Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Staatsoper Berlin, Easter 2023

We will stay at the luxurious Dorint Hotel Kurfürstendamm. Designed by award-winning architect Jan Kleihues, the hotel is located in the heart of the City West at the start of the legendary shopping mile Kurfürstendamm and just a short distance from the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin Zoo and the KaDeWe department store. We have reserved spacious 'Comfort' King rooms (400 sq feet) which feature walk-in closet, separate bath & walk-in shower, bose sound system and nespresso machine. Full buffet breakfast is included each morning.

Also included are two performanes at the Philharmonie - 1st category tickets for the Good Friday performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Staatskapelle Berlin and (we all hope!) conducted by Daniel Barenboim and Easter Sunday morning recital with Andras Schiff (Beethoven & Bach). 

Full payment due 15th January 2023
If you prefer to make your own travel arrangements and meet at the hotel a deduction of £300 will be made from your tour balance. Here's the day to day itinerary plan:

Monday 3^rd April – guests arrive in Berlin to check-in at the hotel from 3pm.
Possible private recital 6pm – 745pm followed by Welcome dinner

Tuesday 4^th April – breakfast at the hotel – meet at 945am for a tour by private coach and walking of ‘Berlin old West’. Tour ends with light lunch (included) and back at the hotel around 230pm. 445pm depart hotel by private coach to Staatsoper Unter den Linden for our first evening of the Ring Cycle – Das Rheingold which begins at 6pm and ends 840pm (no interval).
All performances are surtitled in German and English.
Late supper at the hotel included

Wednesday 5^th April – breakfast at the hotel – meet at 945am for a tour by private coach and walking of ‘Berlin old East’. Back at the hotel by 1pm. 3pm depart hotel by private coach to Staatsoper Unter den Linden for our second evening of the Ring Cycle – Die Walküre which begins at 4pm and will end approx. 9pm with two intervals. Late night soup and drinks at the hotel

Thursday 6^th April – breakfast at the hotel – meet at 10am - For almost the past 15 years Museumsinsel (Museum Island) has been a difficult building site to navigate as massive restoration has been undertaken to many of the buildings. As the new gateway to the Museumsinsel, the James-Simon-Galerie plays a significant role, housing all the central facilities and linking together the Lustgarten, the Schlossbrücke (Palace Bridge), and the Kupfergraben canal. It forms a physical connection above ground with the Pergamon Museum and links the museum via the Archaeological Promenade at basement level with the Neues Museum, the Altes Museum and the Bode Museum. You could spend a month around these magnificent galleries but you have just a day (included) so get planning and figure out which of the highlights you would like to include. We start at 10am with a ten minute walk to the Zoo station and then a ride on the S-Bahn above ground to Friedrichstraße station and then less than 10 minutes walk to the James-Simon-Galerie.

Your day pass gives you entrance to all of the museums – we may need to make timed entrances for you, but we will advise on that with your final itinerary details. Just some of the highlights:

• Pergamon Museum: Ishtar Gate & the Panorama
• Bode-Museum: Byzantine Art
• Neues Museum (re-opened in 2009 – architect David Chipperfield): Nefertiti
• Altes Nationalgalerie: Caspar David Friedrich, Adolph Menzel plus Manet, Monet, Renoir & Rodin
• Altes Museum: Collection of Classical Antiquities with Gold Treasury
• James-Simon Galerie – the new centerpiece entrance to the museum complex.

Make your way back to the hotel late afternoon. Tonight we have the highlight dinner of our visit when we dine at the Käfer Restaurant on the rooftop of the iconic Reichstag.

Friday 7^th April (Good Friday) breakfast at the hotel – meet at 930am and a private transfer to Potsdam seeing the infamous Bridge of Spies before we have a private visit to the Sanssouci Palace. We have free time for lunch (own arrangements) in the historic centre of the city before returning to Berlin by 3pm. We meet at 7pm for our transfer to the legendary Philharmonie and tonight’s performance of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis which begins at 8pm and will last approx. 90 minutes (no interval). We have a late supper afterwards (included).

Saturday 8^th April – today will be entirely free to explore at your own pace, perhaps return to Museum Island, head to the KaDeWe or take the chance to have a leisurely lunch.

We meet at 3pm for our transfer to the Staatsoper for the 3^rd evening of the Ring Cycle – Siegfried which begins at 4pm. The performance lasts around 5 hours 30 minutes with two intervals. Around 930pm we return to the hotel for late night soup and drinks.

Sunday 9^th April (Easter Sunday) after breakfast at the hotel we meet at 10am for our transfer to the Philharmonie for this morning’s recital with Andras Schiff which begins at 11am and lasts around an hour and 45 minutes with one interval.

Programme for the rest of today to be confirmed.

Monday 10^th April after breakfast today is free to make any last minute visits that you want to before we depart tomorrow. We meet again at 3pm for our transfer to the Staatsoper and the final evening of our Ring Cycle – Götterdämmerung which begins at 4pm and will last approx. 5 hours 50 minutes with two intervals. We return to the hotel around 10pm for our farewell supper.

Tuesday 11^th April after breakfast transfers to Berlin Airport for your fights back to the UK or depart at your own pace late morning