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News
from: Frommer's
www.frommers.com
Source: Sarah Gorback, Wiley
Published: April, 2009
ABOVE: The painted curtain of the Palais
Garnier in Paris.
Frommer's and Opera News announce the top 10
destinations for music lovers
NEW YORK -- As the spring opera season approaches, music lovers are seeking
ways to experience their favorite classics on the right stage. Whether paying
homage to St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater to experience the Mozart, Verdi,
and Puccini classics to taking in the mountainous landscape backdrop at the
Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico, audiophiles understand that the authenticity of a
performance is often rooted in the theater's history and location. Frommer's has
asked the editors of Opera News magazine, whose European Travel issue
hits newsstands mid-April, to come up with the top 10 destinations that should
be included on every opera lover's roadmap this year.
GERMANY
Göttingen
Home to the International Handel Festival (the world's oldest Baroque
music festival), this half-timbered university town in Lower Saxony fêtes the
glories of George Friedrich Handel's artistic output for two weeks each summer.
A profusion of top-notch chamber concerts, late-night recitals and oratorio
performances make use of the village's fetching historical venues, while opera
presentations in the 500-seat Deutsches Theater boast the kind of cozy
authenticity that is the stuff of dreams for period-instrument purists.
Don't miss out on the rest of Germany's highlights, including Oktoberfest,
the Alps, and Berlin's vibrant, cutting-edge cultural scene. Discover more with
Frommer's Germany 2009 ($24.99, ISBN: 978-0-470-28784-2).
RUSSIA
St. Petersburg
Named for its royal benefactress, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar
Alexander II, and inaugurated in October 1860 with a performance of Mikhail
Glinka's A Life for the Tsar, the Mariinsky Theater remains a crown jewel
in the cultural life of St. Petersburg. The beautifully restored welcomes
Mozart, Verdi and Puccini favorites as well as once-forgotten operas by Russia's
own Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Rimsky-Korsakov. During the summer
months, the theater glittering White Nights Festial draws operatic and classical
music royalty--along with nearly one million Russians - to St. Petersburg for
the motherland's largest public event.
The Heritage Museum and The Kremlin are two more reasons to start planning a
trip to Russia. Discover these treasures and more in Frommer's Moscow & St.
Petersburg, 2nd Edition ($19.99, ISBN: 978-0-470-19403-4).
IRELAND
Wexford
This southeastern Irish town's opera festival, The Wexford Festival,
runs through October and November. A sense of discovery that's just as potent as
the municipality's omnipresent aroma of burning peat proves to be the festival's
calling card: emerging young stars take part in little-known operas, presented
with remarkable musical and dramatic merits under artistic director David Agler.
Away from the festival's presentations, one can find myriad opportunities to
revel in Wexford's charms, from poetry recitations in Thomas Moore Tavern to
incomparable suppers at Forde's Restaurant and--should the muse strike you--the
Guinness International Singing & Swinging Pub competition.
Frommer's Ireland 2009 ($21.99, ISBN: 978-0-470-38749-8) provides the
scoop on where to stay the night in an ancient castle and how to eat fish and
chips like a local.
THE UNITED STATES
New York City
From the Metropolitan Opera, to Carnegie Hall, to a thrillingly
modernized Alice Tully Hall--and let's not forget about outer-borough
venues like the unique Brooklyn Academy of Music--there's a reason New
York remains the cultural capital of the world. The Metropolitan Opera, now
operating under the auspices of its innovative general manager Peter Gelb, has
become an increasingly accessible institution. Likewise, a revitalized New York
Philharmonic, led by native-son Alan Gilbert, can tackle symphonic rep ranging
from Bach to Schoenberg. Splendid Manhattan-bound classical and operatic fare
need not be experienced within confines of the Upper West Side, though: Le
Poisson Rouge, a trendy Bleecker Street nightclub presents some of the best
jazz, contemporary-classical and chamber music the city has to offer, allows its
patrons to quaff hearty hefeweizens or smoky pinot noirs in an atmosphere so
easygoing as to make Brahms and Ellington seem like kissing cousins.
The night doesn't have to end at the final curtain call in the City That
Never Sleeps. Take full advantage of all NYC has to offer with Frommer's New
York City 2009 ($18.99, ISBN: 978-0-470-28562-6).
ITALY
Milan
Milan's operatic history--which dates back to the seventeenth century--is no
less dazzling than the world-famous fashion houses that make this city one of
the modern world's top destinations for cutting-edge design. Teatro alla
Scala has been the city's operatic pride and joy since the eighteenth
century: the official opening of the La Scala season is almost always on
December 7, the feast day of St. Ambrose, Milan's patron. La Scala remains
hallowed ground on which divas-in-the-making must prove their mettle, and where
the world first heard Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Verdi's Otello, Donizetti's
Maria Stuarda, Rossini's Turco in Italia and Bellini's Norma - and scores of
other classics.
Milan is also home to museums featuring art by such towering geniuses as
Michelangelo (his final sculpture) and Leonardo da Vinci (The Last Supper).
Learn where to find these gems from Frommer's Italy 2009 ($24.99,
978-0-470-28556-5).
