Monteverdi in Venice: the four operas

Monteverdi in Venice the four operas 2–7 November 2015

M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L

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Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF United Kingdom Telephone 020 8742 3355 Fax 020 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk Martin Randall Australasia Telephone 1300 55 95 95 From New Zealand 0800 877 622 anz@martinrandall.com.au Canada Telephone 647 382 1644 canada@martinrandall.ca USA Telephone 1 800 988 6168

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Contents The Performances....................... 5–6 The Venues....................................... 7 The Musicians............................ 8–10 Festival Practicalities..................... 11 Why November?

Fitness for the festival Independent or group travel?

Hotels & prices........................12–13 Travel options................................ 14 About us......................................... 14 Pre-festival tour: The Art History of Venice..........15–16 Booking form...........................17–18 Booking details.............................. 19 Making a booking Booking Conditions

“How can one find words to express the beauty, the emotion and the glory of the music and the singing, performed in uniquely wonderful venues.”

“This tour was an example of a master class in organisation and choice of music.”

Participants on previous MRT music festivals

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Monteverdi in Venice the four operas 2–7 November 2015

Straddling Renaissance and Baroque Claudio Monteverdi’s long career traversed the late Renaissance madrigal and early Baroque opera. His music reaches back to the glowing embers of mediaeval tradition and lunges forward into the modern world. Modernity in this case consists of the unprecedented fusion of music and words to portray psychological states and convey emotion.

As the outstanding madrigalist, and a creator of monumental church music, Monteverdi enjoys an illustrious place in the history of music. But by virtue of being the first truly great composer working in the fledgling genre of opera, he is propelled into pole position. Although not the inventor of the musico-dramatic form, his L’Orfeo (1607) is the earliest opera that continues to be performed regularly around the world, and it can be

argued that it is the first ‘fable in music’ to reveal the emotional, lyrical, musical and dramatic capabilities of the genre.

Monteverdi raised opera from its infancy to its first flowers of maturity.

The chiaroscuro depth and artistic qualities of his achievements are entirely comparable to his contemporaries Shakespeare and Caravaggio, and as a musical dramatist he ranks in the highest level of the pantheon of greats, alongside Handel, Mozart and Verdi.

All three operas – and a new reconstruction of a fourth Only two or three generations ago, the rare performances of Monteverdi operas were arcane events, approached by both musicians and their audiences more in the spirit of antiquarian enquiry than aesthetic delight. Now

This brochure was produced in house. The text was written chiefly by Martin Randall with contributions from Dr David Vickers and Anna Cahill. It was designed in house by Jo Murray and was sent to the printers on 28th November 2014.

they are mainstream, core repertoire at many opera houses worldwide. Most audiences are now as much at ease with historically-informed performances on period instruments as with those given by ‘modern’ orchestras. And Monteverdi’s popularity continues to grow.

Tragically, only three of his many operas survive in complete versions – and we present all three in this festival (L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea). So why does our subtitle proclaim ‘the four operas’?

The festival features the world première of the reconstruction of L’Arianna by Claudio Cavina, a renowned Monteverdi specialist and director of the prizewinning ensemble La Venexiana. The famous eleven-minute lament survives, as does the libretto, but everything else is lost; Cavina, using a mixture of scholarly speculation and artistic insight, has woven together a hypothetical musical setting Left: Riva degli Schiavoni, lithograph c. 1830 after Samuel Prout (1783–1852). Above: 18th-century etching after Guercino (1591–1666).

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to fit the rest of the libretto, paraphrasing and taking ideas from other Monteverdi compositions.

Venice, the perfect setting Born in the ancient Lombard city of Cremona, by 1592 Monteverdi was working as a musician at the highly cultured court in Mantua. Here he spent twenty years in the service of the Gonzaga family. It was for Mantua that L’Orfeo and L’Arianna were composed, as were two other lost operas commissioned after he had left for Venice.

Aggrieved at his mistreatment, he was eventually fired for dissent in July 1612. But a year later he was employed as maestro di capella at the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, one of the most prestigious musical appointments in Europe. Monteverdi spent the remaining thirty years of his life based here; Venice was still one of the most prosperous trading centres in Europe and capital of an extensive empire.

La Serenissima was also a major centre of music. One Venetian innovation was the 4

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licencing, in 1637, of public theatres.

For these commercial enterprises L’Arianna was revived and Monteverdi composed three new operas, including Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’Incoronazione di Poppea.

There is a special frisson arising from hearing music in appropriate historic buildings and in the place for which it was written – especially when that place is the most beautiful city on Earth, the performers are among the finest specialist interpreters and the venues are visually glorious.

Private performances This is a unique and probably unprecedented opportunity to hear all the surviving operas by Monteverdi in the utterly enchanting and entirely authentic context of the art, architecture and atmosphere of Venice. There are also concerts featuring madrigals and liturgical music.

staged, but the small size of the venues and the limited numbers in the audience will lead to an informality and intimacy which engender a rare intensity of music communication.

The performances are private, being exclusive to the approximately 230 participants who take a package which includes accommodation (from a choice of six hotels), flights from/to London (you can opt out of these), airport transfers by water taxi, free vaporetto journeys, daily lectures, three dinners, interval drinks and much else besides.

There will also be walks and visits led by art historians to choose from, and the opportunity of joining a pre-festival tour, The Art History of Venice (see page 15).

Performances of the operas will vary from concert versions to costumed and animated productions. None is fully book online at www.martinrandall.com

Monteverdi in Venice: The Four Operas, 2–7 November 2015

The Performances L’Orfeo I Fagiolini Robert Hollingworth director La Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista Monteverdi’s first favola in musica was produced in February 1607 in the ducal palace at Mantua. The libretto by Alessandro Striggio relates the legend of the musician Orpheus losing his bride Eurydice and attempting to rescue her from the underworld. It had also been the subject of the two earliest operas to survive, both created for Florence at the turn of the century by Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini.

Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo adopted similar ingredients of recitative, monody, aria, chorus and instrumental ritornelli, but he produced a work of greater emotional scale, subtler musical flexibility and tauter dramatic organisation. His score is incomparably more compelling, with richer harmony and sweeter melody contributing indispensably to mood and character.

Why, if this is the first of Monteverdi’s operas, does it appear last in the festival?

Logistical factors contributed to this decision, but there are musical reasons as well. The work has the hallmarks of dramatic grandeur, psychological power and musical finesse which render it a fitting finale to our festival.

This is a semi-staged production.

Principals: Matthew Long Orfeo, Clare Wilkinson Euridice

“From your clients’ perspective, the whole event went like clockwork – which is clearly the result of excellent planning and years of experience.”

Illustration, opposite page: Piazza San Marco, copper engraving by Matthäus Merian (1593–1650); above right: watercolour of Venice by Walter Tyndale, publ. 1913.

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L’Arianna

Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria

La Venexiana Claudio Cavina director La Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista

La Venexiana Claudio Cavina director La Scuola Grande di San Rocco

This one-act tragedia was first performed on 28 May 1608 in Mantua as part of the wedding celebrations of heir-apparent Francesco Gonzaga and Margaret of Savoy.

Monteverdi spent most of his Venetian years providing church music for St Mark’s and other institutions, and occasionally madrigals, often with instruments and declamatory solo voice parts. However, at the age of 72 he produced Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, not only his first opera for Venice but one of the very first musical entertainments designed for a commercial, public theatre.

Although a great success with its international audience, the preparations had been far from smooth – the marriage had been delayed by political wranglings, and the soprano Caterina Martinelli, a young singer trained by Monteverdi and who was to sing the title-role, suddenly died from smallpox. But it seems to have been regarded by contemporaries as the finest of Monteverdi’s Mantuan operas.

The libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini tells the story of Ariadne, the Cretan princess of Greek myth, who is abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos (but ends up happily in the arms of Bacchus).

The complete text survives, but all that remains of the music is Ariadne’s famous eleven-minute lament. We are pleased to present the world première performance of a reconstruction of this one-act opera compiled by Claudio Cavina.

This is an unstaged concert performance.

Principals: Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli Arianna, Riccardo Pisani Teseo, Raffaele Pè Apollo, Margherita Rotondi Venere, Monica Piccinini Amore

For this masterpiece, Giacomo Badoardo’s libretto based on episodes from Homer’s Odyssey allowed plenty of opportunity for action and narrative momentum. Above all, with a cast largely consisting of human beings rather than a preponderance of gods or mythological archetypes, there is subtle characterisation, portrayal of psychological states and brilliant expression of ever-shifting emotions. The stimulation of affective response in the audience is the equal of any work in the subsequent history of opera.

The original performance was well received, and the opera accorded the rare accolade of revival almost immediately in Bologna and in Venice the next season.

This is a semi-staged production.

Principals: Riccardo Pisani Ulisse, Margherita Rotondi Penelope, Monica Piccinini Minerva, Salvo Vitale Nettuno, Raffaele Giordani Telemaco the performances

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L’Incoronazione di Poppea Academy of Ancient Music Robert Howarth director La Scuola Grande di San Rocco Composed in 1643, the last year of Monteverdi’s life, L’incoronazione di Poppea seems to take another leap forward towards astonishing modernity – although, of course, the composer created it within the typically Venetian anti-heroic and ironic theatrical conventions of his time.

Exclusively among Monteverdi’s operas, the libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busanello is historical rather than mythological: the Emperor Nero is determined to marry his mistress, Poppea.

Action is relatively subdued, for this is an intense drama of emotional and political brutality, presenting realistically selfobsessed people in situations motivated by sexual lust and political avarice.

No characters are discernibly moral or reasonable except the political outcast Seneca, and the drama’s topos as a celebration of amoral libertine triumph set the tone for Venetian opera for decades to come – and seems closer to modern-day attitudes of hedonistic

materialism and ruthless ambition than most of the operas that have been written since.

Principals: Mhairi Lawson Poppea, Renata Pukupic Nerone, Daniela Lehner Ottavia, Sophie Junker Drusilla La Virtu

Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda Monteverdi String Band Oliver Webber director Karolina Sofaluk stage director Ateneo Veneto Monteverdi’s extraordinary dramatic madrigal Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda describes the fatal duel between a knight and a lady in disguise.

It was written in 1624 for a domestic entertainment during carnival season at the home of the Venetian nobleman Girolamo Mocenigo.

The Monteverdi String Band and a group of expert singers recreate the original context, which would have included music, movement and entertainment in addition to Il combattimento (which will be staged).

Cast: Nicholas Mulroy Testo, Simon Wall Tancredi, Anna Dennis Clorinda

Da capella e da concerto: Monteverdi’s sacred music Odhecaton A Venetian church No festival of Monteverdi would be complete without a sampling of his diverse church music. Acclaimed Italian specialists Odhecaton present the Missa In illo tempore, a renaissance polyphonic mass for six-part voices. Based on a motet by Gombert, and composed by Monteverdi during his years in Mantua, the mass was published in the same anthology as the famous 1610 Vespers.

