Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

Vivaldi in Venice 6–11 November 2017

La Serenissima | Adrian Chandler director Modo Antiquo | Federico Sardelli director Il Giardino Armonico | Giovanni Antonini director Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca | Giorgio Fava director

Contents The Musicians ................................. 4–5 The Programme .............................. 6–8 Joining & leaving the festival .............9 Accommodation & Prices ......... 10–11 The festival package...........................11 Lecturers, optional walks..................12 Fitness for the festival .......................13 Pre- & post-festival tours: Savouring Lombardy ................... 13–14 Venetian Palaces .......................... 14–15 Art History of Venice ..........................15 Booking form .............................. 17–18 Booking details & conditions...........19 Martin Randall Travel aims to provide the best-planned, best-led and altogether most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, music, history and archaeology in Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, Japan and the Americas.

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Front cover: Antonio Vivaldi, copper engraving c. 1725

by Morellon de la Cave (1700–1755), ©Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo. This page: La Scuola Grande di San Rocco, lithograph by J.B. Waring c. 1860.

Vivaldi in Venice A unique and unprecedented festival of the music of Antonio Vivaldi in the city where he was born and worked for most of his career.

6–11 November 2017

Seven private concerts, ranging from small-scale concerti to an opera and an oratorio, in appropriate and beautiful halls and churches in Venice.

‘If acute and rapid tones are evil, then Vivaldi has much of the sin to answer for.’ Blurring music and morality, the English music historian Dr Charles Burney remained sceptical. But by then the damage was done. During the 1720s and 1730s the elemental excitement of the Venetian’s concertos fuelled a Vivaldi craze throughout Italy and northern Europe.

Participating ensembles are among the world leaders in performance of Vivaldi and Italian Baroque – Il Giardino Armonico (Giovanni Antonini, director), Modo Antiquo (Federico Sardelli), La Serenissima (Adrian Chandler), Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca (Giorgio Fava).

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) remains unrivalled for his gift of instant memorability and his knack of cutting straight through to the listener’s musical heart. Vivaldi manuscripts were must-have souvenirs for gentleman travellers visiting La Serenissima as part of the Grand Tour.

Soloists include Lucy Crowe (soprano), Hilary Summers (alto), Adrian Chandler (violin), Dorothee Oberlinger (recorder), Peter Whelan (bassoon) and many others – all to be confirmed by the end of 2016.

Legendary, too, were the musical delights of the Ospedale della Pietà, the charitable institution for foundling and illegitimate girls with which the ‘Red Priest’, as he was dubbed, was associated for much of his life.

Talks on music and eighteenth-century Venice by Richard Wigmore and Professor Tim Blanning, and optional walks in the company of art historians.

Accommodation for five nights from a choice of six carefully selected hotels, flights between Heathrow, Gatwick or London City and Venice (optional), transfers by water taxi and a range of other services and optional extras.

Vivaldi’s flamboyant music, with its heightened sense of urgency and drama, is perfectly attuned to this most theatrical of European cities.

Vivaldi in Venice was a Martin Randall festival waiting to happen. Our celebration of this quintessential Venetian composer inevitably includes The Four Seasons, whose picturesque charm and visceral energy have survived decades of kitsch and commercialisation unscathed, and is presented here in Adrian Chandler’s awardwinning and transformatory interpretation.

Yet true to form, the festival ventures far beyond the popular and predictable and includes some of the most spectacular and affecting music of the Baroque era.

This brochure was produced in house. The text was written and edited chiefly by Martin Randall, Richard Wigmore and Fiona Urquhart, with assistance from Anna Cahill, Hannah King and Domenico Laneve. It was designed by Jo Murray and sent to print on 14 November 2016.

Participants will be able to savour the musical riches of Vivaldi’s exotic Teuzzone, one of the earliest operas with a Chinese setting (appropriate here in Marco Polo’s home town), and his sole surviving oratorio, Juditha Triumphans, a showcase for the multifarious talents of the Pietà’s figlie di coro.

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Concertos for assorted instruments should refute once and for all the familiar gibe that Vivaldi composed the same concerto six hundred times. We include a clutch of little-known Vivaldi sacred works that marry his love of virtuoso display with a gravitas that might surprise the unwary. And we set Vivaldi in context with music by other Venetian composers such as the Renaisssance master Giovanni Gabrieli, his Baroque predecessor Dario Castello, and his contemporary and rival Tomaso Albinoni.

Our performers, British and Italian, are all renowned specialists, steeped in the Italian Baroque and Vivaldi in particular.

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 and the venues are visually glorious.

The performances are private, being exclusive to no more than 200 participants who take a package which includes accommodation (from a choice of six hotels), flights from London (you can opt out of these), airport transfers by water taxi, limitless vaporetto journeys, daily lectures, three dinners, interval drinks and much else besides.

You may also sign up to walks and visits led by art historians and outstanding guides, and join a pre- or post-festival tour.

‘Unbelievable – a very special, unique opportunity to hear wonderful artists in simply perfect venues. Thank you.’

‘Top-quality music in incomparable surroundings, with excellent support: worth every penny.’

‘A week of sheer bliss.’

Comments from participants on our previous music festival in Venice in 2015.

