The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018 Llŷr Williams piano Birgid Steinberger soprano Stephan Loges baritone & Roger Vignoles piano Miah Persson soprano Albion Quartet Auryn Quartet Sollazzo Ensemble The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra The Cardinall’s Musick | Andrew Carwood director Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra | Ton Koopman director, harpsichord
Illustration: Cologne, lithograph by Samuel Prout 1839. Front cover: oliograph c. 1870.
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival Nine private concerts in beautiful and appropriate historic buildings. Musicians of the highest calibre from Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain. Music from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, most composed in the countries through which we pass. Choice between accommodation on a ship which cruises from Basel to Amsterdam or in hotels for a variant which features country walks. Daily talks by leading authorities on music and history.
‘The opportunity to hear top class artists in attractive surroundings without the hassle of booking, travel and planning is worth a lot.’ Martin Randall Travel aims to provide the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available, in Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, Japan and the Americas. Each year there are about 250 expert-led tours for small groups (usually 10 to 20 participants), five to six all-inclusive music festivals, such as The Rhine Valley Music Festival, up to eight music and history weekends and about 100 study days in London. For thirty years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, and set the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards. MRT is Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.
20–27 June 2018
Matching music and place First launched in 1997, there have been ten previous editions of The Rhine Valley Music Festival. Every one has been different, but all are characterised by high quality performances in appropriate historic buildings. For 2018, the eleventh edition, Bach, Beethoven and Schumann are well represented, and there is a range of music largely from Germany and Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. As always, the concerts are effectively private, being exclusive to participants (maximum 140) who book a package which also includes accommodation, meals, interval drinks, travel by river and road, lectures and a range of other services.
Music and musicians of the highest quality As with all Martin Randall festivals, the musicians are among the finest in their fields. They include the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, conductor Ton Koopman and pianist Llŷr Williams, vocal ensemble The Cardinall’s Musick, bass-baritone Stephan Loges and sopranos Birgid Steinberger and Miah Persson. Alongside established names there are some exciting new ensembles surely destined for stellar careers, the Sollazzo Ensemble and the Albion Quartet.
Appropriate music and venues Most of the concert venues are historic buildings, all have beauty or charm, and most are of the same period as the music performed in them. All are relatively small, leading to an informality and intimacy of musical communication, which engenders a heightened artistic experience.
Exclusively chartered ship To this exceptional artistic experience is added a further pleasure, the comfort and convenience of a first-class river cruiser, chartered exclusively for the festival audience. MS
Contents Speakers.................................................................................4
Pre-festival tour: Art in Switzerland............................... 15
The Programme............................................................ 5–11
Post-festival tour: Dutch Painting................................... 16
Accommodation & Prices.........................................12–13
Booking form..............................................................17–18
Travelling to and from the festival................................. 14
Booking details and conditions..................................... 19
The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
One of the great rivers of the world The Rhine is one of the shortest of the great rivers of the world, but probably no other has served such a prominent role in shaping the history and culture of a continent. Stretches of the river are of great beauty, the Middle Rhine especially, being flanked by vine-clad hills with virtually every peak topped by a castle. There is time to explore some of the towns along its course and to see some great art and architecture. As a trading route, the Rhine brought prosperity and a degree of cultural unity to peoples and nations along its length. At the same time the river was a barrier, a natural border, and so was the scene of tension and conflict throughout history.
The spoken word The spoken word is an important ingredient of the festival. There are daily talks by leading authorities who are also outstanding speakers. Stephen Johnson (musicologist). Writer, broadcaster and composer Stephen Johnson was for fifteen years presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Discovering Music. His books include Bruckner Remembered, studies of Wagner and Mahler, and How Shostakovich Changed My Mind (2017), which examines the effect of music on mental health. His orchestral piece Behemoth Dances had its première by the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in 2016.
Amadeus Silver III was launched in 2016 and is one of the most modern and comfortable passenger ships on European waters. Acting as both hotel and principal means of transport, it sails from Basel to Amsterdam, enabling passengers to attend all the concerts and see some of the finest art and architecture in the region without having to change hotel or drive long distances. The experience differs significantly from conventional cruising in many ways. There is little regimentation, no obligatory seating plan, no onboard entertainment, announcements are kept to a minimum – and there is absolutely no piped music.
The walking party The walking alternative (Walking the Rhine Valley) mixes the concerts with country walks. Seven of the concerts are included, and there are five walks of around two hours beside or close to the Rhine. Participants stay in hotels rather than on the ship. The group is limited to twenty-two participants. See the text in grey under each day of ‘The Programme’ for an outline of the itinerary. The leader of this group is Richard Wigmore – see opposite for his biography. 4
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Giles MacDonogh (historian). Critically acclaimed historian and author of fourteen books, many of them about Germany. These include monographs on Berlin and Prussia and biographies of Frederick the Great and the last Kaiser. His book on post-war Germany, After the Reich, was a best-seller. He is currently preparing a study of Angela Merkel’s Germany. He has worked as a teacher and journalist and is a prize-winning translator from French and German. He is also an expert on wine and food. Richard Wigmore (musicologist, Walking the Rhine Valley). Music writer, lecturer and broadcaster for BBC Radio 3. He writes for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone and has taught classes in Lieder history and interpretation at Guildhall College of Music & Drama, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance and Birkbeck College. He read French and German at Cambridge and later studied Music at Guildhall. His publications include Schubert: The Complete Song Texts and Pocket Guide to Haydn.
The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
The Programme
Day 1, Wednesday 20th June: Basel For information on travelling to Basel see page 14. The ship, MS Amadeus Silver III is moored in Basel and is ready for boarding from 4.00pm. Straddling the Rhine at the uppermost point for shipping, the Swiss city of Basel retains much of its centuries-old streetscape and architecture. The Kunstmuseum is Switzerland’s finest gallery of historic art. It is also home to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the world’s leading conservatory specialising in historically informed performance; some of the musicians engaged for this festival trained or taught there. Today’s hour-long concert is repeated as the hall is small. Those on the 8.40am flight from Heathrow to Basel attend the 3.00pm performance while those on the 9.30am Zürich flight attend at 5.30pm. Other participants will be assigned to the performance which fits their travel plans.
Concert, 3.00pm & 5.30pm Sollazzo Ensemble Basel, Kaisersaal: The Lost Manuscript No.222 Founded in 2014 in Basel, Sollazzo Ensemble consists of six young artists from several nations committed to energetic and communicative performance of late mediaeval and early renaissance music. In 2015 they won the York Early Music International Young Artists Competition as well as the audience prize, and the Cambridge Early Music prize. The programme is taken from ‘The Lost Manuscript No. 222’, an early fifteenth-century compilation originating in the vicinity of the Upper Rhine, probably around Strasbourg and Freiburg.