The programme also features a range of sacred music composed by Monteverdi later on in Venice, including some motets in the more modern baroque ‘concerto’ style, such as a recently rediscovered Salve Regina for three voices and basso continuo (published posthumously in the 1660s). We also hear the madrigalesque motet Cantate Domino (printed 1620) and music from Monteverdi’s monumental anthology Selva morale e spirituale (1641), including a spectacular seven-part Gloria and the Pianto della Madonna (a sacred contrafact of the lament from L’Arianna).

Lacrime d’amante: Monteverdi’s madrigals La Compagnia del Madrigale Palazzo Zenobio Our festival presents a feast of modern baroque Monteverdi, with the operas, the theatrically-charged stile concitato late madrigal Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and some of his most progressive Venetian church music.

However, in this concert we turn the microscope onto a range of the finest unaccompanied madrigals, specially selected for us by multiple award-winning Italian madrigal specialists La Compagnia del Madrigale. Bookended by two largescale Mantuan laments connected to the opera L’Arianna, both taken from the Sixth Book of Madrigals (printed in Venice in 1614 after Monteverdi had moved there), we shall also hear some exquisite music from the earlier Fourth and Fifth books, and also one of the composer’s ‘sacred’ moral madrigals taken from Selva morale e spirituale (published towards the end of his life in 1641).

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the performances

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Monteverdi in Venice: The Four Operas, 2–7 November 2015

The Venues

La Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista La Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista was one of the greatest of the Venetian scuole – charitable, religious and social institutions which provided platforms for much of the city’s cultural life. The Renaissance transformation of their premises which began in the 1480s culminates in a glorious hall, which was further embellished in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The building is not generally open to the public. L’Orfeo and L’Arianna are performed here.

La Scuola Grande di San Rocco The most magnificent of all confraternity premises, La Scuola Grande di San Rocco was constructed in the first half of the sixteenth century. In the 1570s the great hall was adorned with a magnificent cycle of dynamic and highly-charged canvasses

by Tintoretto. In combination with the gilded woodwork, this created one of the most lavish interiors in Venice, and one of the most glorious halls in Europe. Ulisse and Poppea are performed here.

Ateneo Veneto The Ateneo Veneto was built in the 1590s as the Scuola di San Fantin. Since the confraternity’s dissolution in 1806, the building has become the seat of various cultural societies. The main hall is decorated with elaborate woodwork and paintings (artists include Veronese and Palma Il Giovane). As the hall is small, the performance is to be repeated. Il combattimento is performed here.

A Venetian church The concert of Monteverdi’s sacred music takes place in one of Venice’s many churches. At the time of publication the final choice had not been made.

Palazzo Zenobio The Palazzo Zenobio, located off the beaten track in the Dorsoduro, was built at the end of the seventeenth century, and the ballroom is one of the most richly decorated Baroque halls in Venice. The madrigal programme is performed here.

Above: La Scuola Grande di San Rocco, lithograph c. 1830.

Left: watercolour from Venice by R. Barratt,1907.

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More about the concerts Exclusive access. The concerts are private, being planned, promoted and administered by Martin Randall Travel exclusively for an audience consisting of those who have taken the full festival package.

Seating. Specific seats are not reserved.

You sit where you want.

Comfort. Seats in the church are likely to be pews; consider bringing a cushion.

In another couple of venues heating is inadequate; expect to wear coat and gloves during those concerts.

Concert times. Two of the five venues are too small to accommodate all 230 participants and so these concerts are repeated.

Staging. Productions vary from concert versions to animated or semi-staged productions with costumes and props, but for none will there be scenery or sophisticated lighting. No venue is a theatre with a stage or proscenium arch.

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

the venues

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The Musicians Robert Howarth has played harpsichord with many of the leading periodinstrument orchestras. Among the Monteverdi productions he has directed and conducted are Poppea with the Academy of Ancient Music, Ulisse for Opernhaus Zürich, Welsh National Opera, Birmingham Opera Company and English Touring Opera, the 1610 Vespers with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda for the Birmingham Opera Company.

I Fagiolini Academy of Ancient Music ©Patrick Harrison

Academy of Ancient Music For more than forty years, the Academy of Ancient Music has enriched the lives of thousands the world over with historically informed performances of Baroque and Classical music. Founded in 1973 by the late Christopher Hogwood, the orchestra has performed on all six inhabited continents and recorded an unrivalled catalogue of over 300 cds. Among them are many Brit-, Gramophone-, MIDEMand Edison-award winning recordings.

Below: from Pen Drawing & Pen Draughtsmen by Joseph Pennell, 1889.

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the musicians

One of the world’s great orchestras, they have energised performance of the early repertoire by focusing on the style and spirit in which this music was first performed and engaging players who are ‘the superstars of the period-instrument world’. Their excellence has long been fostered by a range of guest artists of the highest calibre.

They performed L’Orfeo in 2013, are touring Poppea in 2014–15 and plan to perform Ulisse in 2015–16. The AAM is Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge and Associate Ensemble at the Barbican Centre in London.

Grounded in the classics of the Renaissance and twentieth-century vocal repertoire, I Fagiolini is renowned for its highly imaginative productions, passionate commitment to the music and sheer artistry. Among a wide variety of innovative projects, the ensemble has staged works by Handel, Purcell and Venetian composers, among others, and collaborated for How Like An Angel with Australian contemporary circus company Circa. Their now legendary The Full Monteverdi was a dramatised account of the composer’s Fourth Book of Madrigals.

I Fagiolini has given performances around the world from BBC Proms and the Lincoln Center Festival to the Far East and Africa. Unstaged highlights include the world première recording of Alessandro Striggio’s recently discovered Mass in Forty Parts (which formed the

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Monteverdi in Venice: The Four Operas, 2–7 November 2015

centrepiece of Martin Randall Travel’s Florence festival in 2012) and the 1612 Italian Vespers (Gramophone cd of the month). In spring 2015, I Fagiolini will première its latest music theatre project Betrayal: a polyphonic crime drama at the Barbican, the much-awaited follow-up to The Full Monteverdi.

