https://www.instituteforculturetravel.ie/ Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Countries, Culture, Deals, Europe, Music

Chopin online

16th September 2025 funtime65

No, not that one, one of my Scary One’s most regular pastimes, but rather Chopin online, and the best composers trip.

In Poland the great pianist is held in such esteem that Warsaw Airport is named for him, Lotnisko Chopina Warszawa.

A common theme we have discovered on our travels and shared we find with at least one other, Panethos, in our WordPress community.

Who has also done some research..

Ticking off Louis Armstrong in New Orleans, John Lennon in Liverpool, Franz Liszt in Budapest, Guiseppi Verdi in Parma and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg.

It’s a dirty job but somebody has to do it.

Culture vultures

Now unless you speak Polish you’ll only be able to pick out Chopin from Lotnisko Chopina Warszawa when you land in Warsaw.

But by the time you finish your Institute for Culture Travel curated tour next month you will be an expert.

The four-day Warsaw Cultural Tour runs from October 8 from €1,183pps with a single supplement of €299.

Wander the cobbled streets of the UNESCO-listed Old Town and marvel at the grandeur of Wilanow Palace and Chopin.

You’ll stay at the 4* Polonia Palace Hotel with breakfast with three meals in your hotel.

And enjoy an excursion to Łazienki Park and Wilanow Palace.

And a visit to Chopin’s birthplace, Żelazowa Wola.

Return flight from Dublin, including taxes and transfers

All for a deposit of €350 per person with a special offer of €50 off if booked in August.

Chopinholics

We came, Warsaw, we conquered: Polish pals

And for special Chopin aficionados a chance to be in Warsaw.

To coincide with the prestigious Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition

There’s a four-nighter Chopin in Warsaw on October 8 from €1,369pps with a €299 single supplement.

You’ll stay at the 4* Polonia Palace Hotel B&B with welcome dinner and two pre-performance dinners.

Return flight from Dublin, including taxes and transfers

A guided walking tour of Warsaw Old Town, an excursion to Łazienki Park and Wilanow Palace.

A visit to Chopin’s birthplace.

The two evening performances as part of the 19th Fryderyk Chopin International Piano Competition at the National Philharmonic Hall

You’ll pay a €350 per person deposit with the special offer of €50 off if booked in August.

Countries, Culture, Europe

Rock me Amadeus in Dresden

12th December 202312th December 2023 funtime65

The great composer would find a lot the same in the Florence of the Elbe today which is the beauty of the Saxon gem… so, rock me Amadeus in Dresden.

Dresden, as we have come to know despite a British school system that tried to airbrush the WWII firebomb, rebuilt its grandeur.

With its palaces, kirches, friezes and Semperoper retouched in every finest Renaissance detail from 1789 when Mozart visited.

Such was Mozart’s renown that culture and opera lovers of the day would travel far and wide from his Austrian home

To Germany and across the continent to listen to the superstar.

Culture vultures

Much as they do today but whereas opera buffs then would rely on rickety stagecoaches.

Today’s culture vultures can just leave it all to the go-to people in opera holidays to the great music cities of Europe, The Institute for Culture Travel.

IFC is floating a four-night tour to buy for Christmas, in Hof & Dresden from Friday, June 14 to Tuesday, June 18.

Hof and running

Let me entertain you: With a Cassidy score

15^th June: Opera in Hof – Patrick Cassidy’s ‘Dante – From Inferno to Paradise’

You’ll start in Hof in this picturesque Bavarian town where you’ll spend two nights.

The highlight will be the world premiere of Patrick Cassidy‘s opera, ‘Dante – From Inferno to Paradise’ and a meet and greet.

Patrick, Ireland’s most renowned living classical composer, is known for his film scores.

And the aria ‘Vide Cor Meum’ from the film Hannibal.

Pure magic

Before you hit the road for Dresden and the master himself and that Magic Flute ‘Die Zauberflöte’ at the repurposed Semper.

Your price will include:

Return flight Dublin-Berlin
Coach transfers as follows:

14 June: Berlin airport – Central Hotel in Hof with lunch stop
16 June: Central Hotel in Hof to Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe in Dresden
18 June: Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe in Dresden To Berlin Airport

Two-nights in the Central Hotel in Hof with breakfast
Two-nights in the Steigenberger Hotel in Dresden with breakfast.
Meals as follows:
14 June: Lunch in Leipzig on route to Hof

14 June: Drinks reception and welcome dinner in the Central Hotel in Dresden with Patrick Cassidy in attendance
15 June: Pre-opera dinner
16 June: pre-opera dinner

Category 1 ticket to Dante – From Inferno to Paradise by Patrick Cassidy in Theatre Hof
Category 1 ticket to Mozart’s enchanting opera Die Zauberflöte at the world-famous Semper Opera House.
Walking tour in Leipzig (duration approx. 1-hour)
Walking tour in Dresden (duration approx. 2-hours)

Price: €1,493pps, Single Supplement: €249

Countries, Deals, Europe, Music

Czech Rieu out at the opera

18th November 202318th November 2023 funtime65

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.