Under this enigmatic title is hidden a varied collection of beautiful sacred and secular pieces with very different provenances (France, Italy and Germany). The original manuscript was burnt during the 1870 Franco-Prussian war. The Kaisersaal dates to c. 1600 but was later shrouded in plaster and its existence was forgotten. It was discovered in 1979 and restored for concerts, plays and seminars. After the concert, transfer to the ship. Dinner is on board. Sail overnight to Breisach. The walking party. Fly at c. 8.30am from London Heathrow to Basel. Attend the 5.30pm concert by Sollazzo in the Kaisersaal. There is a short walk through the old town before dinner near the Münster. Overnight in Basel.
Illustration, left: Bacharach, wood engraving after Richard Püttner (1842–1913). Above: Basel, copper engraving c. 1750. Photograph, above: Sollazzo Ensemble ©Martin Chiang.
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
The Programme, continued
Day 2, Thursday 21st June: Breisach, Sankt Peter im Schwarzwald Moor during the night in Breisach am Rhein. After the morning lectures, there is time to explore Breisach, a highly attractive little town built on a hill rising from the banks of the river. At its summit is a fine mediaeval church. After lunch (which is provided daily on board the ship), drive to Sankt Peter im Schwarzwald, a former monastery located in the lovely rolling countryside of the Black Forest. Here in the Fürstensaal our second concert takes place.
Concert, 3.00pm The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra St Peter im Schwarzwald, Great Hall: German Baroque Composers The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is among the most brilliant and celebrated period-instrument orchestras in the world today. Formed by students at the Freiburg music school in 1985, from the outset they were devoted to careful research into historical performance practice and, in the absence of a conductor, lively discussions about interpretation. Scholarship never dampens their artistic instincts, and they play with unsurpassed verve and virtuosity and breath-taking synchronicity – a by-product of being one of the busiest of chamber orchestras.
Illustration, opposite page: Schloss Biebrich, engraving c. 1840. Photographs, clockwise from above: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra ©Annelies van der Veght; Birgid Steinberger; Stephan Loges ©Ana Alvarez Prada; Roger Vignoles; Albion Quartet ©Steve Gullick.
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Their programme is bookended with Bach’s Concerto for three Violins in D (BWV 1064) and ends with Handel’s Concerto Grosso in C, Alexander’s Feast. In between are pieces by Johann David Heinichen, Johann Friedrich Fasch, Pisendel and Telemann. A Benedictine Abbey until 1806 and a seminary until 2006, the buildings of the Abbey of St Peter comprise one of the most complete and well preserved examples of a late-Baroque (architecture) and Rococo (most of the decoration) abbey complex in Catholic Germany. The Fürstensaal (Hall of Princes) was used for receptions and festivities relating to the temporal role of the abbey. Return to the ship and set off downstream at 6.00pm for twelve hours. Dinner is preceded by a history talk. The walking party. Drive to the Black Forest for a morning walk (exact length and route to be confirmed) before attending the concert at Sankt Peter. Continue to Speyer for the first of two nights.
Day 3, Friday 22nd June: Speyer, Schwetzingen Moor in Speyer at c. 6.00am. The morning is free for independent exploration of Speyer, one of the major historic cities along the course of the Rhine. From the mooring, walk through wooded parkland to the great Romanesque cathedral, the largest in Germany. In the afternoon drive to Schwetzingen, summer residence in the 18th century of the Electors Palatine. The historic gardens are among the most beautiful and extensive in Europe – Baroque, Rococo, Romantic, embellished with statuary, waterworks and pavilions. Tours of the gardens with local guides will be offered, or you can choose to explore independently.
The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
Concert, 4.15pm Albion Quartet Schwetzingen, Mozart Saal: The Art of Fugue The Albion Quartet is one of the most exciting new chamber ensembles to have appeared on the scene recently – new in that their first concert was in September 2016, but the members are among the most talented and highly experienced chamber musicians of their generation. Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin), Emma Parker (violin), Rosalind Ventris (viola) and Nathaniel Boyd (cello) were brought together by ‘a shared belief in the visceral, communicative power of the string quartet’. Their programme explores contrapuntal composition. More usual in solemn liturgical music, composers of quartets were periodically drawn to fugal writing not only because of the compelling effect but also because a fugue was regarded as the ultimate test of compositional skill. Written late in his life (and for unspecified instrumentation), Bach’s The Art of Fugue provides the paradigm, and two ‘contrapuncti’ are included. To this are added Haydn’s Op.20 No.2 and Schumann’s Op.41 No.1 (written beside the Rhine) and Walton’s Quartet in A minor. Two great wings forming a semicircle facing the gardens were added to the palace in the 1750s, a theatre and a concert hall the principal facilities. A seven-year-old Wolfgang Mozart and his sister Nannerl Mozart delighted the court here in 1763. Return to Speyer and sail to Biebrich. The walking party. Morning walk, Speyer to Mechtersheim: 9 km, c. 2 hours. Ascent: 551m. Descent 591m. This walk follows a branch of the historic pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela on country lanes and paths. Free time in Speyer before driving to Schwetzingen for the afternoon concert with the Albion Quartet.
Day 4, Saturday 23rd June: Biebrich, the Rhine Gorge Moor at Biebrich in the early hours. The mooring is only a couple of hundred metres from the concert venue.
Concert, 10.45am Birgid Steinberger soprano Stephan Loges baritone Roger Vignoles piano Biebrich, Schloss Biebrich: Songs of the Rhine Palace building in Germany reached a peak in the decades around 1700, but among them Schloss Biebrich is highly unusual in being built on the water’s edge and designed to enjoy the views up and down the Rhine, at the time one of Europe’s busiest (if largely soundless) traffic arteries. A perfect place, therefore, for a recital of songs that are connected with the Rhine by subject matter or history of composition. Composers include Brahms, Cornelius, Liszt, Loewe, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Clara and Robert Schumann, Silcher and Wolf. As an opera singer, Bavarian soprano Birgid Steinberger has been a particular success in Vienna, where she now lives, and also in Berlin and elsewhere in Germany. Mozart roles are a speciality. As a recitalist she has sung in many countries including the UK and USA. Stephan Loges was born in Dresden and was an early winner of the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He now enjoys an international career in Lieder, oratorios, cantatas, passions and opera. Roger Vignoles is recognised as one of the world’s most distinguished piano accompanists. He regularly partners the finest singers in major venues around the world and is regarded as a leading authority on the song repertoire. book online at www.martinrandall.com
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
The Programme, continued
In the afternoon the ship passes through the Middle Rhine, scenically the most dramatic stretch of the river. On both sides there are steep hills, many clad in vineyards, a surprisingly large number capped with castles. Picturesque towns and villages nestle below.