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Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

The Musicians

La Serenissima Since its formation in 1994 for a performance of Vivaldi’s serenata La Senna Festeggiante, La Serenissima has gained a reputation as one of Europe’s most exciting exponents of Vivaldi and the Italian Baroque. Its interpretations have been admired in leading concert halls and festivals throughout the world. Among the group’s highly praised recordings, Vivaldi: The French Connection won the 2010 Gramophone Award for the Best Baroque Instrumental CD. La Serenissima celebrated its 21st birthday in 2015 by recording Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (in the so-called Manchester version) alongside works for violino in tromba marina, a pioneering reconstruction project undertaken by violinist Adrian Chandler, luthier David Rattray and the musicologist Michael Talbot.

La Serenissima also prides itself on bringing seldom-heard works to the concert platform, including a clutch of Vivaldi operas and numerous instrumental rarities, many of which have been recorded. The ensemble has likewise introduced audiences to such pieces as Albinoni’s Il nascimento dell’Aurora and sacred vocal works by Caldara.

Illustration above: Basilica di San Marco, aquatint c. 1830.

Opposite page: Piazza San Marco, after an etching by J. McNeil Whistler, from ‘The Magazine of Art’ 1893.

Photographs, this page. Above right: Il Giardino Armonico (©Francesco Ferla). Right: La Serenissima (©Eric Richmond).

Opposite page, left to right: Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca; Modo Antiquo.

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Most of the group’s repertoire is edited by Director Adrian Chandler from manuscript or contemporary printed sources, a testament to its commitment and passion for the hidden treasures of the Italian Baroque.

Il Giardino Armonico

Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca

Founded in 1985, Il Giardino Armonico was one of the earliest Italian period-instrument ensembles to win international renown, and remains unsurpassed for the colour and earthy vigour of its performances. Under the direction of flautist Giovanni Antonini, its repertoire ranges from Monteverdi to Haydn and Mozart, with a special emphasis on Vivaldi and his contemporaries. The ensemble’s recordings for Teldec and Decca, including several collaborations with Cecilia Bartoli, have won many major awards, while their recording for Naïve of Vivaldi’s opera Ottone in Villa garnered a Diapason d’Or in 2011.

This lively ensemble comes from the Veneto city of Treviso, dubbed in the Renaissance ‘Marca Gioiosa e Amorosa’. Its repertoire spans three centuries, from the Renaissance to the Classical period, with the music of Vivaldi and his Venetian contemporaries and predecessors, notably Gabrieli, Legrenzi and Albinoni, at its heart. The ensemble’s award-winning recordings include a disc of Vivaldi violin concertos with Giuliano Carmignola and a collaboration with Cecilia Bartoli in Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico. Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca has appeared regularly in leading European concert halls and international festivals including Brussels, Montreux, Munich and Warsaw. Recent recordings include ‘Vivaldi in a Mirror’ and a disc of Vivaldi recorder concertos with Dorothee Oberlinger.

Il Giardino Armonico regularly performs at the most prestigious European festivals, with soloists including Giuliano Carmignola, Christophe Coin, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Bernarda Fink, Isabelle Faust and Viktoria Mullova. In 2014 the ensemble released to acclaim the first album in a planned complete cycle of Haydn symphonies.

Modo Antiquo In the three decades since its formation, the period-instrument orchestra Modo Antiquo has established a worldwide reputation under the direction of flautist Federico Maria Sardelli. Vivaldi and his Roman contemporary Corelli have always been central to its activities, in the concert hall and on disc. Its vibrant recordings of Vivaldi and Corelli concertos have received US Grammy nominations, while Sardelli has directed the orchestra in modern world premieres of Vivaldi operas including Motezuma (Rotterdam, 2005) and L’Atenaide (Florence, 2006).

The versatile Sardelli is also Italy’s leading Vivaldi scholar.

He has made his own performing editions of several operas, performed and recorded his own reconstruction of Orlando furioso, and recorded two discs of ‘Vivaldi Discoveries’, works unearthed in European archives during the last two decades. He has written a monograph on Vivaldi’s music for flute, and since 2007 has been in charge of the monumental undertaking of assembling a complete list of Vivaldi’s works for the revised Ryom (RV) catalogue – the Vivaldian Köchel.

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Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

The Programme

Oratorio: Juditha triumphans (‘his finest opera’) Modo Antiquo | Federico Sardelli director

The seasons in poetry and music La Serenissima | Adrian Chandler director, violin

Francesca Boncompagni soprano Nicki Kennedy soprano | Cristina Alunno alto Romina Basso alto | Giuseppina Bridelli alto Ricercare Ensemble Choir Mantova

An instant hit in Vivaldi’s lifetime, I Quattro Stagioni is a candidate for the most popular classical piece of all time. But even if you think you know these irresistible concertos backwards, Adrian Chandler and his period band promise pleasurable surprises with the dramatic flair and profound understanding of Vivaldi’s rhetoric which they bring to their award-winning interpretation.

The composer provides graphic, often witty, musical descriptions, from the murmuring brooks and rustic revels of ‘Spring’, via the summer tempest and the chill autumn haze, to the shivering trills and tottering skaters of ‘Winter’.

La Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista Premiered in the chapel of the Pietà in 1716, Vivaldi’s only surviving oratorio has been dubbed ‘his finest opera’, with good reason. It is certainly his most colourfully scored dramatic work, fashioned partly as a celebratory political allegory (the Venetians and their allies had recently triumphed over the Ottoman Turks), partly to display the vocal and instrumental talents of the Pietà’s figlie di coro. Intense melodic beauty and Vivaldi’s trademark raw energy are enhanced by an ever-changing orchestral palette that includes such novelties as viole all’inglese (violas da gamba with additional sympathetic strings), clarinets and a soprano chalumeau (predecessor of the clarinet).

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.

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The performance will be preceded by talks, readings and musical illustrations exploring humankind’s relationship with nature as depicted by ancient and eighteenth-century writers and musicians.

The venue had not been confirmed at the time of printing.

Gloria: sacred music by Vivaldi La Serenissima | Adrian Chandler director, violin Lucy Crowe soprano | Hilary Summers alto Santa Maria dei Derelitti The choir and players of La Serenissima combine in a selection of Vivaldi’s sacred music that includes his earlier setting of the Gloria, RV 588 – far less familiar than the better known RV 589 but hardly inferior in evocative word-painting and sheer exuberance of

invention. The chosen setting of the psalm Beatus vir (RV 795) was discovered relatively recently, and a sacred concerto completes the programme.

This concert involves twenty-one players, a choir of sixteen and five soloists. Further soloist’s names will be posted on our website in due course.

Santa Maria dei Derelitti is the church attached to the Ospedaletto, one of the four orphanages which were renowned as centres of musical excellence. The institution survives as a hospital. The church probably has the best acoustics of any in Venice, and the original screened musicians’ gallery survives.

Concertos for recorder and bassoon Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca | Giorgio Fava leader Dorothee Oberlinger recorder | Peter Whelan bassoon Palazzo Zenobio From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries the recorder was a favourite instrument in Venice. Leading virtuoso Dorothee Oberlinger showcases the instrument in its various guises. In Vivaldi’s hands, writing for the bassoon provides not so much a contrast as a similar delight in virtuosity, and a range in mood from melancholy to humour. Bassoonist Peter Whelan is one of Europe’s leading exponents of the instrument.

The programme had not been finalised at the time of going to press, but a composer other than Vivaldi may be included. Please see the website for updates.

The Palazzo Zenobio, located off the beaten track in the Dorsoduro, was built at the end of the seventeenth century. The gorgeous ballroom is one of the most richly decorated Baroque halls in Venice. Like many Venetian palaces, this has known reversals of fortune, and exudes the affecting melancholy of faded grandeur.

The concert is repeated as the hall is too small to accommodate the whole audience.

Psalm settings: Dixit Dominus & Laudate Pueri Modo Antiquo | Federico Sardelli director Santa Maria della Pietà Hailed, without hyperbole, as ‘the most important Vivaldi discovery in 75 years’, the Dixit Dominus was long attributed to fellow-Venetian Baldassare Galuppi until it was conclusively identified a decade ago as Vivaldi’s work. Exhilarating, inventive and full of graphic descriptive touches, it reveals its composer’s fingerprints on every page. Charming touches of word-painting also abound in Laudate Pueri, a setting by turns brilliant and tender of Psalm 113 for solo soprano – yet another work to make us marvel at the virtuosity of the singers at the Pietà.

Photographs, clockwise from top left: Lucy Crowe (©Marco Borggreve); Dorothee Oberlinger (©Johannes Ritter); Giovanni Antonini (©Kemal Mehmet Girgin); Federico Sardelli; Adrian Chandler (©Eric Richmond).

Illustrations. Opposite page: La Scuola Grande di San Rocco, lithograph c. 1830; above: Campo San Giacomo and the Rialto Bridge, 18th-century engraving.

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Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

The Programme, continued

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 seven venues are too small to accommodate all 200 participants and so these concerts are repeated.

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.

Santa Maria della Pietà was attached to the orphanage where Vivaldi was director of music for much of his career. The church he knew, however, was demolished shortly after his death and the present one was designed in 1745 by Giorgio Massari, the leading Neo-Palladian architect of his time. Nevertheless, the serene, soaring interior makes a perfect foil for Vivaldi’s music.

Teuzzone: Vivaldi at the imperial court of China La Serenissima | Adrian Chandler director, violin

Vivaldi and his Venetian predecessors Il Giardino Armonico | Giovanni Antonini director

Never backward in self-promotion, Vivaldi claimed to have composed no fewer than 94 operas, though no more than 20 survive. Written for wedding celebrations at the Mantuan court, Teuzzone combines a Chinese setting – a novelty in 1718 – with a typical Baroque plot driven by intrigue and power politics. The vividly characterised arias range from swaggering numbers with trumpet, via seductive lyricism to a poignant prison scene for the eponymous hero. This (unstaged) performance involves seven soloists and twenty-three players.

Ca’ Sagredo Renowned for their exhilarating, no-holds-barred performances of the Italian Baroque, Il Giardino Armonico mingles Vivaldi with music by some of his most celebrated Venetian predecessors. They begin, aptly, with a sonata for three violins by Giovanni Gabrieli, whose works represent the pinnacle of the Renaissance School, and move through the early Baroque (Castello and Merula) to a sonata by Legrenzi, an important influence on Vivaldi. Capping the programme are three contrasting concertos by Vivaldi, full of his trademark verve and melodic piquancy.