Robert Hollingworth founded I Fagiolini in 1986. He has conducted various European professional choirs, led master classes throughout Europe and writes and presents for BBC Radio 3. He has worked on a number of films, arranges music, and is Anniversary Reader in Music at the University of York.

La Venexiana

La Venexiana have sung together at all the major venues and performed at the most important festivals throughout Europe and elsewhere. The members of the group are among the most experienced performers in the early music field. Their future plans include a tour of Japan and their debut in Moscow performing Monteverdi madrigals.

With his recordings of Monteverdi’s madrigals and operas, Claudio Cavina is one of the most highly regarded musicians in the field of early music.

He is also one of the most important Italian countertenors of his generation: he began his vocal studies in Bologna and continued at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He performs with many ensembles in addition to his regular and celebrated appearances with La Venexiana.

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La Venexiana ©Andrei Gîndac I Fagiolini ©Eric Richmond

La Venexiana, founded in 1996 by Claudio Cavina, is regarded as one of the most important groups for the Monteverdi repertoire, and takes its name from an anonymous Renaissance comedy which was a cardinal point of reference in Italian theatre for its use of language.

La Venexiana aims to incorporate into its musical interpretations an attention to language in all its subtlety, and has established a new style in early Italian musical performance, making careful use of the original sources. The group has recorded all the Monteverdi madrigals and surviving operas, and its many other recordings have received awards, including the Diapason d’Or, Gramophone awards, and the Premio Amadeus.

Odhecaton Directed by Paolo Da Col, Odhecaton brings together some of the best Italian male voices specialising in the performance of Renaissance and Baroque music. Since their beginnings in 1998, they have pioneered a new approach to polyphonic music, a fluid and expressive reading based on textual declamation.

They have gained worldwide recognition through their performances and recordings, which have won many prizes – Diapason d’or de l’année, five other Diapasons, Choc (Le Monde

de la Musique), Disco del mese (Amadeus and cd Classics) and cd of the Year (Goldberg).

The name of the group is taken from Harmonice Musices Odhecaton, the first printed book of polyphony, published in 1501 by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice.

Their repertoire includes Gombert, Isaac, Josquin, Peñalosa, Compère, Palestrina, Gesualdo and Monteverdi; they have recorded Monteverdi’s Missa In illo tempore, their contribution to this festival (Ricercar 2012).

the musicians

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The Speakers Dr David Vickers Author, journalist, broadcaster and lecturer, he works as a consultant for many international Baroque music organisations and teaches at the Royal Northern College of Music. He is co-editor of The Cambridge Handel Encyclopedia, is preparing new editions of several of Handel’s music dramas and is a critic for Gramophone and BBC Radio 3. He also writes essays for record labels including BIS, Chandos, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI and Harmonia Mundi.

Odhecaton

Oliver Webber

La Compagnia del Madrigale

Monteverdi String Band

La Compagnia del Madrigale

For over a decade, the collective expertise of MSB’s members in repertoire, style and ornamentation has brought exhilaration to performances ranging from intimate madrigals to grand polychoral celebrations. As well as enjoying many fruitful collaborations with wind and vocal ensembles in the UK and abroad, they have established a reputation for innovative programming and virtuoso performance in repertoire from the exquisite diminutions of the turn of the 17th century to the brilliant ensemble sonatas of Biber and his contemporaries.

La Compagnia del Madrigale is the newest of today’s internationallyacclaimed madrigal ensembles. Founded in 2008 by a group of singers, some of whom had been working together for over 20 years, they have made several celebrated recordings.

Musical director Oliver Webber studied in Wells, Cambridge, London and the Hague, laying the foundations for an eclectic and adventurous approach to historical performance. He has directed programmes ranging from seventeenthcentury chamber music to the operas of Hasse with various European ensembles; he is the leader of Ludus Baroque (Edinburgh), and principal and guest leader with the Gabrieli Players, Early Opera Company, the London Handel Orchestra and the Taverner Consort.

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the musicians, speakers

Professor John Bryan Professor of Music and Head of Music and Drama at the University of Huddersfield, and a member of the Rose Consort of Viols and of Musica Antiqua, with whom he has toured and recorded extensively. He is artistic adviser to York Early Music Festival and a regular contributor on BBC Radio 3. John also founded the North East Early Music Forum. He conducts the York Chamber Orchestra, and as musical director of York Opera has conducted Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Britten’s Albert Herring.

Awards and accolades include a Gramophone Award in 2014 for Marenzio’s Primo Libro de’ Madrigali, and the Diapason d’Or (2013) for Gesualdo’s Sesto libro dei Madrigali.

They have also recorded vocal music

by Palestrina and Orazio Vecchi (Amfiparnaso), and have several Monteverdi recording projects planned.

They have performed at major festivals and in prestigious concert halls in several European countries and will come to London’s Wigmore Hall in 2016.

Right: S. Trovaso, engraving from Venice & its Story, 1910.

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Monteverdi in Venice: The Four Operas, 2–7 November 2015

Festival practicalities Why November?

Watercolour from Venice by Mortimer Menpes, 1904.

November is relatively low season in Venice. Fewer visitors and fewer cruise ships make it much easier to get around and to visit places for which queues or congestion are standard for much of the year.

Temperatures can be mild and blue skies can be expected at least for part of the time, though rain is likely. Important for the festival is that at this end of winter unheated buildings may retain a trace of their summer warmth.