The all-Beethoven programme consists of Sonata No.16 from his early maturity; the most intimate of his last three sonatas, No.30 (Op.109); 32 Variations on a Theme in C minor (Op.109) written in 1806; the magisterial Sonata No.21, the Waldstein, of 1804 (Op.53).
Moor in Bonn late in the evening and remain there overnight.
The recital takes place in the Kammermusiksaal, a handsome and intimate modern chamber music hall attached to the Beethoven family home.
The walking party. Drive to Schloss Biebrich for the morning concert. Afternoon walk, the Reisling route: 10 km, c. 2 hours. Ascent: 769m. Descent: 854m. A moderate walk through vineyards and on woodland paths above the Rhine, ending at Schloss Vollrads. Continue to Bad Godesberg for the night.
Day 5, Sunday 24th June: Bonn, Cologne Famously disparaged as a village by the diplomatic corps when it was Germany’s capital, Bonn had in fact been a significant centre of culture while seat of the Elector Archbishops of Cologne. In the eighteenth century a second-rate tenor inclined to excessive drinking, named Johann van Beethoven, was employed at the archiepiscopal court; his son was a better musician.
Concert, 10.45am Llyr ˆ Williams piano Bonn, Beethoven Haus, Kammermusiksaal: Ludwig van Beethoven Llŷr Williams is embarked on a Beethoven piano sonata cycle at London’s Wigmore Hall and in Cardiff, spread over three seasons (2014–17), and a Beethoven concerto cycle is currently in progress with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. A native of Wales, he was the recipient of several awards as a youth and has gone on to a glittering international career with performances across Britain, Europe and the USA. 8
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Walk back to the ship and sail to Cologne while enjoying lunch. Cologne was one of the largest and most flourishing cities in northern Europe under the Romans and during the Middle Ages, and again in the nineteenth century. The enormous and perfectly proportioned Gothic cathedral dominates a historic centre which possesses several major Romanesque churches and world-class museums and galleries. There is some free time for exploration – many of the most important sights are within walking distance of the mooring.
Concert, 6.00pm & 9.30pm The Cardinall’s Musick Andrew Carwood director Cologne, St Mariä Himmelfahrt: Romantic and Renaissance a cappella This evening’s concert with Cardinall’s Music is a game of two halves, the first devoted to nineteenth-century part songs, the second to the sixteenth- and seventeenth- century a cappella. Participants return to the ship for dinner in the long interval. The Cardinall’s Musick (the churchman in question is Thomas Wolseley) can look back over nearly thirty years at the pinnacle of the English choral tradition, with many award-winning recordings
The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
as well as innumerable concerts around the world. Founded and directed by Andrew Carwood, who is also Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral, Renaissance polyphony has been their principal speciality but they have also enjoyed success with Romantic era and contemporary music.
Day 6, Monday 25th June: Dorsten
Part songs by Johannes Brahms are well known, and some of his finest are performed this afternoon. Those composed by Felix Mendelssohn are a relative rarity but are completely delightful; he was a master of the genre.
Moor at Wesel and drive to Schloss Lembeck near Dorsten.
The Renaissance and early Baroque programme features the greatest composers working in the German-speaking lands at the time. Orlandus Lassus (1530–94) was born in the southern Netherlands but spent most of his life in Munich; Jakob Handl (1550–91) worked mainly in the Habsburg Empire; Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672) was employed at the courts in Kassel and Dresden. Spend the night moored in Cologne.
Sail throughout the morning past the gentle and largely rural landscapes of the Lower Rhine. The programme of lectures continues.
Concert, 3.30pm & 5.00pm Auryn Quartet Dorsten, Schloss Lembeck: Beethoven, Schumann & Mendelssohn An outstanding career spanning thirty-three years, during which time the members have not changed, has made the Auryn Quartet one of the most sought-after chamber ensembles in the world. Their numerous recordings include all of Haydn’s quartets and a complete Beethoven cycle. They live in the vicinity of Cologne.
The walking party. Morning walk from Bad Godesburg to Rolandseck: 10 km, c. 2 hours 30 minutes. A moderate walk beginning on a level path alongside the Rhine before ascending up to the hills above. There are some steep sections but always on good paths in woodland or on minor roads and country tracks. Rolandseck is a delightful building housing a contemporary sculpture museum. Continue to Cologne for some free time and the evening concert at St Mariä Himmelfahrt with The Cardinall’s Musick. Overnight in Cologne.
Beethoven’s String Quartet No.11 (Op.95), the Serioso, is a dense, innovatory work of which the composer stated it was not for public performance but for connoisseurs only. (He was right about his contemporaries, wrong about us.) They also perform the second of Schumann’s three quartets, following the Albion’s No.1, and also Mendelssohn’s Capriccio, one of the four quartet pieces published as Op.81.
Illustration, above left: Cologne, early-19th-century aquatint. Above, top: section of the Rhine, steel engraving c. 1840.
Return to the ship in at Wesel and sail downstream overnight.
Photographs, left to right: The Cardinall’s Musick ©Dmitri Gutjahr; Auryn Quartet ©Manfred Esser; Llyr Williams ©Benjamin Ealovega.
Schloss Lembeck is an enchanting moated Wasserschloss (‘water castle’). It dates from the seventeenth century and despite its moats and rugged stone walls was more residence than castle. The concert takes place in a hall hung with ancestral portraits, and is repeated. The walking party. A morning guided tour of Cologne’s Romanesque churches before driving to Schloss Lembeck for the book online at www.martinrandall.com
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
The Programme, continued
Illustration, left: Amsterdam, late-18th-century copper engraving. Photograph, above: Miah Persson ©Mina. Right: Ton Koopman directing the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra ©Foppe Schut.
concert with the Auryn Quartet (there is no country walk today). Continue to Utrecht for the first of two nights.
Day 7, Tuesday 26th June: Amsterdam Moor in Amsterdam shortly after dawn. Amsterdam is as distinctive as it is beautiful. It grew rapidly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries from a small and precarious sea port to become the greatest trading emporium in Europe. With its concentric canals and gabled merchant houses, soaring churches and picturesque alleys, the inner city has hardly changed since its heyday. It is home to some outstanding art museums.
Concert, 11.30am Miah Persson soprano Pianist to be confirmed Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, Recital Hall Swedish soprano Miah Persson is in demand around the world as a recitalist and concert artist, as well as on the operatic stage. She began her career in Stockholm singing mainly Mozart roles, and though her repertoire is now broad, ranging from Monteverdi through Strauss and Britten to contemporary, Miah regularly returns to Classical composers. The programme is still being discussed but should be confirmed by the end of the summer (2017). The Concertgebouw, built in the 1880s on what was then the edge of the city, is one of the most famous concert halls in the world. Both the Main Hall and the smaller, oval, Recital Hall, location of our concert, are renowned for their acoustics.
