Join us for a week's holiday in the wonderful city of Leipzig for the Oper Leipzig Ring Cycle 2017. Leipzig has an astonishing musical heritage dating from the foundation of the Thomanerchor 800 years ago and including its most famous Cantor, Johann Sebastian Bach, the Gewandhaus Orchestra (founded in 1743), Felix Mendelssohn, Robert & Clara Schumann AND the birthplace of Richard Wagner!
We stay at the 4* Radisson Blu Hotel on Augustusplatz opposite the Gewandhaus and Opera House and at the entrance to the wonderful 'living' old town which having been completely restored since the 1990's is buzzing with people not only working during the day but living here as well.
The performances of the Ring take place on June 28th & 29th and July 1st & 2nd and on the performance days we will have morning activities in Leipzig (Old Town walking tour, Bach Archiv, Mendelssohn Museum, Schumann-Haus, the wonderful Musical Instrument collection at the Grassi Museum) and then free time to relax before the performances which begin at 5pm each evening.
On our two 'non-Ring' days we will head out of Leipzig:
On June 30th we will travel by ICE (75 mins) to Eisenach where we join our private coach for a visit to Wartburg Castle (the setting for much of Tannhäuser) before visiting the Bach Haus (birthplace of JS Bach). We have a snack lunch before joining our coach for the 50 minute journey to Weimar where we spend the afternoon in the company of Goethe, Schiller and Liszt before having an early dinner and returning to Leipzig by coach (90 minutes) late evening.
On July 3rd, rather than flying home on the day after Götterdämmerung we have decided to take the opportunity to travel south (approx 2 hours) to Bayreuth. Our day will start with a walking tour 'In the steps of Wagner' followed by lunch and then a visit to the recently restored Richard Wagner Museum at Villa Wahnfried. We return to Leipzig early evening for a farewell supper.
The outward flight will be with Ryanair and the return with Easyjet.
Both include full 20kg baggage allowance and reserved seats.
The flight times are as follows:
27th June Manchester Terminal 3 – Berlin Schönefeld 1205 – 1500 FR 1145
4th July Berlin Schönefeld – Manchester Terminal 1 1840 – 1950 EZY 1896
For flights from Heathrow there is a £45 supplement and details are as follows:
27th June Heathrow Terminal 2 – Munich 1055 – 1340 LH 2473
Munich – Leipzig 1435 – 1530 LH 2168
4th July Leipzig – Munich 1310 – 1410 LH 2167
Munich – Heathrow Terminal 2 1600 – 1710 LH 2478
The Euro content of this holiday has been costed at €1.20/£1 (30th June 2016). Should the Pound weaken further (or recover) between now and 1st June 2017 (when the balance will be due) we will adjust the costs accordingly.
