, Cranach House
Weimar is now one of the liveliest, perhaps the most prosperous, and certainly the best restored of Thuringian towns. The city is adorned with a magnificent range of classical architecture and landscaped parks, and as the first site of the Bauhaus school the significance of the city in the history of art reaches into the twentieth century.
Steven Isserlis cello Cello Suites 1
Much of the day is free for exploration of Weimar, its streets and squares, its museums, its parks. There is a talk followed by a recital in the morning or the afternoon – the small hall means the audience has to be split and the event repeated – and the Passion in the evening.
Capacity. There will be up to 200 participants on the festival. At venues which cannot accommodate this number the audience is divided and the concerts repeated.
Bach transformed what were basically sets of dances into the most sublime and contemplative music ever written for the cello. Steven Isserlis performs four of the six, beginning today with Suite No.1 in G (BWV 1007). Dinner is independent today, so you can choose to have it before or after the concert. Illustration above: Weimar, lithograph by Ellen Torngrist, 1920. Below: woodcut of a cello by Pietro Parigi, 1922.
Changes. Musicians may fall ill, venues may have to close for repairs, airlines may alter schedules: there are many circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We ask you to be understanding should they occur.
Concert, 8.00pm Weimar, Ducal Palace Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh conductor St John Passion (BWV 245) Joelle Harvey soprano Nicolas Mulroy tenor Marcus Farnsworth bass Counter tenor to be confirmed The 2015 Journey offers a rare juxtaposition of both Passions. ‘Of Bach’s two extant Passion settings, the St John Passion is the shorter, more dramatic, more concentrated… In recent years, thanks to a wide variety of performances using historically based forces, the St John Passion has been revealed as an equally affecting and powerful work, and has leapt up in popular estimation’ (Nicholas Kenyon 2011). Second of two nights in Weimar.
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the programme
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
The Programme Day 5, Thursday 9th July Sangerhausen, Leipzig Leave Weimar and drive to Leipzig via the attractive small town of Sangerhausen. The church of St James (Jakobikirche) possesses a fine organ by Zacharias Hildebrandt 1726–28, a pupil and rival of Silbermann and occasional collaborator with J. S. Bach.
Concert, 11.15am Sangerhausen, Church of St James Martina Pohl organ Organ Recital Recital of Bach organ pieces on a 1726 instrument: Prelude in D minor (organ arrangement of Prelude from Violin Sonata No.1 in G minor (BWV 1001), Fugue in D minor, Schübler Chorales (BWV 645–650), and Prelude and Fugue in E flat (BWV 552).
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After lunch in Sangerhausen, reach Leipzig in the early afternoon. Bach was employed here as Kantor of St Thomas in 1723 and with his various additional responsibilities effectively became director of music for the city until his death in 1750.
Concert, 5.00pm Leipzig, Alte Börse (former Stock Exchange) Steven Isserlis cello Cello Suites 2 Cello suite No. 4 in E-flat (BWV 1010). There is a half-hour refreshment break between these two concerts, which are in adjacent buildings, so they may seem like a single mega-concert.
Concert, 6.15pm Leipzig, Altes Rathaus (former Town Hall) Barocksolisten München Brandenburgs, Concertos & Orchestral Suites Concerto for flute, violin and harpsichord in A minor (BWV 1044), Harpsichord Concerto in A (BWV 1055a), Brandenburg Concerto No.4 in G (BWV 1049), Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D (BWV 1050), Concerto in C minor (BWV 1060), Orchestral Suite No.2 in B minor (BWV 1067). First of two nights in Leipzig.
Below: Leipzig, Altes Rathaus, wood engraving from The Illustrated London News, 1866
the programme
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
The Programme Fitness for the festival This is a physically demanding festival and fitness is essential. Within the towns and cities, you will be expected to walk for anything up to 25 minutes and at a pace which is unlikely to slow others down when moving as a group. Many surfaces are uneven or cobbled and there are some ascents and descents. You will need to climb stairs at some venues and hotels, check in and out of three hotels and be comfortable driving some considerable distances by coach, particularly on the first and last days. If for any stage of the festival, including the airport, you would like the use of a wheelchair, then this festival is unlikely to be suitable for you. We will issue all participants with more detailed fitness requirements, but please contact us now if you would like to discuss your level of fitness.