Situated on the Grand Canal, the Ca’ Sagredo was largely rebuilt and decorated during Vivaldi’s lifetime. A Baroque stairway leads to a sequence of frescoed halls – one with a ceiling by Giambattista Tiepolo – and culminates in the ballroom, glorious if endearingly past its prime in a quintessentially Venetian way. Again, due to the size of the hall, the concert will be repeated.

Soloists to include: Lucy Crowe soprano | Hilary Summers alto La Scuola Grande di San Rocco

The most magnificent of all confraternity premises, La Scuola Grande di San Rocco was constructed in the sixteenth century and adorned with a magnificent cycle of dynamic and highly-charged canvasses by Tintoretto. In combination with the carved and gilded woodwork, this created one of the most lavish interiors in Venice, and one of the largest.

Please note that not all programme details had been finalised before the brochure was printed, and there may be some slight changes to the details given above. Together with names of soloists and other artists, further information will appear on our website as it is confirmed.

Illustration: Rialto Bridge, aquatint c. 1830.

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Joining & leaving the festival Flights from London City, Gatwick or Heathrow 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 5th November (a day early) in the hotel of your choice. Please see pages 10–11 for prices.

Festival flights Arrive 5th November, leave 11th Option 1. 5th November: depart Gatwick 11.20, arrive Venice Marco Polo 14.25 (BA 2586). 11th November: depart Venice 11.30, arrive Gatwick 12.40 (BA 2583).

Option 2. 5th November: depart Gatwick 13.30, arrive Venice Marco Polo 16.35 (BA 2584). 11th November: depart Venice 15.15, arrive Gatwick 16.25 (BA 2587).

Option 3. 5th November: depart Heathrow 13.40, arrive Venice Marco Polo 16.50 (BA 578). 11th November: depart Venice 13.00, arrive Heathrow 14.25 (BA 579).

Arrive 6th November, leave 11th Option 4. 6th November: depart Heathrow 08.55, arrive Venice Marco Polo 12.05 (BA 578). 11th November: depart Venice 13.00, arrive Heathrow 14.25 (BA 579).

Option 5. 6th November: depart London City 11.00, arrive Venice Marco Polo 14.05 (BA 8479). 11th November: depart Venice 11.15, arrive London City 12.20 (BA 8480).

Option 6. 6th November: depart Gatwick 11.50, arrive Venice Marco Polo 14.55 (BA 2586). 11th November: depart Venice 11.30, arrive Gatwick 12.40 (BA 2583).

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.

Illustration: ‘A Quiet Rio’, watercolour by Mortimer Menpes, publ. 1904.

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 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 200 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.

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Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

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.

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 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 9).

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

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

Arriving 5th November, per person: Superior double/twin £2,990 Superior double for single use £3,450 Arriving 6th November, per person: Superior double/twin £2,870 Superior double for single use £3,260

Arriving 5th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,820 Deluxe double for single use £4,390 Arriving 6th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,660 Deluxe double for single use £4,140

Illustration: Hotel Europa & Regina, engraving c. 1880.

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www.palazzosantangelo.com Arriving 5th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,960 Junior Suite £4,080 Junior Suite with Grand Canal view £4,750 Deluxe Suite Grand Canal view £4,950 Classic double for single use £4,440 Deluxe double for single use £4,710 Arriving 6th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,750 Junior Suite £3,840 Junior Suite with Grand Canal view £4,440 Deluxe Suite Grand Canal view £4,590 Classic double for single use £4,160 Deluxe double for single use £4,400

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 5th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £4,170; with Grand Canal view £4,820 Deluxe double for single use £4,690; with Grand Canal view £6,010

www.baglionihotels.com Arriving 5th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £4,440 Superior double for single use £4,840

www.thegrittipalace.com Arriving 5th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £5,230; with Grand Canal view £6,520

Arriving 6th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £4,240 Superior double for single use £4,580

Deluxe double for single use £6,410 Arriving 6th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £4,910; with Grand Canal view £5,940

Arriving 6th November, per person: Deluxe double/twin £3,980; with Grand Canal view £4,510

Deluxe double for single use £5,890

Deluxe double for single use £4,410; with Grand Canal view £5,500

The festival package Access to the concerts is exclusive to those who take the festival package, the price for which includes: • Seven private concerts in outstanding historic buildings.

• Talks by experts on the music and 18th-century Venice.

• Accommodation for five nights from a choice of six carefully selected hotels.

• Three dinners with wine, water and coffee; all breakfasts; interval drinks.

• Flights between Heathrow, Gatwick or London City and Venice (though you

have the choice to opt out and make your own arrangements).

• Water taxis between Venice Airport and the hotels, and unlimited free use of the vaporetti (water buses).

• All tips, taxes and obligatory charges.

• A team of Italian-speaking festival staff during the festival to facilitate the smooth running of this complex event.

• A comprehensive programme booklet with information about the event and tips on Venice.

Additional services can be booked: • The option of arriving a day early.

Prices are listed on these two pages.

• A package of an extra two dinners, which means each evening is spent in the company of other festival participants. Price £160 per person including wine and gratuity – please request on the booking form.

• A range of visits and short walks led by art historians and appropriate experts.