However, November is the peak month for aqua alta, the rise in water levels in the canals is such that some streets and squares are inundated. This flooding is related to tides and therefore lasts only for a few hours, but we strongly recommend that you bring waterproof footwear such as full-length Wellington boots. Floods of two or three feet or more above street level are very rare. We have organised nearly fifty concerts in Venice, starting in 1999: none has been cancelled as a result of high water, though one of them had an audience of one, the only person who waded through waist-high water to get to the venue.

Fitness for the festival We must stress that it is essential to cope with the walking and stair-climbing required to get to the concerts and other events. The hotels we have chosen are situated in the San Marco district whereas the majority of the concert venues are on the other side of the Grand Canal in the San Polo and Dorsoduro districts.

You should be able to walk unaided for at least thirty minutes and to be able to get on and off (sometimes pitching) water buses and motoscafi. Venice covers a large area, and there are the steps of numerous bridges to negotiate. Water taxis are not always an option, and festival staff will not have the resources to assist individuals with walking difficulties.

There is no age limit for this festival, but we do ask that prospective participants assess their fitness by trying some simple exercises described in the next column.

“Attention to detail was unparalleled and no stone left unturned to ensure that one’s experience of the festival was as good as it could be.”

“We are in awe of what you achieved presenting the festival.”

Self-assessment tests. We ask that all participants take these quick and simple tests to ascertain whether they are fit enough: 1. Chair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least 8 times in 30 seconds.

2. Step 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 2 minutes.

3. Agility test. Place an object 3 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 7 seconds.

social interaction you can have group dinners every evening, sign up for some art-historical walks and visits and take advantage of any assistance offered for getting to the venues.

Though there will be up to 230 participants, you will frequently find yourself in much smaller units.

Participants are spread through six hotels, and numbers at each restaurant and on the optional walks and visits are limited. Special attention will be paid by festival staff to participants travelling on their own.

Independent or group travel?

For the independent traveller or a group tour? The answer is both. It’s up to you to choose the degree of independence you want.

If you are uneasy about travelling as part of a group, you can avoid the optional extras and participate in the festival merely by turning up to the concerts (we tell you where and when, and how to get there). The rest of the time is your own.

But if you prefer to have some guidance and assistance and opportunity for

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practicalities

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Hotels & Prices We have selected six hotels for this festival. All are 4- or 5-star. The hotel is the sole determinant of the different prices for the festival package.

Quiet? Though blessedly free of the sound of vehicular traffic, motor boats and street life mean that few hotels can be guaranteed to be absolutely quiet.

Luggage. Suitcases with wheels are strongly advised. All the hotels have their own mooring points however there is a short walk between the Venice airport terminal and the motoscafi landing stage.

availability at the time of booking. Prices are either given on the next two pages or are available on request.

The prices given are all per person. A list of what is included is given opposite.

Arriving a day early. Prices are also given for arriving in your chosen hotel the day before the festival starts – separate flight options are available (see page 14).

There is a reduction of £220 if you choose not to take one of the festival flights.

Deposit (all categories): £350 per person.

Rooms vary. As is inevitable in historic buildings, rooms vary in size and outlook.

Suites and rooms with views. Some hotels have suites and rooms with views of the Grand Canal. All are subject to

Illustration: window of Ca’ Foscari, from The Seven Lamps of Architecture by John Ruskin, 1901.

Hotel Bonvecchiati, 4-star

Splendid Venice, 4-star

Palazzo Sant’Angelo, 4-star

A well-located and comfortable 4-star hotel close to Piazza San Marco. Rooms vary in size although the room category we offer avoids the smaller rooms in the hotel. Rooms are decorated in a mix of classic Venetian and contemporary styles.

All have baths with shower attachments.

Public areas are comfortable even if the décor is a little dated. There is a restaurant and hotel staff are friendly and helpful.

Proximity to San Marco is an advantage however the concomitant of the central location is the possibility of noise in the morning from goods delivery boats on the side canals.

A delightful 4-star hotel situated between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge.

Despite the central location the hotel is quiet, rooms overlook side canals or a central courtyard. Rooms are attractively decorated in a light, contemporary style, public areas are appealing and comfortable. All guests have access to a roof terrace with remarkable 360 degree views over Venetian rooftops, although this is admittedly less of a boon in winter.

The majority of rooms have a bath with a shower fitment, a small number have a shower cubicle. There is a good restaurant and 24 hour room service.

The smallest hotel on the festival. It has a warm and personal atmosphere and will exclusively accommodate our group (if all rooms fill). Located on the Grand Canal near the Campo Sant’Angelo, there is a vaporetto stop almost directly outside.

Rooms are richly decorated in a classic Venetian style. Public areas include a small bar and lounge but no restaurant.

Suites are available with glorious views of the Grand Canal.

www.hotelbonvecchiati.it

www.starhotels.com/en/our-hotels/ splendid-venice-venice

Arriving 1st November, per person: Superior double/twin £2,860 Superior double for single use £3,220 Arriving 2nd November, per person: Superior double/twin £2,730 Superior double for single use £3,090

Arriving 1st November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,740 Deluxe double for single use £4,230

www.palazzosantangelo.com Arriving 1st November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,860 Junior Suite £3,930 Junior Suite with Grand Canal view £4,530 Deluxe Suite Grand Canal view £4,720 Classic double for single use £3,710 Deluxe double for single use £4,510

Arriving 2nd November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,560 Deluxe double for single use £4,050

Arriving 2nd November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,630 Junior Suite £3,680 Junior Suite with Grand Canal view £4,220 Deluxe Suite Grand Canal view £4,370 Classic double for single use £3,390 Deluxe double for single use £4,280

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hotels & prices

book online at www.martinrandall.com

Monteverdi in Venice: The Four Operas, 2–7 November 2015

The festival package Access to the concerts is exclusive to those who take the festival package, the price for which includes the following items: • Seven concerts, including four opera performances. Tickets to individual events will not be available.

