Music in the Loire Valley, 7–13 July 2020 by Martin Randall Travel

Music in the

Loire Valley CELEBRATING MUSIC AND PLACE 7–13 JULY 2020

Renaissance to Romantic – nine concerts in magnificent châteaux and historic venues in the Garden of France.

MARTIN RANDALL FESTIVALS

Martin Randall Festivals bring together world-class musicians for a sequence of private concerts in Europe’s glorious historic buildings, many of which are not normally accessible. We take care of all logistics, from flights and hotels, to pre-concert talks. WEST COUNTRY CHORAL FESTIVAL 7–11 JULY 2019 MUSIC ALONG THE DANUBE 31 AUGUST–7 SEPTEMBER 2019 SACRED MUSIC IN SANTIAGO 28 SEPTEMBER–2 OCTOBER 2019 THE THOMAS TALLIS TRAIL 1–3 NOVEMBER 2019 OPERA IN SOUTHERN SICILY 5–11 NOVEMBER 2019 MUSIC ALONG THE RHINE 30 JUNE–7 JULY 2020 MUSIC IN THE LOIRE VALLEY 7–13 JULY 2020 DANUBE BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL 24–31 AUGUST 2020 THE DIVINE OFFICE 28 SEPTEMBER–2 OCTOBER 2020 MUSIC IN VENICE 2–7 NOVEMBER 2020

CONTENTS

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FESTIVAL Discover the festival packages and locations.

12. MEET THE MUSICIANS

18.

TRAVEL OPTIONS Travel to and from France on one of our festival Eurostar, or independently.

International musicians of the highest calibre.

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME The day-by-day itinerary including details of the performances.

16.

ACCOMMODATION & PRICES

20.

PRE-FESTIVAL TOUR Or the option to combine with another of our European festivals or tours.

Choose between four 4-star hotels in Tours, at the heart of the Loire.

21.

10. DISCOVER THE PLACE

The Loire Valley: remarkable châteaux, bucolic landscape and mighty river.

BOOKING

Front cover: P. D. Trouillebert, Die Loire bei Montsoreau / Gemälde, 19. Jh. ©Sotheby’s / akg-images

The booking form, details of our booking process, and terms and conditions.

Photograph opposite: taken during a Martin Randall Festival in 2018 ©Ben Ealovega. Printed: 1 May 2019.

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INTRODUCTION

MUSIC IN THE LOIRE VALLEY AN INTRODUCTION

A brand new Martin Randall Festival, celebrating the French Renaissance with a series of glorious concerts performed in the châteaux of the Loire.

The Loire Valley is a natural destination for a Martin Randall Festival. An abundance of staggeringly beautiful châteaux, glorious gardens and gently rolling agricultural landscapes, major medieval churches and alluringly pretty towns and villages. The charms of riverine scenery are pervasive, not only the mighty meandering River Loire itself, sluggish in its lower reaches (and unnavigable – this is a land-based festival) but also its many lovely tributaries. Music from the Renaissance to the Romantic. Into this idyllic ambience we are inserting appropriate classical music performed by outstanding artists. There are concerts in the châteaux at Blois, Chambord and Chenonceaux, three of the finest Renaissance buildings in France, with music chosen to echo the entertainments of the royal patrons of these palaces. Another is in the orangery at Villandry, one of the most famous gardens in the world, which we will fill with joyous instrumental music of the 18th century.

Illustration opposite: Château de Chenonceau, 19th-century engraving.

Nine private concerts in beautiful and appropriate historic buildings and châteaux. Two Gothic churches – both masterpieces though very different – host two a cappella performances of sublime beauty and spirituality. Within Tours, we hear Charpentier and Bouzignac in the Neo-Baroque town hall, and a full-scale Baroque opera (unstaged), Rameau’s Castor et Pollux, in the splendid 19thcentury Grand Theatre. And there’s a quartet concert with Saint-Saëns and Mozart in a Louis XV-style drawing room.

Musicians of the highest calibre from Britain and France. We have engaged some of the finest artists and ensembles working with the repertoire for this festival, a number of them resident in the Loire region. For Renaissance music there are the blisteringly brilliant Ensemble Clément Janequin led by Dominique Visée, and I Fagiolini, the inimitable British group directed by Robert Hollingworth. Gothic Voices and Contrapunctus, directed by Owen Rees, are two more outstanding British ensembles, the latter performing twice. Les Pléiades and Les Musiciens de Saint Julien with virtuoso flautist François Lazarevitch bolster the French contingent, while the Early Opera Company under Christian Curnyn bring their dominance of Baroque opera in Britain to the Loire, with a spectacular line-up of soloists including Samuel Boden, Jonathan McGovern, Mary Bevan and Edward Grint. Access to the nine concerts is exclusive to the 180 participants who take a package, which includes accommodation, meals, interval drinks, travel by train, lectures and much else besides. The small size of the audience and of most of the venues leads to an informality and intimacy which engenders a rare intensity of musical communication.

INTRODUCTION

THE FESTIVAL PACKAGE

THE SPEAKER

The price includes:

Optional extras:

—A ll nine private concerts.

—Y ou can also choose to join the prefestival tour. See page 20 for details.

—A ccommodation for six nights – choose between four hotels. See pages 16–17.

— E xtra dinners, so that each evening is spent in the company of other participants. Details will be available —C hoice of return trains (Eurostar, at a later stage. Standard Premier) between London and Paris (reduced price if you arrange your own). See page 18. —B reakfasts, four dinners, three lunches, and interval drinks. —A ll admissions, tips, taxes and obligatory charges. —T ravel by comfortable private coach. —T he assistance of a team of Frenchspeaking festival staff and a detailed programme booklet. —T alks on the music by Professor Richard Langham Smith.

