Tailor-made Holidays for Music Lovers from C and H Travel Ltd
The International Opera Festival
at Bregenz, Austria.
Opera House, Concert Hall and Lakeside Arena, Bregenz
Lake Constance, Bregenz
Bregenz is a small but bustling and cosmopolitan city located on the shores of Lake Constance at the most westerly point of Austria, bordering Germany to the north (Lindau) and Switzerland and the Alps to the south.
Bregenz is the home to the world renowned Bregenz Festival held in July and August each year. Opera performances are held on the world’s largest floating stage at the lakeside. For 2012 the main production will be Umberto Giordano's Opera “Andre Chenier”. The adjacent Opera House and Concert Hall will also be the venue for a series of orchestral concerts and other opera performances.
We will be offering unescorted holidays or short breaks in Bregenz in the summer of 2011. There is a range of good quality 3 and 4 Star Hotels in the centre of Bregenz.
Bregenz can be visited as part of a longer stay in Austria, (for example, combined with a visit to Bad Ischl and the Lehar Festival) or as a stand alone destination. The nearest airports are Zurich (Approximately 1.5 hours away) or Friedrichshafen in Germany (Approximately 45 minutes away.)
Andre Chenier by Unmberto Giordana
André Chénier, the most famous work by the Italian composer Umberto Giordano, is a brilliantly vivid historical drama and a human tragedy of shattering intensity. Set against the background of the French Revolution, the opera has strong appeal both as a passionate love story and as a historical thriller. André Chénier is based on the life of a real historical character, a French poet who got caught up in the turmoil of the French Revolution, frst as an ardent supporter and then as a victim, mercilessly persecuted and ultimately sent to the guillotine.
Giordano’s music is charged with a furious enthusiasm and stirring emotions. Historical dances and marches from the time before the French Revolution can be heard in the opera as well as classic Revolutionera songs including "Ça ira" and the Marseillaise.
The Artistic Director of the Bregenz Festival, David Poulttney writes "It seems as though André Chénier was composed especially for the Bregenz Seebühne.
The opera presents a perfect mix of ingredients for the venue: a thrilling story and four strong characters, caught between the excesses of the Ancien Régime and the terror of the French Revolution. There is André Chénier, an idealistic poet, and his adversary Carlo Gérard, once a servant and now a revolutionary ringleader. And there is the young noblewoman Maddalena, who is feeing from the rebels, aided by her maidservant, who sacrifces herself as a prostitute in order to support her mistress fnancially.
Giordano’s music is verismo of the very highest calibre and drives the high voltage plot forward with breathtaking speed."
More details will be available shortly. Please contact us to register your interest and we will contact you with more details.