Leipzig, Nikolaikirche, lithograph 1835.
Day 6, Friday 10th July Leipzig
Concert, 10.30am Leipzig, Alte Börse
Leipzig is the only large city of the Journey – though with a population of just half a million, and a fifteen minute walk to traverse the historic centre, it is not a metropolis. After the degradation of the DDR years, the subsequent transformation of the city seems little short of miraculous. Restoration and rebuilding have gone hand in hand with the emergence of pavement cafés, smart shops and good restaurants.
Steven Isserlis cello Cello Suites 3
There are fine museums and art galleries here including an excellent collection of musical instruments, an apartment where Mendelssohn lived and the Bach Archive which has a good public display.
‘The musicians were of an incredibly high standard. I was immensely impressed that MRT could engage such high calibre Bach performers.’
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the programme
There is no age limit but we do ask you to think seriously about the above.
Suite No.5 in C minor, (BWV 1011) and Suite No.6 in D, (BWV 1012).
Concert, 5.00pm Leipzig, Nikolaikirche (Church of St Nicholas) Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh conductor St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) Choir 1 Joelle Harvey soprano Tim Mead counter tenor Nicolas Mulroy tenor Marcus Farnsworth bass
output… The work grows directly out of its liturgical and cultural context and is fully grounded in it, yet it seems to reach beyond that context, beyond narrow sectarianism and even beyond religious observance, to say something to the whole of humanity’ (Nicholas Kenyon 2011). It was first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday 1727 and revised in 1736. In its revised form it is distinguished by having two orchestras as well two choirs. The day finishes with dinner and the second of two nights in Leipzig.
Choir 2 Anna Dennis soprano Andrew Tortise tenor Stephan Loges bass Mezzo-soprano to be confirmed
Day 7, Saturday 11th July Leipzig Depending on your flight option there may be some free time in Leipzig. See the opposite page for details of transfers and flights.
‘The most monumental of Bach’s works, and for many the peak of his
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
Joining & leaving the festival Flights from London Heathrow or Manchester form part of the festival package. All options fly into Frankfurt and back from Berlin Tegel. Those travelling to/from London fly out with Lufthansa and back with British Airways. For those travelling to/from Manchester, both the outbound and inbound flights are with Lufthansa. There is also the option to fly out on the 4th July, the day before the festival begins. Accommodation in Mühlhausen is included should you choose options 1 or 2 below, and for this there is a supplement which varies depending on your hotel choice (see page 13 for prices).
Arriving a day early Option 1: Heathrow, a day early 4th July: depart Heathrow 09.30, arrive Frankfurt 12.10 (LH 901) 11th July: depart Berlin 12.35, arrive Heathrow 13.35 (BA 983)
Option 2: Manchester, a day early 4th July: depart Manchester 08.55, arrive Frankfurt 11.40 (LH 941) 11th July: depart Berlin 13.00 (via Munich), arrive Manchester 16.30 (LH 2037, LH 2502)
Arriving on the first day of the festival
If you want to make your own arrangements
Option 3: Heathrow
Option 7: no flights
5th July: depart Heathrow 09.30, arrive Frankfurt 12.10 (LH 901)
You can take the package without flights and make your own arrangements for joining and leaving the festival. You are welcome to join our airport transfers from Frankfurt and back to Berlin, though we cannot wait for you should you be delayed. There is a reduction in the price of £190 per person for this option.
11th July: depart Berlin 12.35, arrive Heathrow 13.35 (BA 983)
Option 4: Heathrow 5th July: depart Heathrow 10.20, arrive Frankfurt 13.00 (LH 903) 11th July: depart Berlin 14.30, arrive Heathrow 15.30 (BA 993)
Option 5: Heathrow 5th July: depart Heathrow 11.45, arrive Frankfurt 14.25 (LH 905) 11th July: depart Berlin 16.50, arrive Heathrow 17.45 (BA 985)
Option 6: Manchester 5th July: depart Manchester 08.55, arrive Frankfurt 11.40 (LH 941) 11th July: depart Berlin 13.00 (via Munich), arrive Manchester 16.30 (LH 2037, LH 2502)
Illustration above: Eisenach, steel engraving c. 1840. Left: J. S. Bach.