• Accommodation for five nights in one of six carefully selected hotels in Venice.

• Flights between London and Venice, from Heathrow or Gatwick. There is a price reduction if you make your own arrangements.

• Airport transfers by private motoscafi from Venice Airport to the hotels and vice versa. If you have booked your own flights, you can join these transfers.

• Vaporetto pass allowing unlimited use of water buses for seven days.

• Meals: all breakfasts and three dinners with wine, water and coffee. Interval drinks are provided during three operas (there is no interval during the other concerts).

• Daily lectures on the music by Dr David Vickers and Professor John Bryan.

• All tips for restaurant staff and porters.

• All taxes and obligatory charges.

• Festival staff, Italian-speaking, will be present to facilitate the smooth running of the event.

• Programme booklet: every participant is issued with a booklet which contains information about the itinerary, the concerts and operas, and Venice.

In addition, there are extra services which can be booked: • The option of arriving a day early.

See below for prices.

• A package of an extra two dinners, which means each evening is spent in the company of other festival participants (details available at a later stage).

• A range of visits and short walks led by art historians and appropriate experts (details available at a later stage).

Hotel Europa & Regina, 5-star

Hotel Luna Baglioni, 5-star

Hotel Gritti Palace, 5-star

A historic and elegant 5-star hotel positioned at the mouth of the Grand Canal. It is maintained to a very high standard and has a good restaurant with magnificent views of Santa Maria della Salute directly opposite. Rooms are elegantly furnished and decorated in a classic style. The hotel occupies two palaces so rooms are accessed via two separate lifts. The majority of rooms have a bath with a shower fitment, a small number have a shower cubicle. Rooms are available with views of the Grand Canal and Venetian Lagoon.

A luxurious 5-star hotel that manages to combine Venetian splendour with warm and friendly service. The location is excellent, minutes away from Piazza San Marco but at a remove from the main thoroughfare. Rooms are richly furnished in a classic Venetian style, public areas are attractive and comfortable, the restaurant is excellent. Rooms overlooking charming side canals and the Venetian Lagoon are available. Suites are available on request.

The most venerable hotel in Venice.

Occupying the elegant Gothic palace of a 15th-century doge, the style of the Gritti Palace is one of restrained luxury, and with excellent, discreet service the hotel well merits its 5 stars. It reopened in 2013 after an extensive 15-month refurbishment and plaudits are deserved.

Sensitive restoration has retained its Venetian character; rooms and public areas are sumptuously decorated with Rubelli fabrics, Murano chandeliers and antique furniture. A small number of rooms with views of the Grand Canal are available. Suites are available on request.

www.westineuropareginavenice.com Arriving 1st November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £4,020; with Grand Canal view £4,580

www.baglionihotels.com Arriving 1st November, per person: Superior double/twin £4,260; with a side canal view £4,400 Superior double for single use £4,780; with a side canal view £5,060

Deluxe double for single use £4,480; with Grand Canal view £5,460

Arriving 2nd November, per person: Superior double/twin £4,060; with a side canal view £4,170

Arriving 2nd November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,830; with Grand Canal view £4,290

Superior double for single use £4,580; with a side canal view £4,830

Deluxe double for single use £4,290; with Grand Canal view £5,170

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www.thegrittipalace.com Arriving 1st November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £4,980 Deluxe double/twin with Grand Canal view £6,240 Deluxe double for single use £5,840 Arriving 2nd November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £4,680 Deluxe double/twin with Grand Canal view £5,660 Deluxe double for single use £5,540 hotels & prices

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martin randall travel

Travelling to and from Venice Flights from London to Venice are included in the price of the festival.

You can choose to join one of these or make your own flight arrangements (in which case there is a reduction in the price).

Regional airports We are happy to quote for connecting flights from regional airports. Please request this on the booking form.

Arrive a day early We offer a package for those wishing to arrive on 1st November (a day early) in the hotel of your choice. Please see pages 12–13 for prices.

Festival flights Arrive 1st November, leave 7th

Arrive 2nd November, leave 7th

Option 1. 1st November: depart Gatwick 07.45, arrive Venice Marco Polo 10.50 (BA 2582). 7th November: depart Venice 11.50, arrive Gatwick 12.50 (BA 2583).

Option 4. 2nd November: depart Gatwick 08.05, arrive Venice Marco Polo 11.10 (BA 2582). 7th November: depart Venice 11.50, arrive Gatwick 12.50 (BA 2583).

Option 2. 1st November: depart Gatwick 13.10, arrive Venice Marco Polo 16.15 (BA 2584). 7th November: depart Venice 16.20, arrive Gatwick 17.30 (BA 2585).

Option 5. 2nd November: depart Gatwick 12.30, arrive Venice Marco Polo 15.35 (BA 2584). 7th November: depart Venice 16.20, arrive Gatwick 17.30 (BA 2585).

Option 3. 1st November: depart Heathrow 08.50, arrive Venice Marco Polo 11.55 (BA 578). 7th November: depart Venice 12.50, arrive Heathrow 14.00 (BA 579).

Option 6. 2nd November: depart Heathrow 08.50, arrive Venice Marco Polo 11.55 (BA 578). 7th November: depart Venice 12.50, arrive Heathrow 14.00 (BA 579).

The no-flights option There is a reduction of £220 for the package without flights. Please tick Option 7: no flights on the booking form.

Should you decide to join the festival at Venice Airport at a time which coincides with one of our flight arrivals, you are welcome to join a water-taxi transfer to your hotel. Otherwise you would have to make your own way to your hotel.

