MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL'S 2009 MUSIC FESTIVALS:

02-09-2009

Great Music, Great Buildings: Matching Music and Place

UK based Martin Randall Travel (MRT) will be hosting the Sixteenth Annual "Danube Music Festival" from August 28-September 4, 2009 and the "Haydn in Vienna Festival" from August 29-September 3, 2009, both combining music and architecture with concerts taking place in historic buildings – palaces, abbeys, churches and theatres along the route.   Both festivals highlight musicians of the highest caliber from Austria, Hungary, and The Czech Republic.

THE DANUBE MUSIC FESTIVAL - This festival will include nine concerts performed in Melk, Vienna, Esterh áza, and St. Florian.   The music festival begins and ends in Passau, Germany.   Guests travel aboard the first-class Amadeus Classic riverboat.   Matching music and place is the most important element of this festival. The buildings that will house the concerts are generally of the same period as the music performed in them, and in some cases there are specific historical associations between the two.   Now in its sixteenth year, this festival is an established event in the musical calendars around Europe. The festival is exclusive to MRT participants and open to 140 music enthusiasts.

The festival explores the music of the Austro-Hungarian Empire— Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner, Smetana, Brahms and a selection of less familiar composers. The concerts take place in the finest buildings along the river, including the Stadttheater Grein, Melk Abbey, Schloss Hof, Primatial Palace and the Abbey of St. Florian.

Guests stay aboard the Amadeus Classic for the 8-day music festival.    The Amadeus Classic is one of the most comfortable cruisers on the waterways of Europe. All cabins have windows and include: private bathrooms with showers, air- conditioning, telephones, TV and safes.

Prices start at £2,780 (British pounds) per person based on double occupancy for the Danube package, which is all-inclusive and included airfare from London.    Suites are also available at £3,980 per person based on double occupancy.   Single rates available upon request.   Please refer to the brochure for package information. There is also the option to add-on a pre-festival tour in Munich.

HAYDN IN VIENNA - This festival will include seven exclusive concerts.   Based in Vienna, one of the world's foremost centers for music, art and architecture, guests will enjoy music performed in historical buildings that match the music from that time period.     

By the time of his death in 1809, Josef Haydn had become the most internationally celebrated composer in history.   Music by the composer is preponderant in "Haydn in Vienna," through the programs, including several of his contemporaries.   All seven of the concert venues are ones Haydn would or could have been familiar with, and it is known that his music was played under his direction in three of them.    

The audience is small and so are the venues for this festival, enabling a real closeness to the musicians.   The impressive list of performers for this festival: the Esterházy Ensemble; the Capella Savaria, the oldest period-instrument ensemble in Hungary; the Vienna Piano Trio; the Wiener Akademie; the Quatur Mosaïques, one of the finest string quartets in the world; the Bach Consort Wien; and the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic.   

Prices start at £2,480 (British pounds) per person all-inclusive , based on double occupancy in a 4-star hotel, and include airfare from London.   Additional 4-star and 5-star hotels are also available. Single rates are available upon request.   Please refer to the brochure for package information. There is also the option to add-on pre-festival tours, which include the Salzberg Summer Festival or two additional days in Vienna to explore where Haydn lived and worked.   

FOR MORE INFORMATION - Detailed itineraries are available online at www.martinrandall.com For booking information or to request a brochure send an email to info@martinrandall.co.uk or call at 011-44-20-8742-3355.

Martin Randall Travel is the pioneer and leader in the field of all-inclusive music festivals – private concerts with world-class musicians in appropriate historic buildings. As well as the concerts, the festival package includes accommodation, travel, meals, lectures on the music, all tips and taxes, assistance of a team of specialist festival staff, practical and cultural information and a detailed program booklet.

[Back to Press Releases Main]