See page 12 for preliminary details.

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Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

Lecturers

Festival Speakers Richard Wigmore. Music writer, lecturer and broadcaster for BBC Radio 3. He writes, mainly on Baroque and Classical repertoire, and on Lieder, for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone and has taught at Guildhall College of Music & Drama, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance and Birkbeck College. He has frequently lectured and written on Vivaldi, and written many notes and articles on the composer. Richard read French and German at Cambridge and later studied Music at Guildhall.

Professor Tim Blanning. Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Sidney Sussex College and Fellow of the British Academy. Among his many books are a study of Emperor Joseph II, the award-winning The Culture of Power & the Power of Culture, the best-selling The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648–1815, and the much-translated The Triumph of Music in the Modern World and The Romantic Revolution. His most recent book is Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, which has been awarded the prestigious British Academy Medal 2016.

Optional walks & visits Participants will be able to choose from a small selection of walks and visits, all of which are led by one of our lecturers with a deep knowledge of the city – full information about these and prices will be sent to all those booked at a later stage.

Why November?

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 fulllength 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.

Dr Susan Steer. Art historian and lecturer specialising in Venice.

Her PhD focused on Venetian Renaissance altarpieces, followed by work as researcher and editor on the National Inventory of European Painting, the UK’s online catalogue. She has taught History of Art for university programmes in the UK and Italy.

Dr Michael Douglas-Scott. Associate Lecturer in History of Art at Birkbeck College, specialising in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. He studied at the Courtauld and lived in Rome for several years. He has written articles for Arte Veneta, Burlington Magazine and the Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institutes.

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Illustration: late-18th-century etching after Guercino.

Pre-festival tour

Savouring Lombardy Fitness for the festival

30 October–5 November 2017 (me 636) Lecturer: Fred Plotkin

We must stress that it is essential to cope with the walking and stairclimbing required to get to the concerts and other events.

A spectacular range of geography – the Italian Alps, Lake Como, the city of Milan and the Po Valley – yields diverse, superb food and wine.

The hotels we have chosen are situated in the San Marco district whereas the some 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.

Includes a top category ticket to Verdi’s Nabucco at the renowned Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the very theatre in which it was premièred in 1842.

Visits to the charming cities of Bergamo and Cremona, as well as to the magnificent Certosa di Pavia and Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in Milan.

Lecturer Fred Plotkin is a world-famous Italy expert, author of Italy for the Gourmet Traveller and former director at the Teatro alla Scala.

Lombardy – Lombardia – is the region of Italian excellence, the place that sets modern standards for much of what Italy is admired for around the world. It is one of Italy’s most geographically

Such geographic diversity provides a feast of ingredients to cook with, including wild mushrooms; berries; rice; corn for polenta; wheat for pasta and baking; fish from lakes and rivers; prized cattle; and more cow’s milk cheeses than any other region of Italy, including Parmesan, Stracchino, Taleggio, Bitto and Gorgonzola.

Lombardy has known its share of geniuses.

Leonardo da Vinci lived in Milan, the region’s capital, for 25 years and introduced engineering, design, canals and modern irrigation for agriculture. He also wrote his codexes, those precious volumes that reflect his restless imagination and contain his innovative inventions. And he painted, including the worldfamous Last Supper in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Claudio Monteverdi, the first great opera composer, was born in Cremona, and Giuseppe Verdi, Italy’s titan of opera and the man who led the battle for national unification with his opera Nabucco, lived much of his life in Milan and made the Teatro alla Scala a temple of opera. Gaetano Donizetti, whose operas often

This festival is not really suitable for wheelchair users but please speak to us if you would like to discuss this.

There is no age limit but we do ask that 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 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 two minutes.

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.

Illustration: Bergamo, watercolour by W.W. Collins from ‘Cathedral Cities of Italy’, publ. 1911.

diverse areas and with that comes a remarkable variety of food and wines that make its cucina among the most sophisticated in all of Italy.

The region contains the famous Lake District, including Lake Como, the deep blue jewel that is the most beautiful of them all, as well as the nearby Valtellina, a glorious and undiscovered swath of the Italian Alps that produces the region’s best wines and rustic mountain food.

Noble cities such as Milan, Cremona and Bergamo each have their own rich traditions, and in Lombardy one also finds hill towns and broad fertile plains. Its southern border is the Po, the largest river in Italy.

depicted royals and nobles from the United Kingdom, was from Bergamo.

This tour is a unique combination of the very best elements the region has to offer, whether musical, gastronomic or artistic. To savour Lombardy is to experience all the pleasures of life, gratifying the eye, ear, nose, palate and soul.

It is the region of cultivated sensuality.

Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 12.00 noon (British Airways) from London Heathrow to Milan Linate.

Drive to Bellagio, among the loveliest and most romantic spots on earth. First of three nights in Bellagio.

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Pre-festival tour

Savouring Lombardy: Opera, food, wine, art & architecture in Northern Italy Combining Savouring Lombardy with the festival Festival price. You pay the price for arriving in your hotel in Venice on the 5th November (a day early).

Flights, if you require them, are included in the price of this tour. You therefore pay the ‘no flights’ price for the festival (by subtracting £220). You do not need to choose a festival flight option for your return to London at the end of the festival.

