Mozart and Much More
Salzburg Festival 2006

Celebrate Mozart’s 250^th Birthday

Exclusively for the North Carolina Symphony

Tentative departures: July 29 to August 9, 2006

Est. cost: $4200 (excluding airfare)

(Including 1 opera, 2 concert tickets)

TENTATIVE ITINERARY:

This is not a typical agency-style mass tour! The group will be kept very small and the schedule is flexible, so that you can pursue your special interests. We have booked excellent accommodations at wonderful locations in Vienna and Salzburg. By signing up now, you will be given the opportunity to choose tickets for your own favorite operas or concert performances. You may purchase tickets for as many additional performances as you wish! -Prof. Doryl Jensen and his Austrian colleagues will be your hosts.

July 29-Depart Raleigh to Prague

July 30-Aug 2 -Prague: 3 nights

Before arriving in Salzburg, we will relish the rich Czech cultural heritage and exciting contemporary life in Prague. Few large urban centers can match the beauty of the cityscapes along the Vltava River in the heart of Prague. And few have preserved the architectural variety found here from Romanesque chapels and crypts to the Gothic towers of St. Vitus Cathedral or from lavish Baroque palaces of old noble families to odd cubist structures of the early 20^th century.

This city has not only been the focal point of Czech culture, but also a vital center of European history. For centuries it was one of the great cities of the Austrian empire, and a number of emperors made this their capital most notably the scholarly and quirky Emperor Rudolf II, who drew the greatest artists, scientists and philosophers of his day to his brilliant court. Jan Hus preached in Prague at Bethlehem Chapel and led Europe’s first great Protestant movement a century before Martin Luther. At Prague Castle in 1618, the spirited Czech nobles
threw the emperor’s ambassadors from a window, an act of hands-on diplomacy that brought vicious retribution from Vienna and ignited the Thirty-Years’ War that devastated most of Europe.

And music! Prague has always been a city of music. Although Mozart often felt ill-used by the archbishop in Salzburg and unappreciated by the public in Vienna, he experienced some of his greatest triumphs in Prague. We will visit Bertramka villa, where he worked and lived.

We will not forget Prague’s recent role in reshaping Europe! Although the Prague Spring in 1968 was crushed by Russian tanks and Czechoslovakia became one of the most repressive and orthodox of the Communist regimes in Europe, the desire for change was not extinguished. In one of the most unlikely scenarios of modern Europe, a little-known playwright-Vaclav Havel-and a group of actors, writers and artists met in a Prague theater and the “Velvet Revolution” they inspired brought down the government without violence, a key factor in changing the face of all Central and Eastern Europe.

Of course, we will visit the grand sites of the city, but we will also take walking tours through the Old Town and across the Charles Bridge to the Lesser Town and Castle District to find unexpected pleasures in the city byways.

Aug 2-Aug 4 -esky Krumlov: 2 nights

Much of Southern Bohemia seems still locked in a time-warp. Some towns and villages seem barely changed since the Middle Ages and Renaissance. We will settle into one such town, esky Krumlov, in a bend of the storied Vltava River (the Moldau), below one of the largest fortress castles in Central Europe and in the heart of the Bohemian Forest. Here we will wander through the cobble-stoned streets up to the historic castle.

If some in the group want to explore beyond the city, we can take a daytrip to Telc; the arcaded facades of its intact 5^th-century core surround one of the prettiest small-town plazas in Central Europe.

Aug 4 -esky Krumlov to Salzburg

On the way to Salzburg we will travel beside the Vltava River through forest and villages to the Austrian border, and will descend from the plateau into the Danube River valley. The highway will take us past some of the lakes and peaks of the Salzkammergut region, and will

Aug 4-Aug 9 -Salzburg: 5 nights

The Salzburg Festival is one of the grandest and most famous of all the summer music festivals in Europe. It was begun in the 1920′s by the famous theater director Max Reinhart with the help of composers, dramatists and musicians and has grown into one of the best-known showcases of musical and dramatic art in the world. We have access to hard-to-get tickets to a dazzling array of operas and concerts for a full week in Salzburg and its glorious surroundings.

The musical feast here will be amazing in 2006! This is a very special year in Salzburg. In honor of Mozart’s 250^th birthday, the Festival will stage all of his operasÖin addition to the numerous other concert delights. Our schedule will be flexible. Those of you who sign up for our trip will be able to request tickets to hear your favorite musicians and your favorite music.

With our faculty you will also be able to explore the history and broader culture of the region, and they will introduce you to their friends, show you their favorite places and help prepare you for concert and opera performances.

The history of this city goes back to Roman times when the region was an important source of an extremely valuable commodity in the ancient Roman Empire salt. Later, the Archbishops of Salzburg ruled the city and territory for centuries. They exploited its salt-wealth to build the Old City we see today. There are historic and scenic delights for us at every turn: the imposing fortress castle which dominates the old city, St. Peter’s Abbey (from whose kitchens food has been served continuously since at least the 14th century, and whose church guards the graves of the pious and the famous, from Saint Rupert to the composer Michael Haydn), the Cathedral, the Nonnberg cloister (where St. Ehrentraud founded monastic life for women in the 9th century), Mirabell palace and gardens (built by Archbishop Wolfdietrich for his wife!!), the houses where Mozart was born and spent his childhood…. all these things and the maze of narrow streets and spacious plazas will invite us to feel the spirit of past centuries. We can also visit Hellbrunn Castle near town where the ingenious waterworks will show us the boyish trickster in one archbishop and will keep us all on our toes.

The 19th century explorer Humboldt considered Salzburg to be one of the three most beautiful cities in the world. You will have plenty of time to roam through the town.

However, we will also enjoy day-excursions into the surrounding mountains and the lake country where Alpine peaks reach for the heavens and where villages and farms are perched above crystal-clear water.

Aug 9 -Return Salzburg to Raleigh