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Participation in our festivals is a very different experience from conventional group travel – no repetitive or redundant announcements, no herding by elevated umbrella, no unnecessary roll calls, little hanging around. We work on the assumption that you are adults, and our staff cultivate the virtue of unobtrusiveness. We provide sufficient information to enable you to navigate the festival events without needing to be led. However, festival staff are also stationed around the events to direct you if needed and for some events, coaches or taxis are provided.
joining & leaving the festival
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
Accommodation & prices About the hotels You choose between four hotel options, A–D. Mühlhausen (2 or 3 nights) has few hotels and we have reserved every bed in the town. There is little variation of standard between them but all are quite new or recently renovated and are of 3-star standard. All are spotlessly clean and most are family run. The bathrooms have showers only. Twin and double beds are usually two mattresses on a single base. The hotels do not have air-conditioning. Weimar (2 nights) has a very good range of 3-star, 4-star and 5-star hotels. A small city, the hotels we have selected are no more than 10 or 15 minutes’ walk from the venues. There is no air-conditioning in the Elephant (Option D), nor at the Anna Amalia (Option A) but windows can be opened. Leipzig (2 nights), as a trade fair city, has a good selection of hotels of all categories though some lack charm and individuality. We have selected ones within or on the periphery of the mediaeval core of the city; none is more than 15 or 20 minutes on foot from the venues. All have airconditioning. Wireless internet is available at all hotels. Charges apply in all categories except for D, where it is free of charge. If you intend to share a twin room with a friend, the best options are D and C (due to visibility of the shower cubicles from the bedroom area at the Park and Radisson hotels in Leipzig).
Option A
Option B
Mühlhausen
Mühlhausen
EITHER: Mühlhäuser Hof. Opened in 2005, this small hotel comprised of three town houses dating from 1524 is located within the town walls. The decor is plain and unobtrusive. Rooms vary in size and there is one small lift (reaching floors 1 and 2 but some stairs need to be climbed to access most rooms). Porterage will be arranged.
Mirage. The hotel, purpose-built in 1994, is located a pleasant fifteen-minute walk to the old town centre. Decor is light and welcoming, if a little dated. Staff are helpful, rooms are well-equipped.
OR: Mirage. The hotel, purpose-built in 1994, is located a pleasant twenty-minute walk from the town hall. Decor is light and welcoming, if a little dated. Staff are helpful, rooms are well-equipped. You do not have to make the choice – we allocate you to a hotel randomly.
Weimar Anna Amalia. A family-run hotel in a quiet cobbled street in the centre of town. Rooms are simply furnished with cream walls and light wood furniture. Bedrooms vary in size.
Leipzig Park. This is a modern and comfortable hotel. The quirky design uses plenty of wood and is vaguely nautical. Bedrooms are a good size. There is a glass panel in the wall separating bathrooms and bedrooms. There is a good restaurant. Illustration: Mühlhausen, lithograph c. 1830.
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accommodation & prices
Weimar Dorint am Goethepark. Comprising two historic houses connected by a new addition, this is now a thoroughly modern hotel pleasantly situated by the park and a short walk from the town centre. The decoration is somewhat austere, but the public areas are spacious and the rooms elegant and comfortable. There is a restaurant in the hotel. Internet access is available free of charge when using a public computer in the lobby.
Leipzig Radisson Blu. A modern hotel, purpose-built in 1964 and completely renovated in 2006. It is situated on the Ring overlooking Augustusplatz and the Gewandhaus. Geared more to the business market, its interior of cool elegance is nevertheless comfortable. Beds can be divided into twins, but there is no more than 15cm of space between them. Bathrooms are separated from the bedrooms by a glass wall (though the lavatory cannot be seen). There is a restaurant in the hotel but we do not use it for the group meals as standards vary.
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
Accommodation & prices Prices All prices are per person
Arriving on the 4th July (a day early)
Arriving on the 5th July
Two sharing
Single occupancy
Two sharing
Single occupancy
Option A
£2,930
£3,095
£2,820
£2,960
Option B
£3,270
£3,465
£3,160
£3,330
Option C
£3,750
£3,995
£3,640
£3,860
Option D
£4,090
£4,405
£3,980
£4,270
Deposit: £350 per person.