The spoken word is an important ingredient of the festival: Professor Richard Langham Smith. Music historian, broadcaster and writer with a particular interest in early music and 19th- and 20thcentury French music. He has published widely on Debussy and Bizet in particular. He studied at the University of York and the Amsterdam Conservatory and he is currently Research Professor at the Royal College of Music. His edition of Bizet’s Carmen was used by Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the Paris Opéra-Comique and issued on a commercial video. In 1993 he was admitted as a Chevalier to the Ordre des arts et des lettres for services to French Music, and in 2016 was awarded an FRCM.

‘ A spectacular trip... thrilling, stunning, inspiring, fabulous.’ Participant on a Martin Randall Festival in 2018. WWW.MARTINRANDALL.COM

THE PROGRAMME

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Day 1

Day 2

Tuesday 7 July Tours

Wednesday 8 July Champigny-sur-Veude, Château du Rivau, Tours The festival doesn’t get more remote and rural than on this, the first full day. Drive in the morning to Champigny-sur-Veude, a blameless little village from which erupts, with startling incongruity, the SainteChapelle, a Gothic chapel of the mid16th-century that architecturally evokes the royal chapel in Paris of the same name built 300 years earlier. The stained glass here constitutes one of the lesser known wonders of France. Concert, 11.15am: Champigny-sur-Veude, Sainte Chapelle Medieval Song Gothic Voices

Eurostar from London to Paris, or make your own way independently. Coach transfer to Tours. For travel options, see page 18. To many a 19th-century English traveller, Touraine offered a vision of French art and culture that was not only exemplary, but unrivalled outside Paris – as central to the identity of France as Tuscany is to Italy. While this view has been modified by more recent commentators, who criticise relative stagnation of the region during the 17th and 18th centuries, it remains the case that Touraine was responsible for some of the most significant cultural initiatives to grace medieval and Renaissance Europe.

Gothic Voices – just four of them – bring us the devotional side of medieval music. Hildegard von Bingen’s phrase ‘a feather on the breath of God’ has been applied to their spiritual sound. They sing Dufay, estimated by the theorist Tinctoris in 1477 as a composer of ‘such sweetness’ that he was suitable for the ‘immortal Gods’.

Return to Tours for a few hours free time before early evening lectures. Perhaps visit the superb, largely 13th-century cathedral, with its virtually complete programme of choir glass, and the Tour Charlemagne, a mournful relic of the mighty pilgrimage church of St-Martin. Dinner is included for everyone before the performance.

Continue by coach to nearby Léméré and the charming Château du Rivau, where we eat lunch in the vast, timber-roofed barn. There is a short talk on the morning’s concert here as well as some time to visit the pleasant gardens, dotted with contemporary sculpture.

The Neo-Baroque Hôtel de Ville by Victor Laloux, architect also of the Gare d’Orsay in Paris transformed to house the museum of the same name, is the venue for the evening’s concert. Positioned commandingly on the handsome Place Jean

Settle into your chosen hotel before a drinks reception and dinner.

Illustration: Tours, steel engraving c. 1830. Photograph: ©Ben Ealovega, 2018.

THE PROGRAMME

‘ All the staff were unfailingly charming, polite and helpful.’ Participant on a Martin Randall Festival in 2018.

Day 3 Thursday 9 July Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau, Tours Jaurès and the Rue Nationale, the town hall stands as a magnificent architectural testament to the 19th century.

Lunch is included for half the audience in Villandry after the morning concert, and for the other half in Azay-le-Rideau before the afternoon performance.

Concert, 8.30pm: Tours, Hôtel de Ville, Salles des Fêtes French Baroque: Charpentier & Bouzignac

Concert, 11.30am or 4.15pm: Château de Villandry, Orangery Vivaldi

Contrapunctus Owen Rees director Ending with the heart-rending account of Peter’s denial of Christ, set by Antoine Charpentier, this concert explores the more intimate religious repertoire of the Grand Siècle. The textures, searing harmonies and dramatic projection of the music of the French Baroque are subtle and unique. The voices of Contrapunctus – well-known for their excellence through several appearances at our festivals – have a focus that engages the audience to every word they sing.

Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien François Lazarevitch f lute Vivaldi’s concertos are well known in their transcriptions by Bach. Less familiar are those made by French musicians. This concert is based on the adaptations by Nicolas Chédeville for musette – a sophisticated bagpipe popular in the French court. To Vivaldi’s original strings, Leave by coach at c. 9.45am and drive to recorders and flutes are added, adding an Villandry. Dating to the 1530s, the lovely château there was thoroughly restored last extra burst of colour to the orangery of this wonderful château. century and the rooms are well furnished and maintained. It remains a family home. Return by coach to Tours by 6.00pm. The great glory of Villandry, however, and Dinner is independent, unless you choose the source of its international fame, is the garden, which consists of terraces stacked to attend an optional dinner. The evening up across the hillside planted in accordance concert is held in a Gothic church in the centre of the city. with 16th-century designs and principles. The concert takes place in the orangery, a vaulted cave off a private part of the garden that can accommodate only half the audience. The other half visits Château d’Azay-le-Rideau, a jewel of the French Renaissance, moated by the River Indre and replete with angle turrets, elaborate gables, classical ornamentation and evocative interiors. The audiences then swap and the concert is repeated.

Illustration: Château d’Azay-le-Rideau, early-20th-century watercolour.

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Concert, 9.00pm: Tours, venue to be confirmed Requiem for Desprez Contrapunctus Owen Rees director Contrapunctus return with a concert of music of by Jean Richafort, written as a tribute to the great Josquin Desprez. The programme is designed to demonstrate the extraordinary variety of this composer: secular texts about nymphs will sit beside some of his deepest religious music.

THE PROGRAMME

THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Day 4

Day 5

Friday 10 July Château d’Artigny, Chenonceaux

Saturday 11 July Tours

Sited on a hill outside Montbazon, the Château d’Artigny is an extravagant confection in Louis Quinze style built at the beginning of the 20th century by a perfume manufacturer, who went bankrupt in the process. It is now a 5-star hotel, and we have lunch here. The drawing room is the perfect space for chamber music.

