Opera Tour Europe | Theatre-Opera-Ballet and Classical Music Small Group Tour for Seniors

This 22-day small group program visits the major arts centres of Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, and London. We travel in winter avoiding crowds and enjoy a different perspective of the places visited. At Odyssey Traveller we have sought to assemble entry and show tickets to what many will consider the best arts experiences available in those cities during each program.

From A$22,000AUD

Available

Highlights

  1. 1. Attend an opera the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
  2. 2. Attend the Royal Opera house at the Palace of Versaille to watch Mozart's opera The Magic Flute.
  3. 3. Back stage tours of major theartes, including The National in London and the Paris Opera.
  4. 4. Visit major art museums in Amsterdam, Paris & London including current special exhibitions.
Opera Tour Europe | Theatre-Opera-Ballet and Classical Music Small Group Tour for Seniors itinerary

Departure Dates

Departure Date Price
29 December 2024

Ends 19 January 2025

A$22,000 Twin

A$24,995 Single

Available
Selected
29 December 2025

Ends 19 January 2026

A$22,000 Twin

A$24,995 Single

Available

Opera Tour Europe | Enjoy Theatre, Ballet, and Classical Music

Program for December 2024 program will be available August 2024.

This Opera Tour Europe, combined with theatre, ballet, and classical music performances is a 22-day extravaganza across four leading European cities. This is a chance for music lovers and fans of the performing arts to see and hear a showcase of performances and European opera whilst on holiday.

Each year, Odyssey Traveller seeks to put together the very best of the varied performing arts on offer into one program to celebrate the start of the new year. Going into 2024/25, the program will not be any different. This year, the tour intends to spend 22 days in these 4 great locations.

  • Hamburg (5 nights) including New Year's Eve plus 1 night at the end of the tour
  • Amsterdam (3 nights)
  • Paris (6 nights)
  • London (6 nights)

This tour from Odyssey Traveller includes tickets to at least 11 performances during the 22 days, as well as guided city tours to the main museums and art galleries in most locations with a focus on history and the arts. The group is limited to a maximum of 10 people.

The following list is a sample of concerts, operas & performances that the group attends in each city (taken from past tours).

Hamburg is where the group is based for New Year's Eve, and where you'll enjoy the thrill of a performance at the new Elbphilharmonie.

  • The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra supplies the perfect background music, with masterpieces of light entertainment for the end of the year. This year the programme features a brilliant musical: Alan Gilbert conducts My Fair Lady.
  • Enjoy a performance of Beethoven's 9th on NYE.
  • A Jazz performance with De phazz in the main concert chamber of the Elbphilharmonie

Amsterdam

Paris

  • Attend a concert in the concert hall at the Phiharmonie de Paris. Conductor Herbert Blomstedt bestows his brilliance and pure mastery of Mozart’s Concerto No. 23.
  • Attend the Royal Opera at the Chateau de Versailles to watch the opera performance of Mozart's famous The Magic Flute.

London

  • Enjoy Le Corsaire as performed by the English National Ballet
  • attend the final performance at the Royal Opera House of the Royal Ballet's performance of Sleeping Beauty

Hamburg

  • The group returns to Hamburg for our final concert at the Elbphilharmonie Great Hall where the legendary Christoph von Dohnányi (age 90) conducts the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra

It is a great, diverse program for music lovers. Our European opera tours and music tours reflect the best of the performing arts in these cities. Our guided tour allows to attend some 12 concerts from late December 2019 to mid-January 2020.

Odyssey Traveller secures good-to-better-than-average seats on this program and will typically provides taxis back to the hotels after evening performances.

Check out the blog post in which we profiled some new recently opened European concert halls here!

You can learn more about Germany, the Netherlands, France and England with our country profiles where all other tour departures are listed as well. For more details about this tour, click the ‘Top 5’ or ‘Itinerary’ buttons above! If you’re keen to experience this tour, please call or send an email. Or, to book, simply fill in the form on the right hand side of this page.