Option C
Option D
Mühlhausen
Mühlhausen
Brauhaus zum Löwen. An old timberframed building of great character in the centre of town. Rooms are in the modern annex, 3 minutes walk from the main building. While the buildings are less characterful, rooms have recently been redecorated and have either a modern or a more rustic feel. All rooms are spacious and there is a lift. All participants dine here on the first evening.
Brauhaus zum Löwen. An old timberframed building of great character in the centre of town. Modern additions form an inner courtyard. The bedrooms are simple but most of them spacious. Some rooms overlook the (quiet) street. All participants dine here on the first evening. Most rooms are not served by a lift but porterage will be arranged.
• Access to all twelve private concerts.
Weimar
• Travel within Germany by coach.
The Elephant. A famous historic establishment blending classical gravity with contemporary understatement. Bedrooms are spacious and very well equipped and there are two restaurants including the finest in Weimar.
• Five dinners and two lunches, with wine, water and coffee, and a light lunch or afternoon tea on the day you arrive.
Leipzig
• The assistance of a team of festival staff.
Weimar Russischer Hof. Elegant hotel dating to 1805 and furnished in a partially modernised, opulent Russian Neoclassical style. Impressive public areas and restaurants, comfortable rooms with luxurious bathrooms, excellent location.
Leipzig Marriott. In traditional style with lots of marble, wood, brass and easy chairs. Rooms are spacious with cosy, countrystyle furnishings and all mod cons. Central but quiet. There is a pool.
Fürstenhof. The best hotel in the city, not large and with the feel of a private club. A 19th-century building, it is furnished with antiques. Rooms are spacious and superbly equipped. Service is impeccable. There is a restaurant, wine bar and pool.
The festival package The price includes: • Hotel accommodation for six nights: you choose between four price options. • A choice of flights between London or Manchester and Germany. (There is a price reduction of £190 if you arrange your own travel.)
• Talks on the music by Sir Nicholas Kenyon.
• Practical and cultural information and a detailed programme book. • All tips for drivers, porters and restaurant staff. Optional extras • Choice of three pre-festival tours: Dresden & Meissen, 1–5 July 2015; Organs of Bach’s Time, 1–5 July 2015; Mitteldeutschland, 26 June–4 July 2015 (See pages 14–16.) • Arriving a day early (see above and pages 5 and 11).
Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
accommodation & prices
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
Dresden & Meissen A pre-festival tour Meissen, watercolour by E.T. Compton, publ. 1912.
Foster + Partners railway station and the Museum of Military History redesigned by Libeskind.
Lecturer Dr Jarl Kremeier is an art historian specialising in 17th- to 19th-century architecture and decorative arts. He teaches Art History at the Berlin College of Acting and Berlin’s Freie Universität. He is also a contributor to Macmillan’s Dictionary of Art and the author of Die Hofkirche der Würzburger Residenz.
Itinerary Day 1: Dresden. Fly at c. 9.30am from London City Airport to Dresden (Cityjet) and drive to the hotel in the city. There is an introductory walk around the historic town centre before dinner.