FRANCE
Paris
Has any place inspired more operas than Paris, perhaps the most romantic city on
earth? Paris's newest home for opera is the spacious but somewhat chilly
Opéra de la Bastille, which boasts an unrestricted view of the stage from
each of its 2,700 seats, but the city's most famous operatic landmark remains
the opulent nineteenth-century Palais Garnier, familiar to lovers of
Broadway's Phantom of the Opera. Don't miss a chance to visit Théâtre des
Champs-Élysées, an Art Deco masterpiece that is one of Europe's prettiest
theaters, or the devastatingly elegant Théatre du Châtelet. Also worth a
trip is the Salle Favart, its frothy good looks an apt metaphor for the
light-hearted attractions of its home company, the Opéra-Comique.
From the Louvre to Notre Dame, rely on Frommer's Paris 2009 ($18.99,
978-0-470-28563-3) for a complete guide to all the city's sights, shopping, and
restaurants.
THE UNITED STATES
Chicago
Chicago's Civic Opera House is one of the most beautiful buildings in a
city that prides itself on its architecture. Built in 1929, this ageless amalgam
of Renaissance revival and Art Deco has superb acoustics, excellent sightlines
and sumptuous public spaces, including a handsomely proportioned lobby designed
by Jules Guerin. The theater was home to several Chicago opera companies before
its most distinguished tenant, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, arrived in 1954. The
Lyric established the City of Big Shoulders as an international opera capital,
offering the opera world's brightest stars in top-notch productions. After the
Lyric season ends in late winter, Chicago's opera lovers hold on until spring,
when the adventurous Chicago Opera Theater presents its three-opera season at
the slick new Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millenium Park.
Want to know where to grab a slice of the best Chicago pizza on the way to
the show? Pick up a copy of Frommer's Chicago 2009 ($17.99, ISBN:
978-0-470-37371-2).
SWEDEN
Stockholm
Built in 1766 for the Swedish queen, Lovisa Ulrika, the Drottningholm Court
Theatre--located in the Royal Domain of Drottningholm, only a short bus or
boat ride from the capital city of Stockhom--is a thing of exquisite artifice.
The theatre was a beehive of musical and theatrical activity during the late
eighteenth century, but when Lovisa Ulrika's son (and political enemy), King
Gustaf III was assassinated--an event used as the basis for Verdi's opera Un
Ballo in Maschera--the theatre fell into disuse; it was a storage facility for
much of the nineteenth century. Drottningholm was recalled to life in the 1920s
and now presents a brief summer season each year, with the repertory usually
drawn from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Spring and summer tours of
the theater and the palace grounds are relatively infrequent, in order to spare
its eighteenth-century charms from the wear-and-tear of twenty-first-century
life. Early booking is advisable.
Frommer's Sweden 6th edition ($21.99, ISBN: 978-0-470-43214-3)
captures all the highlights of this beautiful nation-everything from
sophisticated cities to medieval towns, the Gota Canal, summer solstice
festivals, and Swedish glass factories.
THE UNITED STATES
Santa Fe
In 1957, New York conductor John Crosby started an opera company in a highly
unlikely locale: the breathtaking mountains of northern New Mexico. Crosby's
impossible dream has endured: every July and August since then, Santa Fe
Opera has presented an imaginative, exciting mix of familiar classics,
rarely-performed treasures and brand-new works, their casts generally populated
by the best young singers in America. Opera lovers from all over the world have
been thrilled by Santa Fe's singular natural beauty, an element in the company's
appeal celebrated by its dramatically proportioned adobe theater, which has
unequalled views of the high desert landscape - and the heart-stopping beauty of
its sunsets. Daytime hours in Santa Fe can be spent sampling the myriad charms
of the city itself and of its thriving local community of world-class artists
and artisans.
The oldest capital in the United States, Santa Fe is also known for its
cutting-edge cuisine, some of the finest artwork in the world, and pueblo-style
architecture. Explore this city and more of New Mexico with Frommer's Santa
Fe, Taos and Albuquerque, 12th Edition ($17.99, ISBN: 978-0-470-37188-6).
ENGLAND
Glyndebourne, Sussex
The thoroughly English character of Glyndebourne Festival Opera reflects
the personality of its eccentric founder, John Christie, who developed the
ambitious scheme to offer festival-quality opera performances on his East Sussex
estate beginning in 1934. Christie's original theater was eventually replaced by
a completely new facility in 1994, but the abiding presence of the Christie home
and the continued involvement of Christie's descendants in festival life have
allowed Glyndebourne to retain much of its original atmosphere. The operas of
Mozart have been at the core of Glyndebourne's repertory for all of its
existence, but more esoteric fare--including some world premieres--is also among
the company specialties.
Explore more of England with tips from Frommer's England 2009 ($24.99,
ISBN: 978-0-470-28786-6), including where to find the best of literary England
(Stratford-upon-Avon, Jane Austen country, and more); ancient and Roman sites,
including Roman baths and "Hadrian's Wall"; and diverse museums and galleries,
from the Tate Modern to the National Museum of Wales.
About Frommer's:
Frommer's publishes more than 300 travel guides and sells 2.5 million books
annually. For more information, visit
www.frommers.com.
About Opera News:
Opera News has been published by the Metropolitan Opera Guild since 1936.
Three times each year, it offers guides to the best music and opera festivals in
the United States and Europe. For more information, visit the Metropolitan Opera
Guild's Opera News Web
site.
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