Lecturer Fred Plotkin. Writer specialising in Italian food, wine, culture and opera. Author of six books including Italy for the Gourmet Traveller. He has worked at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera and has written programme notes for the Glyndebourne Festival among others. In 2015, he was awarded the Cavaliere della Stella d’Italia.

Practicalities Day 2: Lake Como. Spend the day on land and water, travelling exclusively by boat. Visit Como and the city’s grand cathedral, and see two glorious lakeside villas. The Villa Balbianello occupies its own headland projecting into the middle of Lake Como. This glorious site is terraced to provide sites for lawns, trees, shrubs and a chorus of statuary.

Day 3: The Valtellina. Just north of the lake is a the Valtellina, a valley that opens to Lombardy’s alps. Some of Italy’s top red wines come from here, and there is a tasting at one of the region’s best producers, as well as delicious local cheeses. This zone is famous for numerous local foods, among them pizzoccheri, a buckwheat pasta served with cheese, greens, potatoes and garlic – ideal paired with local red wine. Visit the Castello Grumello, situated overlooking the valley, with a wonderful view of the mountain scenery.

Day 4: Bergamo. Leave Bellagio to travel to an exceptional family-run trattoria near Bergamo.

With its own herb garden, vegetables and fruit, this restaurant is beloved for the freshness of its flavours and fidelity to local food traditions.

Continue to Bergamo, birthplace of Gaetano Donizetti, and visit the Donizetti Museum, before some time to explore the ancient hill town that is the city’s heart. Travel on to Milan for the first of three nights.

Day 5: Certosa di Pavia, Cremona.

In the morning visit the Certosa di Pavia, perhaps the most richly endowed monastic foundation in Italy, before travelling on to Cremona. This glorious town in the Po River Valley gave the world Claudio Monteverdi, the first great opera composer, as well as the Stradivari, Amati and other families of luthiers

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whose stringed instruments have been the world’s best for more than 300 years. Learn about the violin and Monteverdi in situ and then discover another Cremona speciality, torrone, the city’s famous nougat.

Day 6: Milan. Morning lecture by Fred Plotkin on Verdi’s Nabucco and its unique role in the formation of the Republic of Italy in the mid19th century, followed by a backstage visit to the greatest Italian opera house (subject to change depending on rehearsal schedules) and to its remarkable museum. Some free time in Milan.

Dinner at one of Milan’s temples of gastronomy, situated inside the opera house. Evening opera at the Teatro alla Scala: Nabucco (Verdi) with Nello Santi (conductor), Teatro alla Scala Chorus and Orchestra, Leo Nucci (Nabucco), Stefano La Colla (Ismaele), Mikhail Petrenko (Zaccaria), Martina Serafin or Anna Pirozzi (Abigaille).

Day 7: Milan. Visit Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, one of the greatest achievements in the history of art. Transfer to Venice by train.

(Those not joining the festival fly from Milan Linate, arriving London Heathrow at c. 3.30pm.)

Stay overnight in your chosen festival hotel, joining Vivaldi in Venice the following morning (6th November).

Saturday 11th November, final day of the festival. Fly from Venice to London Heathrow arriving at c. 2.30pm.

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Price, per person. Two sharing: £3,560 or £3,450 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,980 or £3,870 without flights.

Included: flights (Euro Traveller) with British Airways (Airbus 320); rail journey from Milan to Venice; travel by private coach; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts; 4 lunches and 3 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.

Music: opera ticket (top category) for one performance is included, costing c. £350.

Accommodation. Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio (villaserbelloni.com): excellently situated on the edge of the lake, a historic 5-star hotel with lavishly decorated public rooms and well-appointed bedrooms (they vary in size).

Rooms with lake views are available on request and for a supplement. Rosa Grand Hotel, Milan (starhotels.com/en): smart 4-star hotel excellently located directly behind the Duomo.

Rooms are well appointed in a clean, modern style. In Venice: you stay in your choice of festival hotel, arriving 5th November.

How strenuous? Visits require a fair amount of walking and standing around. One late night after the opera, but a leisurely start the following day. Some days involve a lot of coach travel.

Average distance by coach per day: 58 miles.

Group size: between 10 and 22 participants.

Illustration: Milan, La Scala, aquatint c. 1830.

Pre-festival tour

Venetian Palaces 1–5 November 2017 (me 720) Lecturer: Dr Michael Douglas-Scott Explores many of the finest and best-preserved palaces, once homes to the wealthiest nobles and merchants in Venice.

Access to many by special arrangement, including some which are still in private hands. Also a private after-hours visit to St Mark’s Basilica.

Led by Dr Michael Douglas-Scott, specialist in 16th-century Italian art and architecture.

Stay in a 4-star hotel on the Grand Canal.

Just as Venice possesses but a single piazza among dozens of campi, it has only one building correctly called a ‘palazzo’. The singularity is important: the Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale), like the Piazza San Marco, was the locus of the Serenissima’s public identity and seat of her republican government. Unlike her rivals in Florence and Milan she had no ruling dynasties to dictate polity, by contrast developing a deep aversion to individual aggrandizement and over-concentrated power. While the person and Palazzo of the Doge embodied their municipal identity, it was in their private houses that Venice’s mercantile oligarchs expressed their own family wealth and status.