1–5 July 2015 (mb 399) 5 days • £1,620 Lecturer: Dr Jarl Kremeier This tour is exclusive to participants on The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey. Once one of the most admired cities in Europe, rebuilding and restoration in Dresden has reached its peak. Visit Meissen with its impressive Gothic cathedral and world-famous porcelain factory. The tour is led by Dr Jarl Kremeier, an art historian resident in Germany. Dresden’s greatness as a city of the arts was very much the creation of a single man, Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony 1694–1733. Though founded at the beginning of the thirteenth century, for its first five hundred years it was a minor city of little distinction. His pillaging of the state treasury to feed his reckless extravagance was both symbol and to some extent the cause of his dismal record in most areas of statecraft, but his achievements as builder, patron and collector rank him among the most munificent of European rulers. Great architecture, a picture collection of legendary richness, magnificent accumulations of precious metalwork and ceramics (porcelain was manufactured here for the first time in Europe) and a glorious
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musical life transformed Dresden into one of the most admired and visited cities in Europe, and a major destination on the Grand Tour. Though to a somewhat lesser degree, subsequent rulers of Saxony continued the tradition of cultural embellishment (and political ineptitude: they had a tiresome habit of joining the losing side). In the nineteenth century, ‘the Florence on the Elbe’ acquired buildings by Schinkel and Semper, and Weber and Wagner were directors of the opera house. In the twentieth century, Richard Strauss added to its illustrious musical history. Then in February 1945 a tragically propitious set of circumstances conspired to make the air raid on Dresden the most ‘successful’ of Allied bombing missions. Most of the art collections had been removed to safety but 80% of the old centre was destroyed. Under the Communist regime a few of the chief monuments were grudgingly restored, but since unification the painstaking process of rebuilding and restoration has accelerated. The great dome of the Protestant Cathedral, the Frauenkirche, again dominates the skyline, and the Green Vault in the royal palace again displays the unequalled magnificence of the treasury. Significantly, rank and file buildings are steadily being recreated; the glory of Dresden lay as much in the lesser buildings as in the major ones. Some striking new architecture has been added, notably the allglass car factory in the historic centre, the
Day 2: Dresden. The Zwinger is a unique Baroque confection, part pleasure palace, part arena for festivities and part museum for cherished collections. Visit the excellent Porcelain Museum and the fabulously rich Old Masters Gallery, particularly strong on Italian and Netherlandish painting. Restoration of the royal palace has now been completed, and the wonderful contents of the Green Vault, one of the world’s finest princely treasuries, are again on display in their original venue. Day 3: Gross-Sedlitz, Pillnitz. Drive to the terraced garden of Gross-Sedlitz, and then to Pillnitz, a summer palace in Chinese Rococo style, with collections of decorative art and a riverside park. After lunch, take the boat downstream back to Dresden. Day 4: Meissen. Drive to Meissen, ancient capital of Dukes of Saxony and location of the discovery of hard-paste porcelain. The largely 15th-century hilltop castle overlooking the Elbe, the Albrechtsburg, is one of the first to be more residential than defensive, and within the complex is a fine Gothic cathedral. Visit the porcelain factory and museum before returning to Dresden. Day 5: Erfurt. Drive to Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia, which well preserves its pre-20th-century appearance with a variety of streetscape and architecture from mediaeval to Jugendstil. See the Krämerbrücke, a 14th-century bridge piled with houses and shops, the cathedral, framing Germany’s largest set of mediaeval stained glass, and the Gothic Severikirche. Continue to Mühlhausen, arriving in time
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
Mitteldeutschland Weimar & the towns of Thuringia & Sachsen-Anhalt for the dinner for all participants on The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey. Day 11, 11th July. Fly from Berlin to London Heathrow (British Airways), arriving at c. 3.30pm.
Practicalities Price: £1,620 (deposit £200). Single supplement £150. Price without flights £1,430. As flights are included with this tour, the festival will be charged at the ‘no flights’ price. Included meals: 1 lunch, 3 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Radisson Blu Gewandhaus Hotel, Dresden (radissonblu. de): a traditional 5-star hotel in a reconstructed Baroque building. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Organs of Bach’s Time
Erfurt, Cathedral, wood engraving c. 1880.
Silbermann & Baroque organs in Saxony & Thuringia
26 June–4 July 2015 (mb 378) 9 days • £2,380 Lecturer: Dr Jeffrey Miller
1–5 July 2015 Another pre-festival tour to The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey
A trawl through little-known and largely unspoilt towns at the heart of Germany.