After a morning lecture in the centre of Tours, the day is largely free until the afternoon performance at the Grand Théâtre. Recommended is the Musée des Beaux-Arts. Housed in the archbishop’s former palace it displays a rich and varied collection, including French painting and sculpture from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Concert, 11.45am: Château d’Artigny String Quartets

The imposing theatre seats more than 900 and is home to the Orchestre Symphonique Région Centre-Val de Loire and the Opéra de Tours, directed by Benjamin Pionnier. Built 1867–72, all except the façade was damaged by fire in 1883 and it was remodelled six years later.

Quatuor Tchalik French-Russian born and France-based, the Quatuor Tchalik were winners of the Wigmore International String Quartet Competition in 2018. Beside Mozart’s classical Hunt quartet they explore lesser performed gems of the French repertoire: Reynaldo Hahn’s String Quartet (he was an esteemed singer and the lover of Marcel Proust) and one of Saint-Saëns’s ratherforgotten quartets. Continue by coach to Chenonceaux. Of surpassing beauty and famously straddling the River Cher, the 16th-century Château de Chenonceau was the home successively of Diane des Poitiers and Catherine de Medici, respectively mistress and widow of Henry II. We have a couple of hours here to explore the palace and the gardens before dinner in the château restaurant. This is followed by the concert in the long gallery that crosses the river.

Pre-performance talk, 4.00pm Concert, 4.30pm: Grand Théâtre de Tours Castor et Pollux

Concert, 8.30pm: Château de Chenonceau, Grand Galerie French Song I Fagiolini Robert Hollingworth director I Fagiolini are no strangers to our festivals. They sing here some of the programmatic chansons of Clément Janequin depicting such events as hunts, wars and birdsong. A feast for the eyes and ears as the singers fill the magnificent long gallery with sounds of exactly the era of its construction.

Illustration: Château de Chenonceau, after a drawing by Jules Guerin, c. 1905. 8

Early Opera Company Christian Curnyn director Samuel Boden Castor Jonathan McGovern Pollux Mary Bevan Phébé Edward Grint Jupiter Forgotten for so long but gradually rediscovered in the last century, Rameau’s invention and orchestral textures are a revelation. As tonight’s concert will demonstrate, he also had a natural affinity with the dramatic. We hear an abridged rendering of one of his greatest operas, Castor et Pollux, containing some of his most captivating music. Dinner is independent, unless you choose to attend an optional dinner.

THE PROGRAMME

Day 6

Day 7

Sunday 12 July Blois, Chambord

Monday 13 July Tours

Leave by coach at c. 9.30am and drive to Blois. The three wings of the royal castle were built in the latest fashion respectively for Louis XII from 1498, François I from 1515 and for Gaston d’Orleans, the brother of Louis XIII, from 1635. This last, designed by François Mansart, greatest of French classicists, was not quite finished when the bankers pulled the rug from under the project. The interiors were later finished to simplified designs, and it is in the great hall here that we have a concert. Concert, 11.45am: Château Royal de Blois, Salle Gaston d’Orléans Berlioz & Schönberg Les Pléiades Isabelle Druet mezzo-soprano

Continue by coach in the afternoon to Chambord; an outsize hunting lodge created by François I (r. 1515–1547), it is the most ambitious of the Loire châteaux and startles by its enormous scale and fanciful skyline. Bulbous cylindrical towers, lavish Italianate detailing, a double helix stairway (by Leonardo?) and a fantastical roofscape of cones, wedges, gables and chimney stacks. The final concert takes place in an oak-panelled hall in the outer range of the courtyard. Concert, 5.15pm: Château de Chambord, Salle des Communs d’Orléans François Ier Ensemble Clément Janequin

Mezzo Isabelle Druet has had amazing success in all kinds of repertoire from her interpretation of Carmen to recitals of Lieder and mélodie. Here she is accompanied by members of the groundbreaking French period-instrument orchestra, Les Siècles in Berlioz’s Nuits d’été: the classic French orchestral songcycle of the 19th century. Appropriately paired is the Transf igured Night of Schoenberg – an Expressionist piece written long before he got into twelvetone composition. Afterwards there is free time in the delightful town of Blois for lunch.

Designed expressly for the Château de Chambord, the musical programme here centres on François I. A prodigious patron of the arts, the king initiated many kinds of artistic interchange with Italian musicians and artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, from whom he acquired the Mona Lisa. Both at Chambord and his other château, Fontainebleau, François employed a prestigious team of singers and instrumentalists. The Janequins are tonight joined by four instruments and perform music by composers fostered by François, including Mouton, Longueval and Sermisy. Return to Tours for a final gala dinner in the Salle des Fêtes within the Hôtel de Ville.

Coaches take participants to Paris Gare du Nord. Train to London or leave the festival independently. For travel options, see page 18.

Travelling to the venues For the performances outside Tours, there are drives in comfortable coaches of between 30 minutes and an hour. These are almost entirely by water’s edge or through attractive countryside, with the longer journeys being largely on fast motorways. There are long transfers between Paris and Tours on the first and last days, but the drive includes a comfort break.

Photograph: ©Ben Ealovega, 2018.

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THE PLACE

DISCOVER THE LOIRE VALLEY

The Loire Valley is a paradigm of north-western European culture, as central to the identity of France as Tuscany is to Italy.

Although the river itself rises in the Auvergne, it is the area below Orléans for which it is most celebrated – and particularly that bucolic passage between Blois and Saumur, where the river swells with the waters of the Cher, Indre and Vienne. Fertile, well-wooded, and endowed with plentiful building stone, the lower Loire was recognised as ideal for settlement by Romans and Franks alike. Its subsequent development as the seat of feudal powers and refuge for a displaced French monarchy has left it with a remarkable residue of great houses – the fabled châteaux de la Loire.

Illustration: Château d’Azay-le-Rideau, after a drawing by Jules Guerin, c. 1905.