These case (in Venetian parlance ca’) were built throughout the city. In the absence of primogeniture, many branches sprung from the two hundred-odd noble families, leading to several edifices of the same name – an obstacle for would-be visitors.

These houses were unlike any other domestic buildings elsewhere in the world: erected over wooden piles driven into the mud flats of the lagoon, they remained remarkably uniform over the centuries in their basic design, combining the functions of mercantile emporium (ground level) and magnificent residence (upper floors).

They were however built in a fantastic variety of styles, Veneto-Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo. Sometimes there is a touch of Islamic decoration. As new families bought their way into the aristocracy during the long period of the Republic’s economic and political decline, they had their residences refurbished in Rococo splendour by master artists such as Giambattista Tiepolo. Many of these palaces have survived the virtual extinction of the Venetian aristocracy and retain their original, if faded, glory.

Palaces for nobles will be considered in conjunction with those for the non-noble cittadino (wealthy merchant) class and the housing projects for ordinary Venetian popolani, which rise cheek by jowl in the dense urban fabric.

Some of the places visited are familiar and readily accessible to the public. Others are opened only by special arrangement with the owners, whether a charitable organisation, branch of local government, or descendants of

The greatest & best-preserved palaces of La Serenissima

the original occupants. Some of these cannot be confirmed until nearer the time.

A private, after-hours visit to the Basilica San Marco, the mosaic interior illuminated for your benefit, is a highlight of this tour. As is an opportunity to see up close ‘the most beautiful street in the world’, the Grand Canal, from that most Venetian of vantage-points, a gondola.

Itinerary The tour is dependent on the kindness of many individuals and organisations, some of whom are reluctant to make arrangements far in advance, so the order of visits may change and there may be substitutions for some palaces mentioned here.

Day 1. Fly at c. 12.30pm (British Airways) from London Gatwick to Venice. Cross the lagoon by motoscafo (water taxi) and travel up the Grand Canal to the doors of the hotel. Luggage is transported separately to the hotel by porters.

There is an evening visit to a privately-owned palace, the 16th-century Palazzo Corner Gheltoff Alverà (by special arrangement).

Day 2. See the palazzi on the Grand Canal from the viewpoint of a gondola. The former Casino Venier (by special arrangement) is a uniquely Venetian establishment that was part private members’ bar, part literary salon, part brothel.

Designed by Longhena (c. 1667) and Giorgio Massari (c. 1751), the Ca’ Rezzonico is perhaps

the most magnificent of Grand Canal palaces, and contains frescoes by Tiepolo; it is now a museum of 18th-century art. Visit the grand ballroom of late 17th-century Palazzo Zenobio (by special arrangement).

Day 3. Visit the Palazzo Ducale, supremely beautiful with its 14th-century pink and white revetment outside, late Renaissance gilded halls and paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese inside.

The Palazzo Grimani at Santa Maria Formosa became in the mid-16th century the purposebuilt site of the family collection of antiquities, which were then bequeathed to the Venetian Republic. There is an after-hours private visit to the Basilica San Marco, an 11th-century Byzantine-style church enriched over the centuries with mosaics, sculpture and various precious objects.

Day 4. With its elegant tracery and abundant ornamentation, the Ca’ d’Oro, also on the Grand Canal, is the most gorgeous of Venetian Gothic palaces; it now houses the Galleria Franchetti.

The 13th-century Fondaco dei Turchi is a unique survival from the era; today it is the natural history museum. In the afternoon visit a privately-owned palace, the Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo-Polignac (by special arrangement).

Below: Ca’ d’Oro, steel engraving c. 1850.

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Pre- and post-festival tours

Venetian Palaces

Art History of Venice

Combining Venetian Palaces with the festival Festival price. You pay the price for arriving in your hotel in Venice on the 5th November (a day early).

Flights, if you require them, are included in the price of this tour. You therefore pay the ‘no flights’ price for the festival (by subtracting £220). You do not need to choose a festival flight option for your return to London at the end of the festival.

Day 5. Visit the privately-owned 17th-century Palazzo Albrizzi which has some of the finest stucco decoration in Venice (by special arrangement). Stay overnight in your chosen festival hotel, joining the festival the following morning (6th November). (Those not joining the festival travel by motoscafo to Venice airport and fly to London Gatwick, arriving c. 6.15pm.)

Saturday 11th November, final day of the festival. Fly from Venice to London Gatwick arriving at c. 4.30pm.

Lecturer Dr Michael Douglas-Scott. Associate Lecturer in History of Art at Birkbeck College, specialising in 16th-century Italian art and architecture. He studied at the Courtauld and lived in Rome for several years. He has written articles for Arte Veneta, Burlington Magazine and the Journal of the Warburg & Courtauld Institutes.

Practicalities Price, per person. Two sharing: £2,410 or £2,300 without flights. Single occupancy: £2,750 or £2,640 without flights.

Included: flights (Euro Traveller) with British Airways (Airbus 320); private coach travel; hotel accommodation; breakfasts; 3 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer.

Accommodation. Hotel Palazzo Sant’Angelo, Venice (palazzosantangelo.com): 4-star hotel in an excellent location on the Grand Canal near Campo Sant’Angelo and the Rialto Bridge.

