Opera & Ballet in Copenhagen - Rossini, Wagner and the Royal Danish Ballet

Fly at c. 10.00am from London Heathrow to Copenhagen (British Airways). The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is home to the magnificent benefaction of a brewer. It has collections of Mediterranean antiquities, particularly Roman portrait sculpture, Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Golden Age paintings and much else besides. There is time to settle into the hotel before dinner.

Start with a lecture on this evening’s performance. A walk passes the Amalienborg, an ensemble of 1750s palaces, the English church, Gefion Fountain, the Little Mermaid, bastions of the Kastellet and (across the water) the opera house. In the afternoon travel by coach for the opportunity to visit one of the city’s finest art collections (self-guided): the Statens Museum for Kunst, the National Gallery of Denmark, which holds an extensive selection of Danish art from the Golden Age to the present day and a fine collection of European Old Masters. Coach back to the hotel for some free time before dinner and an evening opera at the Copenhagen Opera House: The Barber of Seville (Gioachino Rossini), Robert Carsen (conductor), Line Kromann Revival (director) Kristjan Ingimarsson (choreographer), The Royal Danish Orchestra and Choir, Matteo Beltrami (Dirigent), Liam Bonthrone Grev (Almaviva), Tiziano Bracci Doktor (Bartolo), Valerie Eickhoff (Rosina), Theodore Platt (Figaro).

Lecture on the evening’s opera. Cross the water by boat for a tour of the beautiful Operaen (Copenhagen Opera House), built 2000–2005 to the designs of Henning Larsen and others. Free afternoon. The National Museum is recommended (artefacts prehistoric to contemporary, Vikings the highlight) or one of the city’s many other museums and galleries (the tour includes a card granting free admission). An evening ballet at the Old Stage: Don Quixote (music by Ludwig Minkus, choregraphy by Nikolaj Hübbe after Marius Petipa), Matthew Rowe (conductor), cast to be announced.

The morning is free. We suggest a visit to the Rosenborg Palace, a fully furnished royal residence from the 17th century. An early afternoon lecture precedes an afternoon opera at the Copenhagen Opera House: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Richard Wagner), Axel Kober/ Jendrik Springer (conductor), Laurent Pelly (director), The Royal Danish Orchestra and Choir, Axel Kober (Dirigent), Johan Reuter (Hans Sachs), Jens-Erik Aasbø (Veit Pogner), Tom Erik Lie (Sixtus Beckmesser), Sofie Elkjær Jensen (Eva), Jens Søndergaard (Fritz Kothner), Jens Christian Tvilum (Kunz Vogelgesang). A light supper is served in the interval.

A guided tour of the court theatre at the Christiansborg Palace (confirmed in autumn 2024). Fly to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 5.30pm.