If one were to choose a single county to represent this, it would be the Touraine – and accordingly the festival’s concerts are largely located here. The audience based in hotels in Tours. The city has the density and mercantile power to have created a culture distinct from that of the feudal estates, giving rise to major architectural statements, as in the largely 13th-century cathedral or Victor Laloux’s joyous 19thcentury Hôtel de Ville. But it is the châteaux which are the area’s greatest distinction, particularly the palatial creations of the Renaissance. Borne out of urban courtyard castles of the later middle ages, as survive at Blois, the new residences were based on single blocks or open wings to give views over gardens and water, and adorned with beautifully intricate Italianate carving. As a model of aristocratic living they reign supreme.

THE PLACE

‘ The standard was extraordinary. Wonderful concerts in great venues!’ Participant on a Martin Randall Festival in 2018.

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THE MUSICIANS

MEET THE MUSICIANS

Photograph: Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien Â©Jean Baptiste Millot.

THE MUSICIANS

Photographs, left–right: Gothic Voices ©Eric Richmond: Contrapunctus ©John Cairns.

GOTHIC VOICES

CONTRAPUNCTUS

LES MUSICIENS DE SAINT-JULIEN

For more than 30 years Gothic Voices has been renowned for the excellence, refinement and beauty of its performances of medieval music, promoting previously unfamiliar music – predominantly from the 11th to 15th centuries – to audiences all over the world.

Described as ‘superb’ (Observer), ‘impeccable’ (Sunday Times) and ‘immaculate’ (Gramophone), Contrapunctus gives passionately committed performances which communicate to audiences the expressive power of Renaissance and Baroque music. Under Owen Rees’s direction, the ensemble’s work represents the fruits of pathbreaking scholarship, presenting music by the best known composers as well as unfamiliar masterpieces. The first two recordings by Contrapunctus were both nominated for Gramophone awards. The group’s commitment to educational work is reflected in its position as Vocal Consort in Residence at the University of Oxford.

Inspired by the conviction of their founder, François Lazarevitch, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien have been evolving since 2006. Their shared affinities with traditional repertoires and musicians enriched their earliest projects and echoed a scholarly archipelago of early and Baroque music. Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien awaken slumbering musical collections with an erudite and intuitive approach rooted in folk practices, and filtered through a demanding, virtuosic and passionate appropriation.

Their ground-breaking recording of the music of Hildegard von Bingen, A Feather on the Breath of God, remains one of the best-selling recordings of pre-classical music ever made. It forms part of an award-winning discography of more than 20 CDs, three of which have won the coveted Gramophone Early Music Award. Their most recent disc for Linn Records, The Dufay Spectacle, has received great praise from the critics: ‘magnificently transporting us to their 15th-century sound world’ (Gramophone) The ensemble has toured widely in Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, North and South America to great acclaim. Recent highlights include a tour of Spain, BRQ Vantaa, Three Choirs, and Norfolk and Norwich Festivals and the closing concert of Laus Polyphoniae festival.

Owen Rees is both an acclaimed choral director and an internationally recognised scholar of Renaissance music. He is founder and director of Contrapunctus. His academic posts are as Professor in Music at the University of Oxford and Fellow of The Queen’s College, where he also directs the Choir.

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In the course of tours in France, Europe and America, and multiple recordings on the Alpha Classics label (most recently Purcell, Songs & Dances in October 2018), Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien have a strong presence on the French and international scenes. They are in residency at the Festival de Lanvellec 2018–20. Primarily a flautist, François Lazarevitch also conducts pioneering research on the diversity of sources, both oral and written, which he deems necessary for recreating early and Baroque repertoire. As Artistic Director of Les Musiciens de SaintJulien, he conducts internationally and collaborates with other musicians, dancers, choreographers, directors and composers. He is a passionate instrument collector and teaches Baroque flute and musette at the Conservatoire de Versailles.

THE MUSICIANS

Photographs, clockwise from right: François Lazarevitch ©Jean Baptiste Millot; I Fagiolini ©Matt Brodie; Quatuor Tchalik ©Julien Daniel.

QUATUOR TCHALIK

ENSEMBLE CLÉMENT JANEQUIN

LES PLÉIADES

The Tchalik Quartet has the unique idiosyncrasy of being composed of four brothers and sisters. Born into a FrenchRussian family where music holds a central place, they have played together from an early age. This immersion in chamber music has enabled them to develop a close, natural harmony and sensitivity, which is apparent in their music. Qualities recognised at the first international competition in which they played, the siblings were awarded First Prize and a Special Prize for the best interpretation of a Mozart quartet at the International Mozart Competition 2018 in Salzburg.

The Ensemble Clément Janequin’s inimitable performances of the 16thcentury French chanson have revealed what is now appreciated to be one of the golden ages in the history of French music. The chansons of Janequin, Sermizy, Lassus, Lejeune and numerous others abound in the stylistic contrasts so dear to the Renaissance: the touching lyricism of the chanson amoureuse, the earthy humour of the chanson rustique that draws upon popular farce, the sounds of war, nature and street cries – a unique marriage of popular and high Renaissance culture.

Founded in 2011, the all-female Les Pléiades formed their group to promote string sextet repertoire. All members of the Orchestre Les Siècles under FrançoisXavier Roth, they propose a veritable voyage in time, giving a particular sense to the sonority of each age. In playing instruments historically appropriate to each repertoire, they are able to offer an ever-changing sense of the identity of the sextet genre.

The Quartet has developed a fine repertoire of classical and romantic music. They play regularly at prestigious venues in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Russia.

ISABELLE DRUET

More about the concerts Private. All the performances are planned and administered by us, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the festival package. Seating. Specific seats are not reserved. You sit where you wish.

They have performed widely across France and Belgium at venues including the Musée d’Orsay and the Cité de la Musique de Soissons.

Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with locale and authenticity than with acoustic perfection. The venues may have idiosyncrasies or reverberations of the sort not found in modern concert halls.

