Now if you always thought those who watched the tenors had pokers up their ariases stuffed shirt then you’ve never got to Czech Rieu out at the opera.
Because Praguers, unlike ourselves in Britain or Ireland, put the music before the formality.
Instead of penguins you’re more likely to find yourself drinking next to dressed-down monks in the bar at the interval.
Our friends at the Institute for Culture Travel in Ireland get that too that too which is why they’ve brought opera to the masses.
Rieu knew
The Institute are offering André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra in Prague on June 5 from €1,179pps including:
- Return flight from Dublin, (taxes and transfers)
- Four-nights in the Boutique Jalta Hotel with breakfast
- Guided tour of Prague Castle Complex
- Visit Lobkowicz Palace; featuring world-famous paintings by Bruegel, Canaletto, Velázquez and more; ceramics spanning five centuries and hand-annotated manuscripts by many of the world’s greatest composers, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
- Walking tour of Prague’s Old Town
- Excursion to medieval town of Kutna Hora
- Pre-performance dinner in hotel, with tea/coffee and glass of wine
- An evening with André Rieu in concert (tickets – stalls downstairs)
- Private transfers and local guide according to the programme
Or if you want to branch further afield then the Institute will take you to Lisbon to see Andre on October 30 from €1.389pps, with excursions and a Fado dinner show which my old pal Jose insists originated in Coimbra.
While they will also offer you Andre in Budapest too on November 7 from €1,2899pps.
Now, it’s always the performers and performances you don’t take up that you live to regret and Andrea Bocelli, an MSC cruise launch and a very overentitled freelancer in my gift spring to mind here.
Sometimes it’s best just to be selfish and I’m loath here then to tell you what I know.
Brilliant Bocelli
That the Institute have Andrea Bocelli in Warsaw on August 22 from €1,389pps includes:
- Return flight from Dublin, taxes and transfers
- 4 nights in the 4* Polonia Palace hotel in Warsaw with breakfast
- Welcome lunch (flight time depending)
- Full day tour of Warsaw, lunch included with:
- Entrance to F. Chopin Museum in Ostrogski Castle
- Chopin music piano recital
- Half day excursion to Wilanow Palace and Park
- Full day excursion following Chopin’s footsteps: visit Zelazowa Wola (Chopin’s birthplace) and
- Sanniki Palace, an open-air museum in Lowicz with lunch en-route at a local restaurant
- 3-course pre-concert dinner at the hotel
- Ticket (Lower Ring A) for Andrea Bocelli concert on 24 August 2024 at PGE National Stadium
- Free time for independent sightseeing
- Private transfers and local guide according to the programme
So Czech Rieu out at the opera or tell them what Warsaw in Poland when Andrea Bocelli was singing to us.