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Coaches return to the ship after the recital, though you could of course skip lunch on board and stay in the city centre. The Concertgebouw is only minutes from the recently restored Rijksmuseum, the world’s finest collection of Dutch painting, and the Van Gogh Museum. The bustling historic heart of Amsterdam lies immediately to the north of these institutions. In the afternoon, coaches shuttle between the ship and the city centre, and then to the Waalse Kerk for the final concert.
Concert, 5.00pm Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra Ton Koopman director, harpsichord Amsterdam, De Waalse Kerk (Walloon Church): J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concertos & Orchestral Suites Ton Koopman, perhaps the most revered baroque keyboard player performing today, founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (ABO) in 1979. The group consists of internationally renowned baroque specialists who meet several times a year to rehearse and perform together. For the musicians each concert is a new experience and Koopman’s boundless energy and enthusiasm are a sure guarantee of the highest quality of performance. Between 1994 and 2014 they completed two of the most ambitious recording projects of recent decades, Bach’s secular and sacred cantatas and the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude. Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 4, orchestrated respectively for strings only and for strings and recorders, are, like the rest of the set, as lively and dance-like as any music of the eighteenth century, but these two are also among the most graceful and affecting of Bach’s secular output. In this concert they are flanked by the third and fourth Orchestral Suites, which also have their origins in dance but are more rumbustious and triumphant, scoring
The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
More about the concerts Private events. The concerts are planned and administered by Martin Randall Travel, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the full festival package. The concerts are therefore private. Seating. Specific seats are not reserved. You sit where you want. Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with authenticity and ambience than acoustical perfection. While some of the venues have excellent acoustics, others have idiosyncrasies not found in modern concert halls. Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues need emergency repairs: there are many unforeseeable circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We cannot rule out changes to the programme due to the tide, to severe increases in water levels (which lead to the closure of locks) or indeed low levels of water. Such changes might necessitate more travel by coach. We ask you to be understanding should these events occur.
This brochure was written and designed in house. The text was written and edited by Martin Randall and Tim Greenhalgh with assistance from Sophie Wright. The layout was designed by Jo Murray. It was sent to print on 5th July 2017.
including oboes, bassoon, trumpets and timpani. A fitting finale to the festival. De Waalse Kerk (Walloon Church) in Amsterdam, used by the French Protestant community since 1586, was built in the 1490s and enlarged in the 17th century. It has perhaps the best acoustics of any historic building in Amsterdam and is much used for recordings. Return to the ship for the final dinner. The ship remains moored in Amsterdam overnight. The walking party. Morning walk, the Dutch Polder landscape: 9 km, c. 2 hours. Ascent 562m. Descent: 562m. This is an easy walk taking in the alluring landscape of the Grecht Canal towpath and the fields towards the village of Kanis. Drive to Amsterdam in the evening for the festival’s final concert at De Waalse Kerk with Amsterdam Baroque.
Time in Amsterdam Once again, the coach park is close to the Rijksmuseum; the Van Gogh Museum, which has the largest holding of the artist’s works, and has also recently been refurbished; and to the spruced up and extended Stedlijk Museum, the city’s collection of modern art. You may visit the city independently or join a guided walk. Participants on the post-festival tour: Dutch Painting. At 9.00am taxis take you with your luggage from the ship to the hotel. You may participate in a guided tour of Amsterdam with other festival participants. Otherwise you are free until 3.15pm when you take a taxi to Haarlem for the first visit of the tour. Please see page 16 for full details of this tour. The walking party. Morning guided tour of the Rijksmuseum before flying from Amsterdam to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 4.30pm.
Day 8, Wednesday 27th June: Amsterdam Leaving the festival All passengers have to disembark by 9.30am. One coach goes straight from the quay to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, arriving there by 10.00am. This is for those booked on Option 3 (BA 431, Amsterdam–Heathrow 11.40–12.00) and anyone else who wants to join this transfer.
‘Thoroughly enjoyable. How lovely to glide down the Rhine listening to interesting lectures, with access to gorgeous towns and music – without unpacking.’ ‘I can’t fault any aspect.’
Other coaches take participants to the museums quarter of Amsterdam. You can choose to be independent or to take a guided tour, details of which will be sent to participants. You may make your own arrangements for onward travel from here or re-join the coach to the airport at 2.00pm (Option 4). See page 14 for details of optional flight arrangements.
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
Accommodation & Prices
Stateroom, Mozart and Strauss Deck
Stateroom, Mozart and Strauss Deck
The Ship The Amadeus Silver III is one of the more comfortable cruisers on the waterways of Europe. The multi-national crew is dedicated to the highest standards of service. With a minimum floor area of 16m2 the cabins are reasonably Panorama-Bar Lounge Suite, Mozart Deck spacious by the standards of river and cruisers. All have windows to the outside and are equipped with the facilities one would expect of a first-class hotel includingFACILITIES shower, w.c., individually adjustable ONBOARD air-conditioning, telephone, TV and safe. Special attention has • Panorama-Restaurant Panorama-Bar und Lounge been paid to noise• insulation.
Panorama-Bar and Lounge
ONBOARD FACILITIES • Panorama-Restaurant • Panorama-Bar und Lounge • Amadeus-Club • “Café Vienna” with Viennese coffee specialities • Outdoor glass-shielded “River Terrace” • Sun Deck with Lido-Bar, lounge chairs, shade awnings, giant HaydnChess deckBoard (lowest) and Shuffleboard • Fitness Room Two sharing: £2,970 per person • Hair Salon, Massage Room Single• occupancy: £3,560 Gift Shop • Laundry Service Strauss deck (middle) • Complimentary bicycles onboard • Wi-Fi available Two sharing: • Elevator£3,680 per person
AMADEUS SILVER III
Deck
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• Amadeus-Club
In layout and furnishings the cabins are identical, the significant • “Café Vienna” with Viennese coffee differences being the sizespecialities of windows and height above water level • Outdoor glass-shielded (higher cabins enjoy better views and fewer stairs). Beds are twins “River Terrace” which can be pushed separated. • Suntogether Deck withor Lido-Bar, lounge chairs, shade awnings, giant
Those on the top two decks (Mozart and Strauss) are the most Chess Board and Shuffleboard 2 and with floor to ceiling windows desirable, measuring 17.5m • Fitness Room Salon, Massage which drop down•toHair open. They alsoRoom have a minibar. Also on the • Gift Shop Mozart deck are twelve suites in which bathrobes are provided. • Laundry Service 2 They measure approximately 26m and have a sofa and a balcony • Complimentary bicycles onboard on which it is possible stand, not sit. • Wi-Fitoavailable • Elevator
Cabins on the lowest (Haydn) deck measure 16m2 and have smaller windows which do not AMENITIES open. Cabins with connecting STATEROOM 2 / 284 sq.ft.) (26,4 m doors are available• Suites on Haydn Deck on request.