Audience size. There will be up to 180 participants on the festival. One of our venues cannot hold this number, so at this location, the performance will be repeated.

Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues may close for repairs, airlines alter schedules: there are many circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We ask you to be understanding should they occur.

One of the most appreciated mezzosopranos of her generation, in 2018–19 Isabelle Druet is reunited with the title role of Carmen at the Opéra de SaintEtienne. She also sings at the Opéra de Paris and the Opéra de Nice while continuing her collaboration with conductor François-Xavier Roth in several concerts on tour with Les Siècles, and with the London Symphony Orchestra.

THE MUSICIANS

Photographs, clockwise from left: Samuel Boden ©Robert Bridgens; Jonathan McGovern ©Gerard Collett; Mary Bevan ©Victoria Cadisch; Edward Grint ©Jan Rebuschat; Ensemble Clément Janequin; Isabelle Druet ©Nemo Perier Stefanovitch; Les Pléiades ©Mathieu Kasolter.

EARLY OPERA COMPANY Founded by its current Artistic Director Christian Curnyn, Early Opera Company’s vision is to celebrate Baroque music in ways that delight and inspire audiences. The ensemble collaborate with worldclass partners, inspire audiences with outstanding productions, recordings and broadcasts of Baroque opera and early music, and invest in the professional development of the next generation of Baroque-specialist musicians. EOC is proud to work closely with the Royal Opera and has performed Handel’s Solomon at Covent Garden. It has a strong reputation for performances of Handel operas, and regularly features music of the French Baroque. Christian Curnyn is widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading conductors specialising in the Baroque and Classical repertoire. He founded Early Opera Company in 1994 and the last 24 years have seen notable performances throughout the UK, along with awardwinning recordings. He has conducted for English National Opera, and has appeared at Scottish Opera (Handel’s Semele), Opera North (Handel’s Saul), Grange Park Opera (Semele and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro) and with numerous productions at the Royal Opera House.

I FAGIOLINI Samuel Boden studied with John Wakefield at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and has performed with such ensembles as Gabrieli and The Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Operatic engagements include Charpentier’s Actéon for Opéra de Dijon and Opéra de Lille, and Rameau’s Castor with the Early Opera Company. British baritone Jonathan McGovern is an exciting talent. Recent operatic debuts include performances at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Komische Oper Berlin and Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao. A gifted recitalist, he has sung at the Concertgebouw under Christian Curnyn and performed with pianists such as Malcolm Martineau and Graham Johnson. Praised by Opera for her ‘dramatic wit and vocal control’ in stand out performances on opera and concert platforms, Mary Bevan is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critic’s Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music. She trained at the Royal Academy Opera and is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Grounded in the classics of Renaissance and 20th-century vocal repertoire, I Fagiolini is renowned for its innovative and often staged productions. From Handel with masks or Purcell with puppets, to fully dramatised works, the group has performed at major venues around the world. I Fagiolini’s latest recordings – Monteverdi: The Other Vespers and AmuseBouche (French Choral Delicacies) – were both shortlisted for Gramophone awards, and the group is an Associate Ensemble at the University of York. Their next album Leonardo – Shaping the Invisible was released in April 2019. Robert Hollingworth founded I Fagiolini in 1986 and is renowned for ground-breaking projects which present music in new ways. Under him, I Fagiolini has won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Ensemble Award, Gramophone awards and the Diapason D’Or de l’Annee. Away from I Fagiolini, Robert has directed many renowned orchestras and some of the world’s finest chamber choirs, including Accentus, Academy of Ancient Music, Nederlands Kamerkoor, VOCES8, BBC Singers and RIAS Kammerchor.

British bass-baritone Edward Grint was a choral scholar at King’s College Cambridge, and went on to study at the International Benjamin Britten Opera School at the Royal College of Music. He was a finalist in the 2014 London Handel Competition, and won the Clermont Ferrand competition in France. WWW.MARTINRANDALL.COM

ACCOMMODATION & PRICES

There is a choice of four hotels in Tours. They differ in size and style, yet none are luxurious. One is rather minimal, others slightly dated – all are comfortable and the best appointed or located in Tours. Your choice of hotel is the sole determinant of the package price. All prices below are per person. Price without trains: subtract £190.

LE GRAND HÔTEL DE TOURS (4*)

NOVOTEL TOURS-CENTRE GARE (4*)

Constructed in 1927, this hotel retains a number of attractive Art Deco features. Situated opposite the central station and less than 300 metres from the town hall, venue for one dinner and concert during the festival, its historic façade has been completely renovated.

A modern, minimal hotel located adjacent to the train station and 650 metres from the town hall, where both a concert and dinner are held. The modern, grey exterior is not attractive, but all bedrooms, bathrooms and the vast majority of common areas have been entirely renovated in the last two years.

Rooms and communal areas are, however, rather tired. We have exclusively reserved higher category rooms to ensure we can offer the best available. There is a bar within the hotel and an oyster bar adjacent, but no restaurant. Good quality eateries are a short walk away.

We have reserved just under half of the 105 rooms, which are comfortable and light with pale wood furniture, grey carpets and contemporary décor. Rooms are well sound-proofed. There is bar, restaurant and a small fitness room within the hotel.

legrandhoteltours.com

accorhotels.com

PRICES, per person

Two sharing Superior double/twin

£3,110

Two sharing Double/twin £3,320

Single occupancy Superior for sole use

£3,320

Single occupancy Double for sole use

Optional extras. Two extra dinners and a programme of walks and visits will be offered nearer the time.

Illustration: Tours, watercolour publ. 1908. Photograph: ©Ben Ealovega, 2018.

£3,590

ACCOMMODATION & PRICES

HÔTEL OCEANIA L’UNIVERS (4*)

HOTEL CHÂTEAU BELMONT (4*)

Built in the 19th century, this hotel is one of the most historic in Tours. Communal areas, especially the lobby, retain many of the traditional features mixed with modern, colourful furnishings. Further facilities include an indoor swimming pool, fitness room, bar and restaurant (though there are others of far superior quality a short walk away and we do not dine here).

