Despite the fact that Glyndebourne have been forced to abandon visiting Liverpool (where they achieved the highest audience attendances on tour - Arts Council and Levelling Up go figure!) they will be extending their season in Sussex this Autumn with performances of l'Elisir d'Amore & Don Giovanni. We think combining this with a visit to Chichester Festival Theatre and the 5* Olivier Award winning production of Life of Pi before heading to London for two nights and two superstar virtuosi performers of our time - Mahan Esfahani at Wigmore Hall & Daniil Trifonov at the Royal Festival Hall makes for an autumn holiday to blow away the November blues!
We travel to Glyndebourne on Tuesday 21st November and check-in for three nights at the Leonardo Waterfront Hotel (formerly the Jury's). This evening we have a Welcome Dinner.
On Wednesday afternoon we have an early dinner at Glyndebourne before attending their wonderful production of Donzetti's L'elisir d'Amore. Get a flavour of the production here: https://youtu.be/z0_gTdkEClg
On Thursday we head to Chichester with free time for lunch (own arrangements) before this afternoon's matinee of Life of Pi. Winner of no less than five Olivier Awards and three Tony Awards. Jaw-dropping visuals and world-class puppetry combine in a unique and ‘breath-taking’ (The Times) theatrical event that is ‘a wonder to behold’ (Daily Mail). After an epic storm in the Pacific Ocean, Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger.....
We have an early dinner in Chichester before returning to Brighton mid evening.
On Friday we check-out late morning and head to the market town of Lewes with free time for lunch before we head to Glyndebourne for their 4pm performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. This new production from this summer by Mariame Clément had 4* reviews including the Arts Desk "this stunning, exuberant production reveals human nature in all its complexity". We expect the performance to end around 730pm and we will head directly to London and check-in at the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury with a light supper on arrival (around 9-930pm).
Saturday daytime will be left free for you to do your own thing and perhaps visit one of the many exhibitions coming up this autumn in London. We will have a pre-performance supper in London before heading to Wigmore Hall for this evening's performance when harpsichord virtuoso Mahan Esfahani joins forces with the Britten Sinfonia to perform three works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - Württemberg Sonata No. 6 in B minor H36, Sinfonia in A H660 and Sinfonia in B flat H658, alongside three contemporary works by the British composer and winner of the 2017 RPS Composition Prize - Laurence Osborn.
Sunday morning we check out after breakfast and transfer back to Wigmore Hall for their late morning concert with two young French artists Bruno Philippe (cello) and Tanguy de Williencourt (piano) for a programme of works by Chopin, Fauré and Franck. After a glass of sherry or a cup of coffee we continue south of the river to the Royal Festival Hall and the finale of our musical journey at 3pm with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Paavo Järvi with piano superstar Daniil Trifonov performing Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with the orchestra completing the programme with Prokofiev's 6th Symphony.
Immediately following the performance we head back to the northwest (with the option to be dropped at Euston and take the train to Crewe, Runcorn, Chester, Liverpool, Preston, Wilmslow or Manchester) £45 supplement with Senior Railcard (£60 without).