Single occupancy: £4,410
STATEROOM AMENITIES
• Suites (26,4 m2 / 284 sq.ft.) Mozart deck (top)
with comfortable corner sofa,
with comfortable corner sofa,
There are no single luxurious cabins as such but are allocating some bathroom andwe walk-out exterior balcony double cabins for single occupancy.
luxurious£4,030 bathroom walk-out Two sharing: perand person exterior balcony Single occupancy: £4,830 2 • Staterooms (17,5 m / 188 sq.ft.) on Strauss and Mozart Deck with Suitesdrop-down (Mozart deck) panoramic windows • Staterooms (16 m2 / 172 sq.ft.) Two sharing: £4,840 per person on Haydn Deck with smaller panoramic windows (cannot B-1 be opened) B-4 C-1 • Cabins with connecting doors are available on Haydn Deck on request • Mini-Bar (all staterooms except categories C-1 and C-4) • Walk-in wardrobe • Choice of bed configuration: double or twin bed • Flat-screen television • Individual climate control • En-suite bathrooms with shower/WC • Bathrobe in Suites • Hair dryer Suite• Direct dial telephone Staterooms, Mozart • In-room safe and Strauss Deck
• Staterooms (17,5 m2/ 188 sq.ft.)
on Strauss Mozart Deck with and bar, a café, a The public areas include theand panorama lounge drop-down windows smaller bar in the stern and apanoramic terrace in the bow. The restaurant • Staterooms (16 m2 / 172 sq.ft.) can seat everyone at a single sitting. The sun Suite, Mozart Deck on Haydn Deck with smaller deck has plenty of seating and a tentedpanoramic area for windows shade. (cannot be opened)
www.lueftner-cruises.com • Cabins with connecting doors
Suite
Suite, Mozart Deck
A-1
are available on Haydn Deck on request • Mini-Bar (all staterooms except categories C-1 and C-4) • Walk-in wardrobe • Choice of bed configuration: double or twin bed • Flat-screen television • Individual climate control • En-suite bathrooms with shower/WC • Bathrobe in Suites • Hair dryer • Direct dial telephone • In-room safe
Suite C-4
A-1
B-1
TECHNICAL DATA • Built: 2016 • Registry: Germany • Length: 135 m | 443 feet • Width: 11,4 m | 37,5 feet • Draft: 1,45 m | 5 feet • Height above water: 6 m | 19,8 feet • Speed: 25 km/h | 15,5 mph • Decks: 4 • Staterooms/Suites: 72/12 • Max. passengers: 168 Suite • Crew members: approx. 46
nboard
ES t.) sofa, walk-out
sq.ft.) ck with indows sq.ft.) aller nnot
doors eck
Photographs, left–right: standard cabin; suite. Cabin plans, left–right: standard cabin; suite (suites available on the Mozart deck only). The paler-coloured cabins on the plan to the left, on the Strauss and Haydn decks (233–236 and 116–119), are the closest to the ship’s engine and are therefore usually allocated to our festival staff.
12Suite +44 (0)20 A-18742 3355 B-1| info@martinrandall.co.uk B-4 C-1
C-4
B-4
S
The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
The Walking Party: hotels Hotel Teufelhof, Basel (teufelhof.com): centrally located 3-star hotel with modern, minimalist décor. Hotel Domhof, Speyer (domhof.de): small, traditional 3-star hotel in an old building around a courtyard and close to the cathedral. Rhein Dreesen Hotel, Bad Godesberg: set a few metres’ back from the edge of the Rhine outside Bonn, this hotel has spacious, well-appointed rooms and excellent service. Hilton Hotel, Cologne (hilton.com): modern, functional 4-star hotel close to the cathedral. Hotel Karel V, Utrecht (karelv.nl): a 5-star hotel converted from a 19th-century hospital in a quiet location within the city walls. Price, per person Two sharing: £2,990 or £2,830 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,370 or £3,210 without flights.
Pre- and post-festival tours Prices and full details for the pre- and post-festival tours are given on pages 15–16. Flights, if you require them, are included in the price of the preand post-festival tours – one leg of which will be with the festival group (please choose a flight option on your booking form).
Illustration, below: the Lorelai, lithograph c. 1840.
The festival package Access to the concerts is exclusive to those who take the festival package, the price for which includes: Nine concerts (or seven for the walking party) and daily lectures. Accommodation on a first-class river cruiser for seven nights, or in hotels for the walking party. All meals, from dinner on the first day to breakfast on the last, with wine, and interval drinks. For the walkers, six dinners and four lunches are included. Coach travel between the airport and ship or hotel and to the concert venues (when not reached on foot). All tips, taxes and admission charges. A detailed programme booklet which contains practical, musical and historical information. The assistance of an experienced team of German-speaking festival staff. Flights are not included in the price, but can be added for a supplement – see page 14. Additionally, the choice of pre-festival tour: Art in Switzerland or post-festival tour: Dutch Painting (please see pages 15–16 for full details).
book online at www.martinrandall.com
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
Joining and leaving the festival If you want to obtain flights through us
Making your own arrangements
Flights are not included in the basic price of the festival, but we have reserved some seats on the flights offered below. If you wish to add flights to your booking, please indicate your choices on the booking form.
If you choose not to take any of our flight options, you are welcome to join the transfers from Basel Airport (leaving c. 11.45am) or Zürich Airport (leaving c. 12.50pm) on the first day and to join the restaurant lunch, for which there is a charge of £40.
Day 1: Wednesday 20th June
At the end of the festival, you can also choose to join a transfer to Amsterdam airport (arriving at c. 10.00am or c. 2.30pm).
Option 1: London Heathrow to Basel, departing c. 8.40am (BA 752, arriving Basel c. 11.15am). Lunch is provided at a restaurant in Basel. Participants taking this option attend the first performance of the first concert at 3.00pm. Price for flight (oneway), transfer and lunch: £140. Option 2: London Heathrow to Zürich, departing c. 9.30am (BA 712, arriving Zürich 12.20pm). The 90-minute coach journey to Basel is broken by a stop for lunch. Participants taking this option attend the repeat performance of the first concert at 5.30pm. Price for flight (one-way), transfer and lunch: £140.