Part-dating to the 18th century and part modern construction, this hotel is situated a 15-minute drive or a 30-minute walk from the historic centre of Tours. The site formerly housed a vineyard known for its white wines and set in 2.5 hectare grounds.

We have reserved just over half of the 91 rooms, most of which have been recently refurbished. All have wooden floors and minimal but comfortable décor with red and purple accents. The hotel is located opposite the town hall, which is both a concert and dinner venue during the festival, 700 metres from the cathedral. PRICES, per person Two sharing Deluxe double/twin Executive double/twin

Facilities include an indoor swimming pool, sauna, bar and a good restaurant. There is also an attractive glass-enclosed terrace and lounge. We have reserved 15 of the 65 rooms here across the historic building and modern residence. All rooms are comfortable, modern and stylish. Coach transfers are provided to and from the town centre. PRICES, per person

£3,630 £3,740

Two sharing Double/twin (residence) Double/twin (château)

£3,740 £3,960

Please note there are a limited number of twin rooms at this hotel.

Single occupancy Comfort for sole use Superior for sole use

Single occupancy Double for sole use (residence) £4,070

£3,910 £3,940

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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. Though there will be up to 180 participants, you will often find yourself in smaller groups – the audience is divided between four hotels, and into different restaurants for some of the dinners. For those who are not averse to group activities there are extra meals, and visits to sign up to. You choose the level of participation that suits you. 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.

TRAVEL OPTIONS

TRAVEL OPTIONS JOINING & LEAVING THE FESTIVAL

FESTIVAL TRAIN OPTIONS

THE NO-TRAINS OPTION

PRE-FESTIVAL TOUR

Option 1 7 July: London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord departing at 10.24 and arriving at 13.47. 13 July: Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras departing at 15.13 and arriving at 16.39.

You can choose not to take either of our train options and to make your own arrangements for joining and leaving the festival. You are welcome to join our coach transfers from Paris Gare du Nord train station should your arrival coincide with the times above.

The price for the pre-festival tour, Versailles: Seat of the Sun King, includes the option of a return train – out at the start of the tour, and back at the end of the festival. All pre-festival tour participants return to the UK on festival option 1.

Option 2 7 July: London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord departing at 11.31 and arriving at 14.47. 13 July: Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras departing at 16.13 and arriving at 17.39.

Price reduction for ‘no trains’: £190. We are happy to advise on flight and local train timetables once they are confirmed, but you will need to book independently.

All Eurostar travel is in Standard Premier class. Please note that each outbound train is tied to a particular inbound train. You cannot mix trains from different options.

We charge for trains, if you are taking them, as part of your pre-festival tour booking. You therefore pay the ‘no-trains’ price for the festival. See page 20 for preliminary information about the tour.

COMBINING WITH MUSIC ALONG THE RHINE It is possible to combine this festival with another of our festivals, Music Along the Rhine (30 June–7 July 2020). See page 20.

Fitness for the festival Quite a lot of walking is necessary to reach some concert venues and to get around the towns we visit. Most of the concert venues do not have a lift. You need to be averagely fit, sure-footed and able to manage everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty.

If you have a medical condition or a disability which may affect your holiday or necessitate special arrangements being made for you, please discuss these with us before booking – or, if the condition develops or changes subsequently, as soon as possible before departure.

We ask that you take the simple fitness tests on the booking form before booking.

Illustration: Château Royal de Blois, lithograph c. 1840 by Jules Alexandre Monthelier.

TRAVEL OPTIONS

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PRE-FESTIVAL TOURS

VERSAILLES: SEAT OF THE SUN KING THE GREATEST PALACE & GARDEN

Pre-festival tour: 4 –7 July 2020 4 days • Price to be confirmed Lecturer: Professor Antony Spawforth Full details available in late-May Please call us to register your interest or e-mail alerts@martinrandall.co.uk Built and altered by five French kings, Versailles is several palaces. Even during Louis XIV’s reign elements changed constantly, reflecting not only changes of taste but also political realities as they changed from decade to decade. Indeed, at its core remains a small-scale hunting lodge built by his father (surely meant to be demolished in due course), and apartments were refurbished and parts added right up until the Revolution.

Focused tour examining the most influential of European palaces and related buildings. A study not only of art, architecture and gardens but also of history and statecraft. Includes a concert within the Château de Versailles.

Enlarging the understanding of Versailles and to set it in context there are also visits to the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte, in many ways its inspiration, and to the grounds of Marly-le-Roi, a demolished palace constructed to allow the Sun King to retreat from the formality of Versailles. Attention is paid to the town of Versailles, first laid out by Louis XIV, as well as to the park and gardens at Versailles.

Versailles was the grandest and most influential palace and garden complex in Europe, and arguably the most lavish and luxurious and most beautifully embellished too. It was much more than a building to house the monarch, his family and his court. It was conceived as the seat of government when France was at the apogee of her power, and as a structure to demonstrate and magnify the power of Louis XIV, to subdue his subjects and to overawe foreigners. A study of Versailles encompasses not only architectural history and garden history but also political science and the psychology of power. 20

COMBINING WITH MUSIC ALONG THE RHINE It is also possible to combine Music in the Loire Valley with Music Along the Rhine (30 June–7 July 2020). We can book the following train journey between the two for £140. The price includes a transfer from the high-speed train station to the centre of Tours – transport between stations in Paris is not included (but is possible by metro or taxi). TUESDAY 7 JULY 2020 Train 1: 10.34–13.37 Basel to Paris Gare de Lyon Transfer independently between Paris stations. Journey time c. 30 minutes. Most connections in Paris are very tight so we have allowed some free time in between trains. Train 2: 16.30 –17.47 TGV Paris Montparnasse to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (Tours)

Alternatively combine with: Medieval Normandy 17–24 July 2020 (mg 303) Please contact us for full details, and for advice on connecting accommodation and transport.