Itinerary

22 days

Day 1: Hamburg

Accommodation: 5 nights at Steigenberger Hamburg Hotel, centrally located and close to the Elbphilharmonie. https://www.steigenberger.com/en/hotels/all-hotels/germany/hamburg/steigenberger-hotel-hamburg

After arriving in Hamburg, make your own way to the hotel. In the evening we come together for a welcome dinner and program orientation.

Day 2: Hamburg

Accommodation: Steigenberger Hamburg Hotel or equivalent

Today, we start with a city tour in the morning of Hamburg, its history and place in German musical culture. This evening we are attending a performance of My fair lady at the acclaimed Elbphilharmonie concert hall. High spirits in the Grand Hall. Fireworks outside the windows. And dancing in the foyer. New Year’s Eve at the Elbphilharmonie is a real hit! The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra supplies the perfect background music, with masterpieces of light entertainment for the end of the year. This year the programme features a brilliant musical: Alan Gilbert conducts »My Fair Lady«.

Day 3: Hamburg

Accommodation: Steigenberger Hamburg Hotel

A late start day touring around Hamburg with local guides. Visiting museums galleries and relevant historic locations. This afternoon we return to the Elbphilharmonie for Beethoven’s 9th. At the turn of the year, there is truly joy: there is hardly another work that is more suitable for a successful start to the New Year than Beethoven’s sparkling Ninth Symphony. It conveys in a psychological symphony journey “through night to the light” a valuable and deeply humanitarian message. A musical plea, together with the setting of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy”, which evokes with exuberant pathos the ideal of a society of equals.

PERFORMERS

Symphony Orchestra Hamburg

Laeiszhallen Special Project Choir

Heather Engebretson soprano

Lioba Brown mezzo-soprano

Brenden Gunnell tenor

Audun Iversen bass

conductor Guillermo Garcia Calvo

The Symphoniker Hamburg under the direction of Guillermo Garcia Calvo get support from a prominent soloist ensemble and a choir, which comes together especially for this performance. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor op. 125

Day 4: Hamburg

Accommodation: Steigenberger Hamburg Hotel or equivalent

Today is a free day at your leisure. There is a group meal this evening.

Day 5: Hamburg

Accommodation: Amsterdam tbc.

Tonight we attend in the LAEISZHALLE HAMBURG GROSSER SAAl performance by the acclaimed De-Phazz & STÜBAphilharmonie.

Lounge goes classic: you can expect something special when the De-Phazz jazz ensemble takes to the stage with a symphony orchestra. The band started out in tranquil Heidelberg two decades ago and has produced an unmistakable blend of soulful jazz, dancefloor and Latin rhythms. Now, for the first time ever, they join forces with STÜBAphilharmonie, which has repeatedly demonstrated its stylistic openness on critically acclaimed tours with singer-songwriters such as Clueso and Alin Coen. The symphonic De-Phazz project brings two stories of success together at the Laeiszhalle.

Day 6: Hamburg to Amsterdam

Accommodation: Amsterdam tbc.

Today we take the short flight to Amsterdam. We have an afternoon orientating ourselves with a walking tour of the city. There is a group dinner this evening.

Day 7: Amsterdam

Accommodation: Amsterdam tbc.

We spend the day exploring Amsterdam. Tonight we enjoy Hannes Minnar performing Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto No.3 at Amsterdam’s The Royal Concertgebouw

Day 8: Amsterdam

Accommodation: Amsterdam tbc.

.

Day 9: Amsterdam to Paris

Accommodation: 5 nights at Hotel Relais Monceau.

The group leaves Amsterdam morning for the short journey to Paris where we take a guided tour including a gallery visit followed by a group meal.

Day 10: Paris

Accommodation: 5 nights at Hotel Relais Monceau.

Today we have a guided tour of Paris artists quarter including gallery visits. Tonight we attend a performance at the Theatre Champs De Elysse by Vannina Santoni soprano Saimir Pirgu tenor and Orchestra of the Royal Opera of Wallonia-Liège under the direction of Paolo Arrivabeni.
Last winter they were Violetta and Alfredo here and loved each other until death separated them. they find themselves for a recital of tunes and duets … of love, necessarily.