Details available in September 2014 Contact us to register your interest
Copper engraving c. 1730. Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5
Great mediaeval churches, Baroque and Neo-Classical palaces, enchanting streetscape, fine art collections, beautiful countryside. Sachsen-Anhalt and Thuringia, the Länder in the middle of Germany, are predominantly rural, with rolling hills, deciduous woodland, compact red-roofed villages and ancient small-scale cities. Only patchily affected by the ravages of war and industrialisation, much of the historic architecture remained intact throughout the twentieth century. Forty years in the chill embrace of the East German state further impeded ‘progress’. The result is that at the heart of Europe’s richest and most modern nation is a region which feels strangely provincial and archaic. Thuringia was one of the five major states of early mediaeval Germany, but by the end of the Middle Ages it had fragmented into numerous little statelets and free cities. The history of Sachsen-Anhalt was similar:
during the tenth century ‘Old’ Saxony was the most powerful of the German duchies and formed the kernel of the German nation, but loss of pre-eminence was followed by subdivision. From the sixteenth century both Länder consisted of innumerable principalities and independent cities, and were political and economic backwaters – though in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Bach family dominated music making here. And one small dukedom in particular made a quite exceptional contribution to art and thought. Weimar played host to J. S. Bach, Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Liszt, Nietzsche, Richard Strauss, Walter Gropius and many other great names. For those who knew East Germany before 1991, the subsequent changes appear little short of miraculous – major upgrading of the infrastructure, transformation of the built environment through cleaning, painting and wholesale restoration, recrudescence of commercial and social life. But those who come to the territory for the first time might be less enamoured. It is as if the region hasn’t fully awoken from a halfcentury sleep, a corrosive slumber which allowed much of the historic fabric of the towns and villages to slide into desuetude and dereliction.
pre-festival tours
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
Mitteldeutschland Detail from Naumburg Cathedral, engraving c. 1830.
Yet in an odd sort of way the dilapidation contributes to a powerful sense of the past, and an air of authenticity which can be lost in places more thoroughly spruced up emanates from this fascinating, constantly surprising, frequently beautiful and richlyendowed region.
Itinerary Day 1: London to Hannover. Fly at c. 5.30pm from London Heathrow to Hannover (British Airways). Drive to Quedlinburg. First of three nights in Quedlinburg. Day 2: Quedlinburg, Gernrode. Quedlinburg is a wonderfully preserved mediaeval town. The castle hill is crowned by the church of St Servatius, begun 1070, and contains one of Germany’s finest treasuries. See also the Gothic church of St Benedict in the market square and the Wipertikirche with its 10th-cent. crypt. At nearby Gernrode is one of the oldest churches in Germany, and one of the most beautiful, St Cyriakus, begun ad 961. Overnight Quedlinburg. Day 3: Halberstadt, Blankenburg. Halberstadt was a major city in the Middle Ages, and the cathedral is the largest French-style Gothic church in Germany after Cologne; the treasury is exceptional. Blankenburg is an idyllic little spa town in the foothills of the Harz mountains with two Baroque palaces, the creation of a younger son of the Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel dynasty who made Blankenburg his capital. Overnight Quedlinburg. Day 4: Mühlhausen. Drive in the morning across the Harz mountains to Thuringia, passing forested vistas, half-timbered hamlets and patches of pasturage. Mühlhausen is astonishing, one of the most delightful and evocative towns in northern Europe, preserving its complete mediaeval wall, an abundance of half-
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timbered buildings and six Gothic churches. Walk along a section of the wall, visit the soaring, five-aisled church of St Mary, and St Blasius, the church where Bach was organist 1707–08. Overnight Mühlhausen. Day 5: Gotha, Arnstadt. A Residenzstadt within the principality of Saxe-CoburgGotha, Gotha is dominated by Schloss Friedenstein, which has fine interiors, a picture collection and a Baroque theatre. Walk down a processional way to the Hauptmarkt with its Renaissance town hall. Arnstadt, the oldest town in eastern Germany, has fine streetscape on a sloping site with the church where Bach was organist 1703–7, the Early Gothic Church of Our Lady and a palace which illustrates social hierarchy from the court’s perspective. First of four nights in Weimar. Day 6: Weimar. Two centuries of enlightened patronage by members of the ducal family enabled the little city-state of Weimar to be home to many great writers, philosophers, composers and artists. Today, visit the Stadtkirche, the main church with an altarpiece by Cranach, Goethe’s house, a beautifully preserved sequence of interiors and garden, the ducal Schloss, with NeoClassical interiors and a fine art museum, and an English-style landscaped park with Goethe’s summer house. Overnight Weimar. Day 7: Erfurt. Capital of Thuringia, Erfurt well preserves its pre-20th-century appearance with a variety of streetscape and architecture from mediaeval to Jugendstil. Outstanding are the Krämerbrücke, a 14th-century bridge piled with houses and shops, and the cathedral, framing Germany’s largest set of mediaeval stained glass. See also the Severikirche, the friary of St Augustine where Luther was a monk, the Predigerkirche which retains its late mediaeval appearance intact, and the 17thcent. hilltop citadel. Overnight Weimar.