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 expertled tours for small groups (usually ten to twenty participants), a dozen music festivals and symposia and about eighty study days in London. For over twentyfive years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, and set the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards.

Balcony of St Mark’s Basilica, wood engraving c. 1880.

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travel options

MRT is Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.

book online at www.martinrandall.com

Monteverdi in Venice: The Four Operas, 2–7 November 2015

The Art History of Venice – painting, sculpture, architecture 26 October–1 Nov. 2015 (mc 514) 7 days • £2,490 Lecturer: Polly Buston Wide-ranging survey of art and architecture with an emphasis on the Renaissance.

Includes a private, after-hours visit to the Basilica di San Marco.

Led by art historian Polly Buston, coauthor of Titian’s Venice, a multi-media project that accompanied the 2003 National Gallery Titian exhibition.

For the world’s most beautiful city, Venice had an inauspicious start. The site was once merely a collection of mudbanks, and the first settlers came as refugees fleeing the barbarian destroyers of the Roman Empire. They sought to escape to terrain so inhospitable that no foe would follow.

The success of the community which arose on the site would have been beyond the wildest imaginings of the first Venetians. By the end of the Middle Ages Venice had become the leading maritime power in the Mediterranean and possibly the wealthiest city in Europe. The shallow waters of the lagoon had indeed kept her safe from malign incursions and she kept her independence until the end of the eighteenth century. ‘Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee, and was the safeguard of the West, Venice, eldest child of liberty.’

Trade with the East was the source of that wealth and power, and the eastern connection has left its indelible stamp upon Venetian art and architecture.

Western styles are here tempered by a richness of effect and delicacy of pattern which is redolent of oriental opulence.

It is above all by its colour that Venetian painting is distinguished. And whether sonorous or poetic, from Bellini through Titian to Tiepolo, there remain echoes of the transcendental splendour of the Byzantine mosaics of St Mark’s.

That Venice survives so comprehensively from the days of its greatness, so little ruffled by modern intrusions, would suffice to make it the goal of everyone who is curious about the man-made world. Thoroughfares being water and cars nonexistent, the imagination traverses the centuries with ease. And while picturesque qualities are all-pervasive – shimmering Istrian Te l e p h o n e + 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 8 7 4 2 3 3 5 5

limestone, crumbling stucco, variegated brickwork, mournful vistas with exquisitely sculpted details – there are not half-a-dozen cities in the world which surpass Venice for the sheer number of major works of architecture, sculpture and painting.

Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 12.30pm from London Gatwick to Venice. Cross the lagoon by motoscafo (water taxi) to the hotel.

There is an introductory walk in Piazza San Marco.

Day 2. The morning walk includes S. Zaccaria and S. Giovanni in Bragora, two churches with outstanding Renaissance altarpieces by Vivarini, Bellini and Cima.

The Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni has a wonderful cycle of painting by Carpaccio. In the afternoon cross the bacino to Palladio’s beautiful island church of S. Giorgio Maggiore and then to the tranquil Giudecca to see his best church, Il Redentore. In the evening there is a special after-hours private visit to the Basilica of S. Marco, an 11thcentury Byzantine church enriched over the centuries with mosaics, sculpture and various precious objects (subject to confirmation as bookings had not yet opened at time of print).

Day 3. Cross the Grand Canal to the Dorsoduro district, location of the great Franciscan church of S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which has outstanding artworks including Titian’s Assumption, and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, with dramatic paintings by Tintoretto. In the afternoon see the incomparably beautiful Doge’s Palace with pink Gothic revetment and rich Renaissance interiors.

Day 4. Cross the lagoon by motoscafo to the island of Torcello, once the rival of Venice but now scarcely inhabited.

Virtually all that remains of the city is the magnificent Veneto-Byzantine cathedral with its 12th-century mosaics. Continue by vaporetto (water bus) to the pretty glass-making island of Murano.

Day 5. In the morning visit the vast Gothic church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, the early Renaissance S. Maria dei Miracoli with its multicoloured stone veneer, and S. Giovanni Crisostomo with its Bellini altarpiece. In Dorsoduro, visit the church of S. Sebastiano with decoration by

Venice Campanile, watercolour by R. Barratt, publ. 1907.

Veronese, and the nearby Scuola Grande dei Carmini with fine ceiling paintings

by Tiepolo.

Day 6. The morning is free. Spend the afternoon in the Accademia, Venice’s major art gallery, where all the Venetian painters are well represented.

Day 7. The Ca’ Rezzonico is a magnificent palace on the Grand Canal, now a museum of 18th-century art. For those not combining this tour with the festival: travel by motoscafo to Venice airport and fly to London Gatwick, arriving at c. 6.00pm.

Final day of the festival, 7th November.

For those combining this tour with the festival: travel by motoscafo to Venice airport. Fly to London Gatwick, arriving at c. 12.45pm.

Continued overleaf pre-festival tour

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martin randall travel

The Art History of Venice Lecturer Polly Buston. Art historian specialising in Venetian art. She obtained her MA from the Courtauld and lectured at their Summer School for several years.

She works for art history publishers as editor and picture researcher and was co-author of Titian’s Venice, a multi-media project accompanying the 2003 National Gallery exhibition.

Practicalities Price: £2,490 (deposit £250). This includes: flights (Euro Traveller) with British Airways (aircraft: Airbus 319); travel between Venice Airport and hotel by water-taxi; vaporetto pass; luggage porterage from and to the airport; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine; all admissions; all tips for restaurant staff, drivers; all taxes; the services of the lecturer. Single supplement £640 (double room for single occupancy). Price without flights £2,250.

