Cultural tours in Switzerland

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    [name] => The Lucerne Festival
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    [introduction] => A summer music festival of the first rank on the beautiful shores of Lake Lucerne.

Performers in 2025 include, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Klaus Mäkelä (conductor), and the Berliner Philharmoniker with Kirill Petrenko (conductor).

Guided walks and an excursion in the surrounding hills are balanced with plenty of free time.
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Ever since its inauguration over eighty years ago, with a concert conducted by Arturo Toscanini in the grounds of the lakeside house where Wagner had stayed, the Lucerne Festival has been regarded as one of the most prestigious music festivals in Europe.
The event has been further enhanced by a brilliant venue. The KKL (Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern) is a giant glassand-steel arts complex located right on the lake just a few hundred yards from the old town of Lucerne. Designed by Frenchman Jean Nouvel and completed in 2000, this is modern European architecture at its finest. Its colossal cantilevered roof projects over the water’s edge, bringing the changing moods of the lake right into the building, and water channels separate the various wings. The most advanced acoustical science has been lavished on the beautiful Konzertsaal.
And could there be a lovelier city in which to attend a summer music festival? Lucerne occupies one of the most picturesque settings in Switzerland, divided into two parts by its river, bordering on the dramatic shores of the Vierwaldstätter Lake and overlooked by craggy mountains. Its medieval prosperity is still visible in the squares, guildhalls and churches that line its riverbanks. The nineteenth century was a heyday for Lucerne as it led the way in attracting tourism to Switzerland.
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            [subtitle] => Music in Switzerland’s loveliest city
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    [name] => The Rhine Piano Festival
    [code] => 28701
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    [introduction] => A celebration of the most versatile of all of the instruments, the piano, capable of creating a variety of sound worlds from sonorous intimacy and dazzling complexity.

Seven private recitals by some of the finest pianists of their generation: Elisabeth Leonskaja, Nelson Goerner, Mariam Batsashvili, Alexandra Dariescu, Jonathan Ferrucci, and former Leeds International Piano Competition winners Eric Lu and Jaeden Izik-Dzurko.

A further two concerts explore the piano’s role both in chamber music and song, with the renowned Amatis Trio and Professor of Collaborative Piano, Julius Drake.

Repertoire from Bach’s extraordinary keyboard works to the dazzling virtuosity of Liszt and Rachmaninoff, via Schubert and Schumann’s Romantic expressiveness and much more.

Concert venues are intimate halls within the resplendent palaces at Mannheim, Bruchsal and Namedy, the Beethovenhaus in Bonn and the magnificent Felix Meritis Hall in Amsterdam, among others.

Accommodation throughout on a first-class river cruiser, which sails from Amsterdam to Basel.

Daily talks by leading music expert Dr Katy Hamilton.
    [description] => 
A celebration of the most versatile of all instruments, this is our first Rhine Festival to be solely dedicated to the piano.
No other instrument is as capable of producing such a variety of sound worlds, with no need for accompaniment to create utterly satisfying programmes, ranging from sonorous intimacy to dazzling complexity. 
The modern grand piano’s monumental dynamic range and power paved the way for the first virtuosic superstars, Liszt the first and most obvious example (as we hear in the glittering pyrotechnics of his arrangement of the Valse from Gounod’s Faust), but it also led to a gorgeous Romantic expressiveness, inward-looking and sublime (such as the timeless final movement of Schumann’s Fantasie).
We are pleased to announce a carefully curated programme that explores the magnificent range of piano repertoire, through nine private concerts: seven recitals by some of the finest pianists in the world of different generations (Elisabeth Leonskaja, Nelson Goerner, Mariam Batsashvili, Alexandra Dariescu, Jonathan Ferrucci, and former Leeds International Piano Competition winners Eric Lu and Jaeden Izik-Dzurko), and two where we delve into the piano’s role both in Lieder (with Julius Drake, Professor of Collaborative Piano) and the piano trio (with the Amatis Trio).
All concert venues are relatively small, and the audience is capped at not much over 100 people, leading to an informality and intimacy of musical communication which engenders a heightened artistic experience. And to hear pianists of this stature all perform at such close proximity is a rare and wonderful experience.
Some locations resonate with the repertoire performed, such as Bach in the Baroque Schloss Mannheim; or Beethoven’s last piano sonata in the Beethovenhaus in Bonn. Others are chosen for their beauty or charm, to provide a stunning visual backdrop to the mixed programmes.
Daily talks by Dr Katy Hamilton illuminate and inform us, as we sail from Amsterdam to Basel, navigating the river which has acted as such an artery for cultural exchange in Europe over the centuries. 
The MS Amadeus Riva acts as both hotel and principal means of transport, enabling the audience to attend all the concerts without having to change hotel or drive long distances. The experience differs significantly from conventional cruising in many ways: little regimentation, no obligatory seating plan, no on-board entertainment, minimal announcements – and absolutely no piped music!
There is also little to match the pleasure of a curated sequence of concerts in beautiful historic buildings. This event combines the two to produce an experience which is quite exceptional and unique.

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    [name] => Art in Switzerland
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    [introduction] => Fine and varied art collections, some in the collectors’ homes or in brilliant recent buildings.

Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and classic modernism figure prominently, also European Old Masters, decorative arts and Oriental art.

Excursions to collections outside the city centres pass through picturesque countryside.
    [description] => 
Switzerland possesses some of the finest of the smaller art collections in Europe. There is no Louvre here and no Uffizi, but several Courtauld Institutes and Burrell Collections. 
More than in most countries the cultural map has been formed during the last hundred years by the devotion to art of wealthy industrialists and men of commerce. There were no kings and princes in Switzerland to lay the foundations of the present-day collections. With a long tradition of relative autonomy and self-sufficiency the cities and cantons have also played a part in creating the current magnificent public art collections.
While artists who were Swiss or who lived in Switzerland are of course amply represented (including Holbein, Fuseli, Hodler, Klee and Giacometti), the whole gamut of western art is to be seen here, with the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists particularly prominent. An added attraction is architectural: some of the collections remain in the collectors’ former homes and others have recently been re-housed in brilliant new buildings. And when aesthetic exhaustion sets in there are lakes and mountains and picturesque old cities to refresh the palate.

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            [subtitle] => Great collections, lovely towns, sublime landscapes
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