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 palaces is also unavoidable. The tour should not be attempted by anyone who has difficulty with everyday walking and stair-climbing. Fitness is essential.

Group size: between 8 and 18 participants.

Illustration: ‘The Circumcision’, engraving c. 1820 after Giovanni Bellini.

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13–19 November 2017 (me 695) Lecturer: Dr Susan Steer Please contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com Wide-ranging survey of art and architecture with an emphasis on the Renaissance.

Led by Dr Susan Steer, art historian specialising in Venice, with a PhD focused on Venetian Renaissance altarpieces.

Includes a private, after-hours visit to the Basilica di San Marco to see the transcendental splendour of the Byzantine mosaics.

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.

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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 non-existent, the imagination traverses the centuries with ease. And while picturesque qualities are all-pervasive – shimmering Istrian 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.

Practicalities in brief Price, per person. Two sharing: £2,630 or £2,510 without flights. Single occupancy: £3,210 or £3,090 without flights.

Accommodation. Hotel Splendid, Venice (starhotels.com): delightful 4-star hotel half-way between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge.

Group size: between 8 and 18 participants.

Combining Art History of Venice with the festival Please contact us to discuss your flight requirements and also your accommodation preference for the two nights between the festival and the tour.

We can then provide you with a quote.

Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

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Accommodation. See pages 10–11.

Room occupancy ☐ Single occupancy Arrival date

☐ Two sharing – twin beds

☐ Two sharing – double bed

☐ 5th November – a day early ☐ 6th November – first day of the festival

Hotel and room category

Bonvecchiati

Splendid

Palazzo Sant’Angelo

Europa & Regina

Luna Baglioni

Gritti Palace

Classic (single occupancy only)

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Deluxe (two sharing only at the Luna Baglioni)

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Deluxe + Grand Canal view (two sharing only at the Gritti Palace)

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Junior suite (two sharing only)

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Junior suite + Grand Canal view (two sharing only)

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Deluxe suite + Grand Canal view (two sharing only)

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Superior (single occupancy only at the Luna Baglioni)

☐ Two extra dinners. Tick to book (£160 per person).

Flights. See page 9 for full details.

Arrive 5th November (a day early) ☐ Option 1: Gatwick, morning departure ☐ Option 2: Gatwick, afternoon departure ☐ Option 3: Heathrow

Arrive 6th November ☐ Option 4: Heathrow

Pre- & post-festival tours

☐ Option 5: London City

☐ Savouring Lombardy 30 October–5 November 2017 (me 636) – pages 13–14

☐ Option 6: Gatwick

☐ Venetian Palaces, 1–5 Nov. 2017 (me 720) – pages 15–16

Making own arrangements

☐ Art History of Venice, 13–19 Nov. 2017 (me 695) – page 16

☐ Option 7: no flights

Room type

Flights

☐ Double – two sharing ☐ Twin – two sharing

☐ Flights either side of the tour and festival

☐ Double for single use

☐ Making own arrangements

Please leave this section blank if you have booked a pre-festival tour.

These have separate flight arrangements when combined with the festival (see the relevant tour description for details).

Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

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TOTAL: £ Payment method. ☐ By cheque. I enclose a cheque payable to Martin Randall Travel Ltd – please write the festival code (me 672) on the back. ☐ By debit or credit card. I authorise Martin Randall Travel to contact me by telephone to take payment from my Visa credit/Visa debit/Mastercard/AMEX.

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Vivaldi in Venice, 6–11 November 2017

Booking details & conditions Before booking, please refer to www.fco.gov. uk to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the places you are going to.

1. Booking option We recommend that you contact us first to ascertain that your preferred hotel option 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. 28th August 2017 or later).

3. Our confirmation Upon receipt of your Booking Form and deposit we send you confirmation of your booking. Further details about the festival may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards. After this your deposit is nonreturnable except in the special circumstances mentioned 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 for the festival’ on page 13. To this end we ask you to take the tests described. By signing the booking form you are stating that you have met these requirements. If during the festival or tour

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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 Italy 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: from 28 to 15 days: from 14 to 3 days: within 48 hours:

40% 60% 80% 100%

If you cancel your booking in a double or twin room 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 flightinclusive holidays on our website and in our brochure are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. But ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services listed. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking. If you do not receive an ATOL Certificate then the booking will not be ATOL protected. If you do receive an ATOL Certificate but all the parts of your trip are not listed on it, those parts will not be ATOL protected. In order to be protected under the ATOL scheme you need to be in the UK when you make your booking and/or one of the flights you take must originate or terminate in the UK with the group.

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 nonprovision of the services, including any claim against us (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims maybe re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.

English Law. These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage, London W4 4GF United Kingdom Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068 Australia Tel 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 anz@martinrandall.com.au Canada Tel (647) 382 1644 canada@martinrandall.ca USA Tel 1 800 988 6168 (connects with London office)

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Illustration: Venice, Grand Canal, copper engraving 1763 by Giovanni Battista Brustoloni (1712–1796).

More music festivals in 2017: A Festival of Music in Florence 13–18 March 2017 Toledo: A Festival of Spanish Music 20–25 May 2017 The Rhône: Bacchus & Orpheus 6–13 July 2017 The Danube Festival 20–27 August 2017 The Johann Sebastian Bach Journey 4–10 September 2017 Please contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com