By rail. We suggest you book travel yourself (neither timetables nor fares were decided when festival details were published). Currently it is possible to leave London St. Pancras at c. 7.00am (changing stations within Paris) to arrive in Basel at c. 3.30pm in time for the repeat of the first concert at 5.30pm. There is a train at c. 9.15am from Amsterdam that returns to London at c. 2.00pm, involving a change in Brussels.
The walking party. The cost of flights is included in the price of the tour. Participants depart London Heathrow at c. 8.35am (BA 752, arriving Basel c. 11.10am).
Day 8: Wednesday 27th June Option 3: Amsterdam to London Heathrow, departing c. 11.40am (BA 431, arriving London Heathrow at c. 12.00 noon). Price for flight (one-way) and transfer: £120. Option 4: Amsterdam to London Heathrow, departing at c. 4.15pm (BA 439, arriving London Heathrow at 4.35pm). Participants have until 2.00pm in Amsterdam. Price for flight (one-way) and transfer: £120. The walking party. The cost of flights is included in the price of the tour. Participants depart Amsterdam at c. 4.15pm (BA 439, arriving at London Heathrow 4.35pm).
Participants on pre- and post-festival tours Pre-festival tour: Art in Switzerland. Outbound flight: on 16th June participants fly from London Heathrow to Zürich at c. 9.30am (BA 712, arriving Zürich at 12.20). Please select your chosen inbound flight option (at the end of the festival) on the booking form. The cost of flights is included in the price of the tour. Post-festival tour: Dutch Painting. Please select your chosen outbound flight option (at the start of the festival) on the booking form. Inbound flight: on 30th June participants depart Amsterdam at c. 5.00pm (BA 433, arriving at London Heathrow at c. 6.00pm). The cost of flights is included in the price of the tour. Please see pages 15–16 for full details of these tours.
Fitness for the festival Quite a lot of walking is necessary to reach concert venues and to get around the towns visited. While the ship is equipped with a lift, the majority of concert venues are not. Participants need to be averagely fit, sure-footed and able to manage everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty. The walking party. Participants’ fitness must go beyond the level required for the tests below. You must be in good physical condition and to be used to country walking with uphill and downhill content. There is not always the opportunity to return to the hotel to freshen up before every concert or dinner. This festival is not really suitable for wheelchair users but please speak to us if you would like to discuss this. Self-assessment tests. There is no age limit for this festival or the preand post-festival tours, but we do ask that prospective participants assess their fitness by trying these simple exercises: 1. Chair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least eight times in thirty 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 sixty times in two minutes.
Illustration: ‘On the Rhine’, from ‘The Foreign Tour of Messrs Brown, Jones & Robinson’ by Richard Doyle, Publ. 1854.
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+44 (0)20 8742 3355 | info@martinrandall.co.uk
3. Agility 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.
The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
Art in Switzerland | Great collections, lovely towns, sublime landscapes Pre-festival tour 16–20 June 2018 (me 918) 5 days • £2,130 Lecturer: Dr Alexey Makhrov Fine and varied art collections, some in the collectors’ homes or in brilliant recent buildings. Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and classic modernism figure prominently, also European Old Masters, decorative arts and Oriental art. Drive through picturesque countryside to reach collections outside the city centres. Switzerland possesses some of the finest of the smaller art collections in Europe. There is no Louvre here and no Uffizi, but several Courtauld Institutes and Burrell Collections. More than in most countries the cultural map has been formed during the last hundred years by the devotion to art of wealthy industrialists and men of commerce. There were no kings and princes in Switzerland to lay the foundations of the present-day collections. With a long tradition of relative autonomy and self-sufficiency the cities and cantons have also played a part in creating the current magnificent public art collections. While artists who were Swiss or who lived in Switzerland are of course amply represented (including Holbein, Fuseli, Hodler, Klee and Giacometti), the whole gamut of western art is to be seen here, with the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists particularly prominent. An added attraction is architectural: some of the collections remain in the collectors’ former homes and others have recently been re-housed in brilliant new buildings. And when aesthetic exhaustion sets in there are lakes and mountains and picturesque old cities to refresh the palate.
Itinerary Day 1. Fly from London Heathrow to Zurich at c. 9.30am. Drive to Winterthur to visit the Oskar Reinhart Collection ‘am Römerholz’ at the collector’s home in tranquil woodland above the city, a marvellous display of Old Masters and Impressionists. Continue to Lucerne for the first of two nights. Day 2: Baden, Zurich. In the morning drive to Baden where, in a 1900 villa, the Langmatt Foundation displays a fine collection, especially of Impressionists (including twenty-four Renoirs). The afternoon is spent in Zurich. Visit two churches that have stained glass by Chagall and Alberto Giacometti. The Kunsthaus Zurich is Switzerland’s largest art gallery, displaying Swiss and international art from the Middle Ages to the present day. Overnight Lucerne.
Day 3: Lucerne, Basel-Riehen, Basel. Lucerne, at the juncture of mountains, rivers and lake, has a most attractive historic centre with mediaeval, Renaissance and Baroque buildings. The Sammlung Rosengart is an excellent collection of 20th-century art, particularly strong on Picasso and Klee. Drive to Basel via Basel-Riehen where the Beyeler Foundation has a top quality collection of classic modern art in a stunning building by Renzo Piano. First of two nights in Basel. Day 4: Basel, Berne. All-day excursion: with its promontory setting and arcaded streets, Berne is perhaps the most attractive city in Switzerland. The purpose-built Paul Klee Centre (Renzo Piano) houses a huge collection of the artist’s works, and the Kunstmuseum has a good and varied collection of western art. Overnight Basel. Day 5: Basel. Walk via the mediaeval minster to the Kunstmuseum, an excellent collection notable for paintings by one-time resident Hans Holbein. Some free time to explore the lovely old centre, the Historical Museum (furniture, tapestries, silver), Museum of Contemporary Art or the Tinguely Museum. Fly from Basel, arriving Heathrow c. 6.45pm. Participants joining Walking the Rhine Valley meet their group for lunch and attend the concert at 5.30pm. Those joining The Rhine Valley Music Festival, attend the first concert that afternoon at 3.30pm, with luggage transferred to the ship.
Combining Art in Switzerland with the festival Flights, if you require them, are included in the price of this tour. Fly out from London with the Art in Switzerland group. Choose from the inbound festival flight options on page 14 and tick the appropriate box on the booking form.
Lecturer Dr Alexey Makhrov. Art historian and lecturer. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Arts and obtained his PhD from the University of St Andrews followed by postdoctoral work as a Research Fellow at Exeter.