Illustration: Château de Versailles, lithograph c. 1850 by Lemercier.

BOOKING FORM

MUSIC IN THE LOIRE VALLEY 7–13 JULY 2020 NAME(S) – We do not use titles on documents issued to festival or tour participants unless you want us to by including them here: Participant 1 Participant 2 Contact details for all correspondence: Address

Postcode/Zip Country Telephone (home) Mobile E-mail T ick if you are happy to receive your festival / booking documents online, where possible – and confirm your e-mail address above if so. Please complete this section, even if you have told us your preferences before: How would you like to be kept informed about our future tours and events?:

Brochures sent by post Yes

E-newsletter Yes

What prompted this booking? Please be as specific as possible – e.g. did you see an advertisement in a particular publication? Was this brochure the f irst time you heard about the festival? Or did you come across it on our website?:

ACCOMMODATION & ROOM-TYPE – see pages 16 –17. Please tick: LE GRAND HÔTEL DE TOURS

NOVOTEL TOURS-CENTRE GARE

Two sharing:

Superior double

Double room

Superior twin

Twin room

Single occupancy: Superior for sole use HÔTEL OCEANIA L’UNIVERS

Single occupancy: Double for sole use HOTEL CHÂTEAU BELMONT

TRAVEL OPTIONS – see page 18 for full details. Tick one: OPTION 1: E urostar, London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord and return 7 July 10.24–13.47 • 13 July 15.13–16.39 O PTION 2: Eurostar, London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord and return 7 July 11.31–14.47 • 13 July 16.13–17.39 N O TRAINS: m aking your own arrangements for travel to and from the festival If you choose book the pre-festival tour, Versailles: Seat of the Sun King (once details are available), and require return travel by Eurostar, you will travel on Option 1 for your homeward journey. RHINE–LOIRE TRANSFER – see page 20. Tick to book:

Two sharing:

Deluxe double

Double (château)

Deluxe twin

Twin (château)

Executive double

Double (residence)

Executive twin

Twin (residence)

Single occupancy: Comfort for sole use Superior for sole use

Single occupancy: Double for sole use (residence)

I have also booked on Music Along the Rhine and require a transfer by train from Basel to Tours, via Paris (travel within Paris is not included) on Tuesday 7 July 2020. Price: £140.

FURTHER INFORMATION and special requests, including any dietary requirements:

BOOKING FORM

PASSPORT DETAILS & NEXT OF KIN Essential in case of emergency. Passport names are also required by Eurostar. Please use capital letters for your passport details. Title

Surname

Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)

Forename(s)

Place of birth

1. 2.

Passport number

Place of issue

Next of kin name

Relation to you

Issue date (dd/mm/yy)

Expiry date (dd/mm/yy)

1. 2.

Telephone number(s)

1. 2.

PAYMENT. We prefer payments by bank transfer, cheque or debit card. We can also accept payment by credit card. All money paid to us is fully protected regardless of payment method. Please tick one option: BANK TRANSFER. Please use your surname and the festival code (mg 294) as a reference and ask your bank to allow for all charges. Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Bank: Handelsbanken, 2 Chiswick High Road, London W4 1TH. Account number: 8663 3438. Sort code: 40-51-62. Transfers from non-UK bank accounts: please instruct your bank to send payment in pound sterling (GBP). IBAN: GB98 HAND 4051 6286 6334 38. Swift/BIC code: HAND GB22. CHEQUE. I enclose a cheque payable to Martin Randall Travel Ltd – please write the festival code (mg 294) on the back. DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD. I authorise Martin Randall Travel to contact me by telephone to take payment from my Visa credit/Visa debit/Mastercard/AMEX. Please tick payment amount: EITHER Deposit 10% of total booking cost.

OR Full balance Required if you are booking within 10 weeks of departure.

Carbon offset donation: tick to add £5 per person. We support the India Solar Water Heating project (visit www.martinrandall.com/sustainable-tourism for details). TOTAL: £ I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions and Privacy Policy (www.martinrandall.com/privacy) on behalf of all listed on this form. Signature: Date:

FITNESS TESTS Please also read ‘fitness for the festival’ on page 18. By signing this form, you conf irm that you have taken these tests. 1. C hair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least eight times in 30 seconds.    2. S tep test. Mark a wall at a height that is halfway between your knee and your hip bone. Raise each knee in turn to the mark at least 60 times in two minutes.    3. A gility test. Place an object three yards from the edge of a chair, sit, and record the time it takes to stand up, walk to the object and sit back down. You should be able to do this in under seven seconds. An additional indication of the f itness required, though we are not asking you to measure this, is that you should be able to walk unaided at a pace of three miles per hour for at least half an hour at a time, and to stand for at least 15 minutes.

Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF, United Kingdom

Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia

North America 1155 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 USA

Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

Tel 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@martinrandall.com.au

Tel 1 800 988 6168 usa@martinrandall.com ATOL 3622 | ABTA Y6050 | AITO 5085

BOOKING DETAILS

Making a booking 1. Booking option. We recommend that you contact us first to make a booking option which we will hold for seven days. To confirm it please send the booking form and deposit within this period – the deposit is 10% of your total booking price. Alternatively, make a definite booking straight away through our website. 2. Definite booking. 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 departure. 3. Our confirmation. Upon receipt of the booking form and deposit we shall send you confirmation of your booking. After this your deposit is nonreturnable except in the special circumstances mentioned in the Booking Conditions. Further details about the festival may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards.