PROGRAM

Mozart Cosi fan tutte , Opening “Il mio tesoro” from Cosi fan tutte “Fra gli amplessi” from Don Giovanni Verdi “Strano … Ah! Fors’è him … Semper libera … “extract from La Traviata Donizetti Roberto Devereux – Opening ” Una furtiva lagrima “,” Prendi per me sei libero “,” Caro elisir! Sei mio! … Esulti pure la barbara »excerpts from L’Elisir d’amore Gounod « I want to live »excerpt from Romeo and Juliette Massenet « Why wake me up, O breath of spring? »Extract from Werther Gounod” Go! I have forgiven you … Night of Hymenae … “extract of Romeo and Juliet Cilea L’Arlesiana – Prelude ” The solita storia del pastore “from The Arlesiana Leoncavallo I Pagliacci – Intermezzo Puccini ” Si, mi chiamano Mimi “, “Che gelida manina”, “O soave fanciulla” extracts from La Bohème It was a role for her, and this first Violetta exceeded all expectations, as the young soprano “lived” his role, both musically and theatrically. For the Italian tenor of Albanian origin, this was to be his 100 th Alfredo was intact but its freshness and its solar song had the bloom of youth role. It was obvious that these two had to meet for new duets of love. It is done with this program built from some of the most beautiful tunes and duets of Mozart, Verdi, Donizetti, Gounod, Massenet and Puccini.

Day 11: Paris

Accommodation: 5 nights at Hotel Relais Monceau.

.

Day 12: Paris

Accommodation: 5 nights at Hotel Relais Monceau.

The group tours Paris learning about the impressionist movement with a guided tour and visit to the Musse D’ Orsee. Tonight the group attends a concert in the concert hall at the Phiharmonie de Paris. Conductor Herbert Blomstedt bestows his brilliance and vitality on the most accessible of Bruckner’s great symphonies. He is joined by Bertrand Chamayou in the pure mastery of Mozart’s Concerto No. 23.

Day 13: Paris

Accommodation: Hotel Relais Monceau

Today local guides assist the group in exploring Paris fro the return visitor beyond the typical sights of the city.

Day 14: Paris

Accommodation: Hotel Relais Monceau

Today we spend the afternoon at Versailles and then attend a performance in the evening of Mozarts The Magic flute in French with english subtitles. The Royal Opera is one of the greatest works by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel. Inaugurated in 1770 during the reign of Louis XV, it was at the time the largest concert hall in Europe, and was also a great technical achievement and an impressive feat of decorative refinement. A theatre for monarchic and then republican life, it has hosted celebrations, shows and parliamentary debates. OPERA IN FRENCH VERSION In 1791, at the Theater auf der Wieden, in a suburb of Vienna, Mozart gave the first performance of his Singspiel Die Zauberflöte. Emanuel Schikaneder’s libretto – he was also the director in his own theatre – aimed to reach a popular audience in their own language. Thanks to the theatrical and dreamlike qualities of the work and to Mozart’s magnificent music it was performed more than a hundred times in a year, and its success has never waned since. To charm audiences of all ages, music lovers and inexperienced public, Mozart and Schikaneder’s plus was addressing spectators in their own language – and not in Italian as in court operas. This is what this new production is proposing, in a version entirely in French, staged by Cécile Roussat and Julien Lubek (remember their beautiful Dido and Aeneas by Purcell) and conducted by Hervé Niquet, with a team of soloists fully invested in their roles of actor-singers, in French, to give more force to Mozart’s masterpiece. Production Opéra Royal de Wallonie / Liège. Corealisation Opéra Royal / Château de Versailles Spectacles, Opéra Grand Avignon, Le Concert Spirituel. Show in French with surtitles in French and English

PROGRAMME

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) The Magic Flute Opera in two acts on a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, created in 1791 in Vienna.