Practicalities Price, per person. Two sharing: £2,130 or £1,920 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,340 or £2,130 without flights. Included: flights (Euro Traveller) with British Airways (Airbus 320); travel by private coach; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts; 1 lunch and 3 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager. Accommodation. Romantik Hotel Wilden Mann, Lucerne (wilden-mann.ch): 4-star hotel dating back to the 13th century located in the heart of the historic town centre. All double rooms in the hotel have two single mattresses on one bed frame, as is the usual style in Switzerland. Hotel Teufelhof, Basel (teufelhof. com): located in Basel’s historic centre, this 3-star hotel is housed in two integrated, historic townhouses from the 18th century. Rooms are decorated in a minimalist style and are fitted with all mod cons. How strenuous? As you would expect this tour involves a reasonable amount of walking through town centres and standing around in galleries. Average distance by coach per day: 70 miles. Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.
Illustration: Berne, wood engraving c. 1880.
book online at www.martinrandall.com
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
Dutch Painting | Amsterdam, Haarlem & The Hague Combining Dutch Painting with the festival Flights, if you require them, are included in the price of this tour. Choose from the outbound festival flight options on page 14 and tick the appropriate box on the booking form. Fly back to London with the Dutch Painting group.
art museums nearby which have also recently been refurbished and extended, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Post-festival tour 27–30 June 2018 (me 935) 4 days • £1,910 Lecturer: Dr Sophie Oosterwijk Painting of the Dutch Golden Age – Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer and contemporaries – as well as art of other eras. Plenty of time for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam which reopened in 2013 as Europe’s best-displayed national gallery. The Mauritshuis in The Hague reopened in 2014 after complete refurbishment. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is one of the world’s great museums, but it was largely closed for ten years until 2013. Planned extension and refurbishment hit a number of unexpected snags, but the new Rijksmuseum has been greeted with universal praise. Much extra space has been quarried from within the footprint of the 1885 building, and while some of the original decoration has been revealed and restored, the latest museum technology has been adopted and the artworks are beautifully lit. Paintings, sculpture, drawings, tapestries, ceramics, gold and silver – the whole gamut of fine and decorative arts are on display, often in meaningful juxtaposition. Though the gallery has the finest collection by far of the Dutch Golden Age (the seventeenth century, the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer), it has much else besides, including significant international collections. There are two visits to the museum, and visits to a number of Amsterdam’s other main galleries and historic buildings, as well as city centre walks through the enchanting streetscape and along the canals. To enlarge upon the theme, two key galleries in other towns are also visited. The Frans Hals
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Museum in Haarlem, housed in the almshouse where the eponymous artist spent his last years, provides a perfect introduction to Golden Age art, while the paintings in the Mauritshuis, also benefiting from brilliant re-display, form one of the richest small collections anywhere.
Itinerary Day 1. Participants on The Rhine Valley Music Festival are taken from the ship, moored in Amsterdam, to the hotel and then have free time until 3.15pm when they join the group in Haarlem. Participants joining the tour from Walking the Rhine Valley are taken from their hotel in Utrecht to the hotel in Amsterdam, instead of taking the guided tour of the Rijksmuseum this morning. There is free time until 3.15pm when they join the group in Haarlem. (Those not continuing on from the festival fly at c. 12.00 midday (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Amsterdam.) Haarlem was the chief artistic centre in the northern Netherlands in the 16th century and home of the first of the great masters of the Golden Age, Frans Hals, whose finest works are in the excellent small museum here. Drive to Amsterdam, where all three nights are spent. Day 2. With its concentric rings of canals and 17th-century merchants’ mansions, Amsterdam is one of the loveliest capitals in the world. Our first visit to the brilliantly refurbished Rijksmuseum concentrates on Rembrandt, Vermeer and their contemporaries. In the afternoon walk to Museum Van Loon, a private residence built in 1672, and to the house where Rembrandt lived and worked for nearly 20 years. Walk back to the hotel through some of Amsterdam’s most attractive streets. Day 3. Visit the Hermitage, followed by the Royal Palace, formerly the town hall, decorated by the leading Dutch painters of the 17th century (subject to closure for royal functions). Return to the Rijksmuseum for a second visit. There is some free time to visit two other major
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Day 4. Opened in June 2014 after long closure for refurbishment, the Mauritshuis at The Hague ‘looks set to become northern Europe’s most alluring small museum’ (Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times). The superb collection of paintings includes masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer. Visit also the illusionistic Mesdag panorama before driving to the airport. Fly from Amsterdam and return to London Heathrow at c. 6.00pm. We sometimes change the visits on this itinerary to take advantage of temporary exhibitions.
Lecturer Dr Sophie Oosterwijk. Researcher and lecturer with degrees in Art History, Mediaeval Studies and English Literature. Her specialisms are the Middle Ages, and the art and culture of the Netherlands. She has taught at the universities of Leicester, Manchester and St Andrews, and lectures at Cambridge. She is co-editor of the journal Church Monuments.
Practicalities Price, per person. Two sharing: £1,910 or £1,770 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,210 or £2,070 without flights. Included: flights (Euro Traveller) with British Airways (Airbus 320); hotel accommodation; travel by private coach; breakfasts and 3 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer. Accommodation. Hotel Estheréa, Amsterdam (estherea.nl): centrally located 4-star hotel in a historic building with colourful, comfortable rooms. Single rooms are doubles for sole use. How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking and standing in museums, and the tour would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking. Average distance by coach per day: 23 miles. Group size: between 10 and 20 participants. Illustration: The Hague, harbour, watercolour by Nico Jungman, publ. 1904.
The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
Booking form Name(s) as you would like them to appear on documents issued to other festival participants
Accommodation EITHER on-board the ship. See page 12. Single occupancy
Twin cabin (beds together)
Twin cabin (beds separate)
Haydn deck (lowest)
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Contact details for all correspondence
Strauss deck (middle)
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Address
Mozart deck (top)
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Mozart deck Suites
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Participant 1 Participant 2
OR on land (if you are joining the walking party). See page 13. Postcode/Zip Country
☐ Double room for single occupancy ☐ Double room
(two sharing)
☐ Twin room (two sharing)
E-mail Pre- and post-festival tours – please tick to book. Telephone number(s) ☐ Please tick if you are happy to receive your festival documents by e-mail only, where possible.
☐ Please tick if you do NOT want to receive regular updates by e-mail on our other tours, music festivals and London Days.
☐ Please tick if you do NOT want to receive any more of our brochures.
What first prompted your booking? e.g. a marketing e-mail from us, browsing our website, receiving this brochure, or something else.
☐ Art in Switzerland, 16–20 June 2018 (me 918) – page 15 ☐ Dutch Painting, 27–30 June 2018 (me 935) – page 16 Accommodation on the tour
☐ Double for single occupancy ☐ Double room (two sharing) ☐
Twin room (two sharing)
Flights
☐ I require flights either side of the tour and festival* ☐ I will make my own arrangements *please also choose a Day 1 festival flight below if booking ‘Dutch Painting’, or a Day 8 festival flight if booking ‘Art in Switzerland’. (This is included in the price of the tour so you will not pay the additional price stated.)
