The 18th annual music festival along the River Danube will be different from its predecessors. In 2011, the festival will be dedicated to song and will boast a remarkable selection of internationally renowned singers and pianists, probably an unprecedented opportunity to hear such a list of musicians within just a week.

The performers, in alphabetical order, are Florian Boesch, Paul Cibis, Imogen Cooper, Julius Drake, Anna Grevelius, Wolfgang Holzmair, Stephan Loges, Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Anna Maria Pammer, Renata Pokupić, Christoph Prégardien, Joan Rodgers, Vienna Piano Trio, Roger Vignoles, Elizabeth Watts, Roderick Williams.

The Artistic Director and lecturer for the Danube Festival of Song is Richard Stokes, Visiting Professor of Lieder at the Royal Academy of Music, who has an unsurpassed knowledge of German-language poetry and is a much sought-after lecturer. Furthermore, Ian Partridge, one of the finest singers of the last fifty years, travels with participants for several days and gives talks on his career and singing, and Alfred Brendel, one of the greatest musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries, talks to Richard Stokes about his career, music and his poetry.

Each of the 12 recitals takes place in a different venue, each of which is of great charm, beauty and historical significance, including Dürnstein Abbey,
Schloss Eckartsau in Festsaal, the Primatial Palace in Bratislava, the Musikverein in the Brahmssaal in Vienna, and Schloss Grafenegg at Gartensaal. Many of the halls have some association with the music performed in them, and most are small, creating the intimacy between performers and audience which so enhances the experience of song, this most exquisitely communicative of musical forms.

The Amadeus Royal, one of the more comfortable ships on the waterways of Europe, has been chartered exclusively for this festival. This enables participants to attend all the concerts and see some of the finest scenery and townscape in the region without having to change hotels or drive long distances. But there is a choice for participants: either to enjoy the comfort and convenience of this first-class river cruiser, which is both hotel and principal means of travel, for the week, or to join the small-group Walking the Danube tour, which stays in good hotels, attends six of the concerts and includes half-day walks through beautiful scenery.

The Festival Package
The concerts are private, being accessible exclusively to the hundred or so participants who take a package which includes:
• Admission to all twelve concerts (six concerts for the walking party) and daily lectures.
• Accommodation on a first-class river cruiser for seven nights, or hotels for the walking party.
• A choice of flights between the UK and Munich (there is a price reduction if you do not use these).
• All meals, from dinner on the first day to breakfast on the last, with wine, and interval drinks. For the walkers, 5 dinners and 5 lunches are included.
• Coach travel between airport and ship or hotel and to the concert venues (when not reached on foot).
• All tips, taxes and admission charges.
• Practical and historical information and a detailed programme booklet.
• The assistance of an experienced team of festival staff.
Prices depend on the cabin option chosen and range from £3,300 to £5,380 per person for those on the Amadeus Royal, and £2,980 per person for the Walking the Danube small-group tour.

Full details are available on www.martinrandall.com

For further information, please contact:
Liz Brown or Guy Hinton
T: 020 8742 3355 E: lizbrown@martinrandall.co.uk