Day 15: Paris

Accommodation: Hotel Relais Monceau

Today the is at leisure.

Day 16: Paris

Accommodation: Hotel Relais Monceau

Today the is at leisure.

Day 17: Paris to London

Accommodation: Stay five nights in London. London – CourtHouse, a 5* hotel with an excellent location in the city centre. http://www.courthouse-hotel.com/

Today we travel by train to London.

Day 18: London

Accommodation: 6 nights at CourtHouse Hotel, 5* hotel with an excellent location in the city centre. http://www.courthouse-hotel.com/

Today we visit London’s museums and galleries.

Day 19: London

Accommodation: CourtHouse Hotel

The day is free to explore at your leisure.

Day 20: London

Accommodation: CourtHouse Hotel

Today we visit with local guides relevant museums and art gallery exhibitions. Tonight we attend a concert by Sir Mark Elder who conducts Brahms’s radiant and bucolic 2nd symphony, in the second year of an acclaimed four-year symphony cycle. The cycle borrows from the spirit of early performances of the works by performing them with the musical forces that Brahms intended, to ‘exhilarating’ effect (The Times). The concert also traces a poetic line from Brahms’s symphonic Romanticism to more intimate evocations of poetry, love and nature in Mahler’s emotionally charged Songs for a Wayfarer, and Britten’s Suite on English Folk Tunes, the composer’s last completed orchestral work. Programme Britten Suite on English Folk Tunes Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Brahms Symphony No 2 Performers Britten Sinfonia Sir Mark Elder conductor Anna Stéphany mezzo-soprano

Day 21: Hamburg

Accommodation: Steigenberger Hotel Hamburg.

Today we fly back to Hamburg for our final concert at the Elbphilhamonie great hall. When Christoph von Dohnányi returned to the rostrum of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra after a long time last season, the audience did not want to let him go again: Standing Ovations decided on an intensive interpretation of Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony and paid tribute to the overwhelming artistic achievement of the former chief conductor. It is not too long to wait for the next comeback: a few months after his 90th birthday, Dohnányi’s maestro is back on stage at the Elbphilharmonie. Dohnányi played a major role in its construction and this will be one f the last concerts in this acclaimed concert venue.

PERFORMERS

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra

Luc Mangholz flute

Kalev Kuljus oboe

conductor Christoph von Dohnányi

PROGRAM

Charles Ives The Unanswered Question / Two Contemplations No. 1 György Ligeti Concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra – Pause – Piotr I. Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor op. 74 »Pathétique«

Day 22: Hamburg

The program concludes after breakfast.

Tour Notes

  • Once performances have been finalised the itinerary will be updated and forwarded to registered participants.
  • Group size is limited to 10 participants.

Includes / Excludes

What’s included in our Tour

  • 21 nights hotel accommodation.
  • Breakfast daily and 7 dinners.
  • Tickets to selected performances.
  • Transport Passes in London.
  • Transport, field trips, concerts and excursions as indicated.
  • Touring by comfortable and modern coach as well as public transport.
  • Rail services and internal flight in economy class.
  • Applicable entry fees and services of local guides.
  • Detailed Tour Information Booklet.
  • Services of an Odyssey Program Leader.
  • Gratuities and necessary tips.

What’s not included in our Tour

  • International airfares and departure taxes.
  • Comprehensive travel insurance.
  • Meals not specified in the itinerary.
  • Porterage.
  • Items of a personal nature, such as telephone calls and laundry.
Level 1 - Introductory to Moderate

Participants must be able to carry their own luggage, climb and descend stairs, moderate walking on uneven surfaces between 3 - 5 kilometers per day. Suitable for most fitness levels

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Departure

29 December 2024

Available

Ends 19 January 2025 • 22 days

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Single Traveller
A$24,995
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A$22,000 pp

By booking two travellers sharing a room you save $2995 per person.

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Prices are per person and valid until 30th December 2024.