Joining and leaving the festival. See page 14.
No flights: airport transfers.
Day 1, Wednesday 20th June
If you are making your own arrangements for travel to and from the festival, you can opt to join one of our coach transfers.
Option 1: London Heathrow to Basel, c. 8.40am–c. 11.15am. Price £140.
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Option 2: London Heathrow to Zürich, c. 9.30am–c.12.20pm. Price £140.
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Walking the Rhine Valley: flying out with the walking party.
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No outbound flights. Making your own way to Basel.
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Day 8, Wednesday 27th June Option 3: Amsterdam to London Heathrow, c. 11.40am–c. 12.00 noon). Price £120.
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Option 4: Amsterdam to London Heathrow, c. 4.20pm–c. 4.35pm). Price £120.
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Walking the Rhine Valley: flying back to London with the walking party.
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No inbound flights. Making your own way onwards from Amsterdam.
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Day 1: depart from Basel Airport at c. 11.45am. Price £40 (for lunch).
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Day 1: depart from Zürich Airport at c. 12.50pm. Price £40 (for lunch).
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Day 8: arrive at Amsterdam Schiphol at c. 10.00am. No additional charge.
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Day 8: arrive at Amsterdam Schiphol at c. 2.30pm. No additional charge.
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
Booking form, continued
Passport details. Essential for airlines and the ship/ hotels, and in case of emergency during the festival or tour. Title
Surname
Forename(s)
Nationality
Place of birth
1 2
Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)
Passport number
Place of issue
Date of issue (dd/mm/yy)
Date of expiry (dd/mm/yy)
1 2
Further information or special requests, including dietary requirements (even if you have told us about these before).
Payment amount – please tick one and enter the total ☐ EITHER deposit(s). 10% of your total booking cost. ☐ OR full payment. If you are booking within 10 weeks of departure (i.e. after 11th April 2018). ☐ Carbon offset: £5 per person. If you have booked flights and wish to make a carbon offset donation to the India Solar Water Heating project, please tick (read more on our website). TOTAL: £ Payment method – please tick one ☐ By cheque, made payable to Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Please write the festival code on the back (me 920).
Next of kin, or other contact in case of emergency. For participant 1
☐ By debit or credit card. By ticking here, you authorise Martin Randall Travel to contact you by telephone to take payment. We accept Visa debit/credit, Mastercard and AMEX.
Name
Note that bookings made by credit card will have 2% added to cover processing charges. This charge does not apply to other forms of payment.
☐ By bank transfer. Please give your surname and tour code (me 920) as a reference and ask your bank to allow for all charges.
Relation to you
Telephone
For participant 2
Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd Bank: Handelsbanken, 2 Chiswick High Road, London W4 1TH Account number 8663 3438 • Sort code 40-51-62 IBAN: GB98 HAND 4051 6286 6334 38 Swift/BIC code: HAND GB22
Name Relation to you
I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions on behalf of all listed on this form.
Telephone
Signature:
Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF United Kingdom
Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068 Australia
USA 1155 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036, USA Tel 1 800 988 6168 | usa@martinrandall.com
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Canada Tel (647) 382 1644 | canada@martinrandall.ca (From 1 September 2017, calls and e-mails to the Canadian office will redirect to the USA office.)
Date:
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The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018
Booking details and conditions Before booking, please refer to the FCO website to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the places you are going to wwwfco.gov.uk
Making a booking 1. Booking option We recommend that you contact us first to ascertain that your preferred choice of accommodation is still available. You can make a booking option which we will hold for one week (longer if necessary) pending receipt of your completed Booking Form and deposit. You can also make a booking option online.
2. Definite booking Fill in the Booking Form and send it to us with the deposit(s) or make a definite booking online, at www.martinrandall.com. It is important that you read the Booking Conditions at this stage, and that you sign the Booking Form if booking offline. Full payment is required if you are booking within ten weeks of the festival (i.e. after 11th April 2018).
3. Our confirmation Upon receipt of your Booking Form and deposit we send you confirmation of your booking. Further details about the festival or tour may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards. After this your deposit is nonreturnable except in the special circumstances mentioned below in the Booking Conditions.
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.
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. 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 festival or tour by slowing them down – see ‘Fitness’ on
page 14. To this end we ask you to take the tests described there. By signing the booking form you are stating that you have met these requirements. If during the festival or tour it transpires you are not able to cope adequately, you may be asked to opt out of certain visits, or be invited to leave altogether. 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. If you are making your own flight/travel arrangements, please ensure you have insurance in place that protects you in the unlikely event of Martin Randall Travel cancelling the tour or festival. Experience tells us that free travel insurance offered by some credit card companies is not reliable in the event of a claim. Passports and visas. Participants must have passports, valid for at least six months beyond the date of the festival. Visas are not required for travel in Switzerland, Germany or the Netherlands for UK or other EU citizens, or citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Nationals of other countries should ascertain whether visas are required in their case, and obtain them if so. If you cancel. If you have to cancel your participation in the festival or tour there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give. Up to 57 days before departure the deposit only is forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total cost will be due: from 56 to 29 days: 40% from 28 to 15 days: 60% from 14 to 3 days: 80% within 48 hours: 100% If you cancel your booking in a double or twin room/ cabin but are travelling with a companion who chooses not to cancel, the companion will be liable to pay the single occupancy price. 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 departure there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable. We would refund everything you had paid to us. Safety and security. If the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel to places visited on a tour or festival, we would cancel it or adjust the itinerary to avoid the risky area. In the event of cancellation before departure, we would give you a full refund. We would also treat sympathetically a wish to withdraw from a tour to a troubled region even if the FCO does not advise against travel there. Seatbelts. 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. 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. Financial protection: ATOL. 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 flight-inclusive 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. Financial protection: ABTA. 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 non-provision 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.
MRT music festivals in 2018 Music in the Cotswolds 21–24 May 2018 A Festival of Music in Prague 13–19 June 2018 The Rhine Valley Music Festival 20–27 June 2018 A Festival of Music in Franconia 25 August–1 September 2018 The Divine Office: Choral Music in Oxford 24–28 September 2018 A Festival of Music in Bologna October 2018 Please contact us for details.
Illustration: ink drawing and watercolour c. 1850.
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Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF United Kingdom
Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068 Australia
USA 1155 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036, USA Tel 1 800 988 6168 | usa@martinrandall.com
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
Canada Tel (647) 382 1644 | canada@martinrandall.ca (From 1 September 2017, calls and e-mails to the Canadian office will redirect to the USA office.)