Day 8: Weimar. A walk includes Haus am Horn and Van de Velde’s School of Arts and Crafts from which the Bauhaus emerged. Free afternoon in this beautiful little city. Among the many other museums to choose from are the Bauhaus Museum, the 18th-century Wittumspalais and the Schiller House. An excursion to Buchenwald concentration camp can be arranged. Overnight Weimar. Day 9: Naumburg. Architecturally, Naumburg Cathedral is an outstanding embodiment of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic, but its great importance lies in its 13th-century sculpture, including statues of the founders, among the most powerful and realistic of the Middle Ages. Travel to Mühlhausen to join The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey. Day 17, 11th July. Fly from Berlin to London Heathrow (British Airways), arriving at c. 3.30pm.
Lecturer Dr Jeffrey Miller. Art historian specialising in architecture of the Middle Ages. He obtained his MA from the Courtauld and his PhD from Columbia University where he is now a Core Lecturer. He has taught for the Culinary Institute of America as well as lecturing on mediaeval art and architecture for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Practicalities Price: £2,380 (deposit £250). Single supplement £240. Price without flights £2,220. We will assume that you require accommodation on 4th July in Mühlhausen (see page 13 for prices). As flights are included with this tour, the festival will be charged at the ‘no flights’ price. Included meals: 1 lunch, 5 dinners with wine. Accommodation. Romantik Hotel am Brühl, Quedlinburg (hotelambruehl.de): a restored heritage building near the historical heart, comfortably furnished. Brauhaus ‘Zum Löwen’, Mühlhausen (brauhaus-zumloewen.de): a converted brewery in the centre of the town; characterfully rustic dining area and bar, simple but spacious rooms. Dorint Am Goethepark, Weimar (hotel-weimar.dorint.com): a modern hotel, situated by the park and on the edge of the town centre. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
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The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
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Accommodation (see pages 12–13). Please tick to select your chosen hotel option and room type. Hotel option
Travel options (see page 11 for fuller details). Please tick. Arriving a day early. We will assume that you require accommodation on 4th July – please tell us if you do not.
☐ Option A
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☐ Option 1: Heathrow, a day early
☐ Option C
☐ Option D
4th July: departing 9.30am. 11th July: arriving 1.35pm.
☐ Option 2: Manchester, a day early
Room type ☐ Double room for single occupancy ☐ Double room (two sharing) ☐ Twin room (two sharing)
4th July: departing 8.55am. 11th July: arriving 4.30pm.
Arriving on the first day of the festival
☐ Option 3: Heathrow
5th July: departing 9.30am. 11th July: arriving 1.35pm.
☐ Option 4: Heathrow Pre-festival tours (tick to book). ☐ Dresden & Meissen, 1–5 July 2015 (page 14) ☐ Mitteldeutschland, 26 June–4 July 2015 (pages 15–16)
☐ Option 5: Heathrow
☐ Single occupancy
☐ Twin (two sharing)
☐ Double (two sharing)
5th July: departing 11.45am. 11th July: arriving 5.45pm.
☐ Option 6: Manchester
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5th July: departing 10.20am. 11th July: arriving 3.30pm.
5th July: departing 8.55am. 11th July: arriving 4.30pm.
Making your own travel arrangements
☐ Option 7a: No flights, arriving 4th July ☐ Option 7b: No flights, arriving 5th July
Flights (tick one): ☐ Taking the group flights
A specific flight at the end of the festival is included if you select this option (you do not need to choose one in the section to the right).
☐ No flights
Making your own arrangements to travel to the tour, and making your own way onwards at the end of the festival.
Special requests including dietary requirements (even if you have told us before).
The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
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Australia: Telephone 1300 55 95 95 USA: Telephone 1 800 988 6168 Martin Randall Travel Ltd New Zealand: Telephone 0800 877 622 Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, anz@martinrandall.com.au London, United Kingdom W4 4GF Telephone 020 8742 3355 Fax 020 8742 7766 Canada: Telephone 647 382 1644 canada@martinrandall.ca info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com 5085
The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey, 5–11 July 2015
Booking details Making a booking 1. Provisional booking
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We recommend that you contact us first to ascertain that your preferred hotel and room option is still available. You can make a provisional booking which we will hold for one week (longer if necessary) pending receipt of your completed Booking Form and deposit.
