Seattle Ring Cycle :: Florida :: St Petersburg :: Berlin
Moscow :: Bratislava :: Barcelona :: Dresden

BARCELONA
9 JANUARY 2009, 4 DAYS

Tickets are seldom easy to obtain at Barcelona's Liceu theatre and performances are often sold out to subscribers. We are especially fortunate to have obtained a group allocation for Verdi's Simon Boccanegra with a star cast of Carlos Álvarez, Marcello Giordani and Krassimira Stoyanova. Also included is an idiomatic performance of de Falla's short opera El retablo de Maese Pedro. There is an optional concert, principally of Russian music, at Barcelona's controversially modern concert hall. L'Auditori.
After an introduction to Barcelona's Medieval heritage, we highlight the achievements of the late 19th and early 20th century Modernist movement, notably the works of Antoni Gaudí and the beautiful concert hall, El Palau de la Musica. A dinner is included in the young Picasso's favourite, Modernist-designed restaurant, Els 4 Gats.

Friday 9 January
Holiday is based around flights with Easyjet from Bristol, Gatwick, Liverpool, Newcastle or East Midlands airports, most of which reach Barcelona early afternoon. Other airports may be available.
After transfer to the Husa Oriente Hotel, situated on Las Ramblas only metres from the Liceu, we enjoy a walking tour of Barcelona's adjacent Gothic Quarter with entrances to the Cathedral and the city's most beautiful completed church, S. Maria del Mar. Dinner is included this evening in Els 4 Gats (the Four Cats) restaurant.
The Husa Oriente is set within a seventeenth century convent building on Las Ramblas. The bedrooms have been completely renovated recently, whilst key features of the older building have been retained in public areas.

Saturday 10 January
De Falla's chamber opera El retablo de Maese Pedro, based on an episode from Don Quijote, starts at 10.45 in the Liceu and lasts about one hour.
The afternoon is at leisure. Barcelona offers a rich selection of museums: the Picasso, Miró and Dalí art collections; the strikingly discordant new Contemporary Art Museum within the old city; and museums dedicated to Catalan history and art, notably the National Art Gallery.
This evening there is an optional performance at L'Auditori of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme given by the Catalan National Symphony Orchestra.

Sunday 11 January
Gaudí, the most famous proponent of Catalan Modernisme, has variously been bracketed as an organic architect, as seen in the columns of the Sagrada Familia fanning out like plants; as an impressionist architect by his use of fractured mosaic colourings, with the facade of Casa Battló compared to Monet's water lily paintings; or as a surrealist architect, drawing parallels to the work of Salvador Dalí.
On our morning guided tour we visit the Sagrada Familia, Parc Güell, and Casa Batlló, whilst appreciating the facades of other notable Gaudí creations such as Casa Milá and Casa Vicens.
Afternoon is at leisure until Simon Boccanegra at 17.00.

Monday 12 January
Prior to late morning departure most Friends can enjoy an optional guided tour of Barcelona's Palau de la Musica, completed in 1908, still in use as a concert platform and considered by many as the city's finest Modernist building.

Price per person sharing a twin/double room is £720pp, including 3 nights bed and breakfast at the Husa Oriente Hotel, two top price stalls seats at the Liceu, flights, dinner, transfers and guided tours as detailed above and on-site services of WNO's Andy and Jan Taylor. Single room supplement is £135pp. Optional concert (subject to availability) £42pp. Palau de la Musica tour £10pp. Deposit required with booking form £290pp.
Travel insurance (if required) is £18pp for clients aged up to 65 at time of booking, £36 aged 66 to 75, £45 aged 76 to 79, and £60 aged 80 to 86. Conditions do apply. Annual insurance is also available.

Booking forms should be returned to Grosvenor Travel latest by 20 September. Holiday will close sooner if ticket allocation is exhausted. We are holding a strictly limited allocation for the Liceu.

This holiday is operated in conjunction with Friends of Welsh National Opera.