If combining this tour with the festival and taking our flights, we charge the full price for this tour, and the reduced (‘no flights’) price for the festival.

Accommodation. Splendid Venice (starhotels.com): delightful 4-star hotel situated half-way between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge. Despite the central location the hotel is quiet, rooms overlook side canals or a central courtyard. Rooms are attractively decorated in a light, contemporary style and there is a good restaurant. If combining the tour with the festival please tick to arrive on the 1st November on the festival booking form (see page 12–13 for prices for the extra night), unless you are making your own arrangements in Venice for the night between tour and festival.

How strenuous? The nature of Venice means that the city is more often than not traversed on foot. Although part of her charm, there is a lot of walking along the flat and up and down bridges; standing around in museums and churches is also unavoidable. We ask all participants to take our fitness tests (see page 11).

Group size: 8–18 participants.

Right: interior of St Mark’s Basilica, detail from a lithograph

by Samuel Prout c. 1835.

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pre-festival tour

About us

Monteverdi in Venice: The Four Operas, 2–7 November 2015

Booking form Your name(s) – as you would like it/them to appear to other festival participants.

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Contact details for correspondence.

Address

Telephone (work) Fax

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Mobile

Telephone (home)

Email

Classic double for single use

Superior double for single use

Superior double for single use, side canal view

Deluxe double for single use

Deluxe double for single use, canal view

Superior double or twin (two sharing)

Superior double or twin, side canal view (two sharing)

Deluxe double or twin (two sharing)

Deluxe double or twin, canal view (two sharing)

Junior Suite (two sharing)

Junior Suite, canal view (two sharing)

Deluxe Suite, canal view (two sharing)

Accommodation (see pages 12–13). Please tick to select your chosen hotel and room type.

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Europa & Regina

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Luna Baglioni

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Gritti Palace

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Palazzo Sant’Angelo

If you are booking a room for two sharing, please tick whether you require:

☐ double bed

☐ twin beds

Festival flights (see page 14). Please tick.

Extra night (see pages 12–13).

Arriving 1st November, leaving 7th:

☐ I wish to arrive in my hotel on the 1st November

☐ Option 1: depart Gatwick 07.45; arrive back there at 12.50 ☐ Option 2: depart Gatwick 13.10; arrive back there at 17.30 ☐ Option 3: depart Heathrow 08.50; arrive back there at 14.00 Arriving 2nd November, leaving 7th: ☐ Option 4: depart Gatwick 08.05; arrive back there at 12.50 ☐ Option 5: depart Gatwick 12.30; arrive back there at 17.30 ☐ Option 6: depart Heathrow 08.50; arrive back there at 14.00

Pre-festival tour (tick to book). ☐ The Art History of Venice, 26 October–1 November 2015 Room type: ☐ Double room

for single occupancy

☐ Double room (two sharing)

☐ Twin room

(two sharing)

Please indicate in the section above if you require accommodation on the 1st November (the night between the tour and the festival).

Flights:

Making your own arrangements for travel to and from Venice:

☐ Group flights at the start of the tour and end of the festival.

☐ Option 7: no flights

☐ No flights. Making your own arrangements.

martin randall travel

Booking form Next of kin or contact in case of emergency.

Passport details (in block capitals). Essential for airlines and in case of emergency during the festival.

Name

Participant 1

Participant 2

Title

Title

Surname

Surname

Forename(s)

Forename(s)

Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)

Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)

Passport number

Passport number

Place of birth

Place of birth

Place of issue

Place of issue

Nationality

Nationality

Date of issue (dd/mm/yy)

Date of issue (dd/mm/yy)

Date of expiry (dd/mm/yy)

Date of expiry (dd/mm/yy)

Address

Telephone number Relation to you

Special requests including dietary requirements (even if you have told us before).

Payment details EITHER deposit(s) at £350 per person for the festival, plus £250 per person if you are booking the pre-festival tour Total: £ OR full payment – required if you are booking within ten weeks of the festival (i.e. 24th August 2015 or later) Total: £ ☐ EITHER by cheque. Please make cheques payable to Martin Randall Travel Ltd, with the festival code (mc 524) on the back. ☐ OR by credit or debit card. We accept payment by Visa, Amex or Mastercard.

Card number Expiry date

Start date

☐ OR by bank transfer. Please use your surname and the festival code (mc 524) as the reference and allow for all bank charges.

Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd Bank name and address: Royal Bank of Scotland, Drummonds, 49 Charing Cross, London SW1A 2DX Account number: 0019 6050. Sort code: 16-00-38 IBAN: GB71 RBOS 1600 3800 1960 50 Swift/ BIC code: RBOS GB2L Agreement I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions on behalf of all listed on this form.

Signed Date

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

Monteverdi in Venice: The Four Operas, 2–7 November 2015

Making a booking 1. Provisional booking

2. Definite booking

3. Our confirmation

We recommend that you contact us first to ascertain that your preferred accommodation 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(s). 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.

If you cancel. If you have to cancel your participation in the festival or the 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:

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.

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 11. 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. Cover for medical treatment, 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 Italy 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.

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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 in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by

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.

booking details

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M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, United Kingdom W4 4GF Telephone 020 8742 3355 Fax 020 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk

5085

www.martinrandall.com

Australia: Martin Randall Australasia, PO Box 1024, Indooroopilly QLD 4068 Telephone 1300 55 95 95 Fax 07 3371 8288 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 Front cover main image: Santa Maria della Salute, etching c. 1900 by Alexander J. Finberg (1866–1939); inset: Claudio Monteverdi, engraving 1664. Back cover: Etching c. 1930 (detail)

by Antoine Gaymard after a painting by J. M. W. Turner.