Opera & Ballet in Copenhagen - Donizetti, Strauss 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 ballet at the Old Stage: Giselle (Adolphe Adam), Nathan Brock (conductor), Silja Schandorff and Nikolaj Hübbe after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot (choreography), cast to be announced.

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 opera at the Copenhagen Opera House: Don Pasquale (Gaetano Donizetti), Robert Houssart/Vito Cristofaro (conductor), Mariame Clément (director), The Royal Danish Orchestra and Choir, Vito Cristofaro (Dirigent), Kyungil Ko (Don Pasquale), Orhan Yildiz (Malatesta), Santiago Ballerini (Ernesto).

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: Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss), Marie Jacquot (conductor), Elisabeth Linton (director), The Royal Danish Orchestra and Choir, Marie Jacquot (Dirigent), Gisela Stille (Feltmarskalinden), Patrick Zielke (Baron Ochs), Elisabeth Jansson (Octavian), Jens Søndergaard (Hr. von Faninal), Clara Cecilie Thomsen (Sophie), My Johansson (Marianne Leitmetzerin), Jens Christian Tvilum (En vært, Valzacchi. Dinner is after the performance.

A private guided tour of the Old Stage, the oldest of the three buildings that form the Royal Danish Theatre. Fly to London Heathrow, arriving at c. 5.30pm.