Booking Conditions Please read these. You need to sign your assent to these booking conditions on the booking form. Our promises to you: —W e aim to be fair, reasonable and sympathetic in all our dealings with clients, and to act always with integrity. —W e will meet all our legal and regulatory responsibilities, usually going far beyond the minimum obligations. —W e aim to provide full and accurate information about our holidays. If there are changes, we will tell you promptly. — I f something does go wrong, we try to put it right. Our overriding aim is to ensure that every client is satisfied with our services. What we ask of you. 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. You must be in good health and have a level of fitness that would not impair other participants’ enjoyment by slowing them down or by absorbing disproportionate attention from festival staff. Please read Fitness for the festival (p.18) and take the selfassessment tests described on the booking form; by signing the booking form you are stating that you have passed these tests. If during the festival it transpires, in the judgement of our staff, that you are not able to cope, you may be asked to opt out of certain visits or to leave altogether. This would be at your own expense. We reserve the right to refuse to accept a booking without necessarily giving a reason. Foreign Office advice. Before booking, please refer to the FCO website (fco.gov.uk) to ensure you understand the travel advice for Italy. Non-UK citizens should look at the advice issued by their governments, which may differ significantly. Insurance. It is a requirement of booking that you have adequate holiday insurance cover. This must cover, at minimum, medical treatment, repatriation, loss of property and loss of payments to us in the event that you cancel your booking. If you are making your own

arrangements for international travel, please ensure you have insurance that protects you in the rare event of Martin Randall Travel cancelling the festival. Experience indicates that free travel insurance offered by some credit card companies is not to be relied upon. Passports and visas. Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond the date of the festival. Visas are not required for France for UK or other EU citizens, or for citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Nationals of other countries should ascertain whether visas are required in their case, and obtain them if they are. If you cancel. If you have to cancel your booking after confirmation, there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give. Up to 57 days before departure the deposit would be forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total cost of your booking will be due: up to 57 days: between 56 and 29 days: between 28 and 15 days: between 14 days and 3 days: within 48 hours:

deposit only 40% 60% 80% 100%

If you cancel your booking in a double or twin room but are travelling with a companion who chooses to continue to participate, the companion would have to pay the single-occupancy price. We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive written confirmation of cancellation. If we cancel. We may decide to cancel the festival or tour if there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable (though this would always be more than eight weeks before departure). We would refund you with everything you had paid us. Safety and security. Cancellation may also occur if civil unrest, war, natural disaster or other circumstances amounting to force majeure arise in the region to which the festival or tour was due to go. If the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel, we would either cancel or adjust the itinerary to avoid risky areas. We would also treat sympathetically a wish to withdraw from a tour or festival to a troubled region even if the FCO does not advise against travel there. In the event of cancellation before departure we would give you a full refund; costs incurred due to curtailment after departure should be covered by your individual insurance policy. Health and safety. We subscribe to the health and safety legislation of France. The generally high standards of the UK are not found everywhere; regulations may diverge in particular in the areas of accessibility, handrails and seatbelts. With rare exceptions, all the hotels we use have undergone a safety audit, by our staff or by independent consultants on our behalf. The limits of our liabilities. As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of a 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 a tour or festival exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the tour or festival we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative we offer is not in your view an adequate substitute, we would give a full refund. WWW.MARTINRANDALL.COM

Financial protection. Any money you have paid to us for a tour or festival which includes an international flight is protected by our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL, number 3622). Payments for tours or festivals which do not include a flight from/to the UK are protected by ABTA – The Travel Association. So, in the (highly unlikely) event of our insolvency before departure, you would get your money back, or if we failed after the tour or festival had begun, it would be able to continue and you would be returned to the UK at its conclusion. Clients living elsewhere who have arranged their own flights should ensure their personal travel insurance covers repatriation in the event of holiday supplier failure. Financial protection: the official text. We are required to publish the following. We provide full financial protection for our package holidays which include international flights, 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. Most of our flights and flightinclusive holidays on our website and in our brochure are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. But ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services listed. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking. If you do not receive an ATOL Certificate then the booking will not be ATOL protected. If you do receive an ATOL Certificate but all the parts of your trip are not listed on it, those parts will not be ATOL protected. In order to be protected under the ATOL scheme you need to be in the UK when you make your booking and/or one of the flights you take must originate or terminate in the UK with the group. 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. 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 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.

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. Privacy. By signing the booking form you are stating that you have read and agree to our Privacy Policy, which can be found online at www.martinrandall.com/privacy.

WEST COUNTRY CHORAL FESTIVAL 7–11 JULY 2019 MUSIC ALONG THE DANUBE 31 AUGUST–7 SEPTEMBER 2019

MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world. MRT aims to produce the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, architecture, archaeology, history, music and gastronomy, and are spread across Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, Japan and the Americas.

SACRED MUSIC IN SANTIAGO 28 SEPTEMBER–2 OCTOBER 2019 THE THOMAS TALLIS TRAIL 1–3 NOVEMBER 2019 OPERA IN SOUTHERN SICILY 5–11 NOVEMBER 2019

Each year there are about 250 expert-led tours for small groups (usually 10 –20 participants), six or seven music festivals (such as this festival, Music in the Loire Valley), a dozen music and history weekends in the UK and over 100 single-day events in London.

MUSIC ALONG THE RHINE 30 JUNE–7 JULY 2020 MUSIC IN THE LOIRE VALLEY 7–13 JULY 2020

For 30 years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, setting the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards.

DANUBE BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL 24–31 AUGUST 2020

To see our full range of cultural tours and events, please visit www.martinrandall.com

THE DIVINE OFFICE 28 SEPTEMBER–2 OCTOBER 2020 MUSIC IN VENICE 2–7 NOVEMBER 2020 UK SHORT CHAMBER MUSIC BREAKS The Wihan Quartet, 29 November–1 December 2019 Rising Stars, 24–26 January 2020 Beethoven at The Castle, 20–24 February 2020 The Leonore Piano Trio, 24–26 April 2020 Albion String Quartet, 19–21 May 2020 Please contact us for more information.

Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF, United Kingdom

Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia

North America 1155 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20036 USA

Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

Tel 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@martinrandall.com.au

Tel 1 800 988 6168 usa@martinrandall.com