Fill in the Booking Form and send it to us with the deposit. It is important that you read the Booking Conditions at this stage, and that you sign the Booking Form. Full payment is required if you are booking within ten weeks of the festival.
Upon receipt of your Booking Form and deposit we send you confirmation of your booking. After this your deposit is nonreturnable except in the special circumstances mentioned in the Booking Conditions.
countries should ascertain whether visas are required in their case, and obtain them if they are.
in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder. However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable). If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the nonprovision of the services, including any claim against us (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims maybe re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.
It is important that you also read our Booking Conditions below.
Booking Conditions Please read these You need to sign your assent to these booking conditions on the booking form. Our promises to you We aim to be fair, reasonable and sympathetic in all our dealings with clients, and to act always with integrity. We will meet all our legal and regulatory responsibilities, often going beyond the minimum obligations. We aim to provide full and accurate information about our tours and festivals. If there are changes, we will tell you promptly. If something does go wrong, we will try to put it right. Our overriding aim is to ensure that every client is satisfied with our services. All we ask of you We ask that you read the information we send to you. Specific terms Our contract with you. From the time we receive your signed booking form and initial payment, a contract exists between you and Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Eligibility. We reserve the right to refuse a booking without necessarily giving a reason. You need to have a level of fitness which would not spoil other participants’ enjoyment of the holiday by slowing them down – see ‘Fitness for the festival’ on page 10. To this end we shall issue fitness requirements to all participants to self-assess their capability. Those participants who are unable to cope during the festival or pre-festival tour may be required to opt out. Insurance. It is a requirement of booking that you have adequate holiday insurance. Full cover for medical treatment, including for your medical conditions, repatriation, loss of property and cancellation charges must be included. Insurance can be obtained from most insurance companies, banks, travel agencies and (in the UK) many retail outlets including Post Offices. Passports and visas. Participants must have passports, valid for at least six months beyond the date of the festival. No visas are required for visiting Germany for UK or other EU citizens, or for citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Nationals of other
If you cancel. If you have to cancel your participation in the festival or a pre-festival tour, there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give. Up to 57 days before departure the deposit only is forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total cost will be due: from 56 to 29 days: from 28 to 15 days: from 14 to 3 days: within 48 hours:
40% 60% 80% 100%
We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive your written confirmation of cancellation. If we cancel the festival or tour. We might decide to cancel the festival or tour if at any time up to eight weeks before there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable. We would refund everything you had paid to us. We might also cancel if hostilities, civil unrest, natural disaster or other circumstances amounting to force majeure affect the region. Safety and security. If the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel to places visited on the festival or tour, we would cancel or adjust the itinerary to avoid the risky area. In the event of cancellation before the festival or tour commenced we would give you a full refund. Our tours and festivals subscribe to the health and safety legislation of the destination. In some parts of the world the law concerning seatbelts differs to the UK. Financial protection. We provide full financial protection for our package holidays by way of our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence number 3622. When you buy an ATOL protected flight inclusive holiday from us you receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong. We will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative). In some cases, where we aren’t able do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that
We provide full financial protection for our package holidays that do not include a flight by way of a bond held by ABTA The Travel Association. The limits of our liabilities. As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of the festival or tour, except those in which the principle of force majeure prevails. Our obligations and responsibilities are also limited where international conventions apply in respect of air, sea or rail carriers, including the Warsaw Convention and its various updates. If we make changes. Circumstances might arise which prevent us from operating the festival or tour exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the festival or tour we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative we offer is not acceptable we would give a full refund. English Law. These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L A RT • A R C H I T E C T U R E • G A S T R ONO M Y • A R C H A E OLO G Y • H I S TORY • M U S I C
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Australia: Martin Randall Australasia, PO Box 537, Toowong, QLD 4066 Telephone 1300 55 95 95 Fax 07 3377 0142 anz@martinrandall.com.au From New Zealand: Telephone 0800 877 622 Canada: Telephone 647 382 1644 Fax 416 925 2670 canada@martinrandall.ca USA: Telephone 1 800 988 6168