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If you have a group of 6 friends or more you can book this tour as a private departure, with all the benefits of our small group tours.
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Easing your journey

Crossing international borders with restrictions

The list of requirements to travel internationally has changed and will continue to change for several years. Odyssey is here to assist you in managing your way through these requirements:

Pre-departure checklist for travelling across International borders.
Support over email or phone available 24/7 for any questions you have.

For more information see our Crossing international borders with restrictions page.

Book With Confidence

If less than 30 days before your tour starts you are unable to travel as a result of Government travel restrictions, Odyssey Traveller will assist you with a date change, provide you with a credit or process a refund for your booking less any non-recoverable costs.

See Terms and conditions for details.

Peace of Mind Travel

The safety of our travellers, tour leader, local guide and support staff has always been our top priority and with the new guidelines for public health and safety for keeping safe for destinations around the world, we’ve developed our plan to give you peace of mind when travelling with us.

See Peace of Mind Travel for details.

Reviews

This trip could have been planned for me as all my interests were included - ballet, theatre, concerts, opera and visits to magnificent museums and galleries.

Participant -17

Robert was an excellent leader who made things run smoothly. He had great knowledge about all aspects of the content of this expedition. He interacted with all members of the group. I would be very happy to go on another tour with Robert as leader.

Participant -17

The tour was compact, well planned and intense of course, having to include so much in a short space of time, compared with what we would do and see normally at home. A bit overwhelming, but wonderful for looking back, and a challenge to see how much one can remember.

Participant -17

Robert's knowledge and expertise was greatly appreciated especially as I was the least culturally aware of the group. I enjoyed every minute of the tour, and his cheerfulness even in times of trial ( the weather) and the usual small things that go wrong were met with enthusiasm and help.

Participant -17

Reading List Download PDF

When Ballet Became French: Modern Ballet and the Cultural Politics of France, 1909-1939

Ilyana Karthas

For centuries before the 1789 revolution, ballet was a source of great cultural pride for France, but by the twentieth century the art form had deteriorated along with France's international standing. It was not until Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes found success in Paris during the first decade of the new century that France embraced the opportunity to restore ballet to its former glory and transform it into a hallmark of the nation. In When Ballet Became French, Ilyana Karthas explores the revitalization of ballet and its crucial significance to French culture during a period of momentous transnational cultural exchange and shifting attitudes towards gender and the body. Uniting the disciplines of cultural history, gender and women's studies, aesthetics, and dance history, Karthas examines the ways in which discussions of ballet intersect with French concerns about the nation, modernity, and gender identities, demonstrating how ballet served as an important tool for France's project of national renewal. Relating ballet commentary to themes of transnationalism, nationalism, aesthetics, gender, and body politics, she examines the process by which critics, artists, and intellectuals turned ballet back into a symbol of French culture. The first book to study the correlation between ballet and French nationalism, When Ballet Became French demonstrates how dance can transform a nation's cultural and political history.

Amazon

Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet

Jennifer Homans

For more than four hundred years, the art of ballet has stood at the center of Western civilization. Its traditions serve as a record of our past. Lavishly illustrated and beautifully told, Apollo’s Angels—the first cultural history of ballet ever written—is a groundbreaking work. From ballet’s origins in the Renaissance and the codification of its basic steps and positions under France’s Louis XIV (himself an avid dancer), the art form wound its way through the courts of Europe, from Paris and Milan to Vienna and St. Petersburg. In the twentieth century, émigré dancers taught their art to a generation in the United States and in Western Europe, setting off a new and radical transformation of dance. Jennifer Homans, a historian, critic, and former professional ballerina, wields a knowledge of dance born of dedicated practice. Her admiration and love for the ballet, as Entertainment Weekly notes, brings “a dancer’s grace and sure-footed agility to the page.”

Amazon

Ballet in Western Culture: A History of Its Origins and Evolution

Carol Lee

This volume is a history of the development of ballet designed for dance history courses. The discussion moves from the origins of dance through the middle ages onto the beginnings of ballet, to Renaissance spectacle in Italy, and the beginnings of ballet in France.

Amazon

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