The day-by-day itinerary including concert details.
13. DISCOVER THE PLACE
The Seine valley: exceedingly attractive scenery, amidst the great winding loops of the river.
14.
MEET THE MUSICIANS
International musicians of the highest calibre.
19.
TRAVEL OPTIONS
A range of ways to travel to and from the festival.
18.
ACCOMMODATION & PRICES
Information about the ship.
Published: July 2024
20.
PRE- & POSTFESTIVAL TOURS
Extend your stay in France with tours that have been designed to link with the festival.
24. BOOKING
Details of how to book, along with the booking form and our conditions.
THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
Day 1
Wednesday 16 July
Paris
Day 2
Thursday 17
July
Maisons-Laffitte
For information on travelling to and from the festival see page 19.
The ship, MS Amadeus Diamond, will be ready for boarding from 4.00pm. The mooring point will be confirmed closer to the festival.
After dinner on board, coaches take participants to the Théâtre le Ranelagh for the first concert. There has been a theatre on this site since 1755; Rameau, Bizet and Wagner are among the composers who attended performances of their music here. Re-built in 1894, the interior has magnificent, neo-Renaissance oak-carved panels and fine acoustics.
Concert, 8.15pm:
Théâtre le Ranelagh
‘French Cantatas: The Theatre of the Salon’
Saraband & The Opera Company
Guido Martin-Brandis director
Hilary Cronin soprano
Emily Gray mezzo-soprano
Samuel Boden tenor
18th-century French composers who wanted to produce stage works often tried their hand at dramatic music in cantatas intended for private performance. Saraband have dived into this neglected repertoire and emerged with a range of unknown delights from composers such as Montéclair, Lefebvre and Clérambaut, as well as from more familiar names like Rameau and Charpentier. Blended with a range of instrumental music and contemporary popular songs, they have produced a lively and engaging evening of entertainment that is well-suited to the intimacy of the Théâtre le Ranelagh.
After the concert, return to the ship, which remains moored in Paris overnight.
Sail at 9.00am. There is a lecture on the music and lunch on board. Moor at Conflans-Sainte Honorine around 2.30pm.
Drive to the Château de Maisons, at Maisons-Laffitte. Designed by François Mansart and built 1642-51 for the President du Parlement, the Château was frequently visited by Bourbon kings. One of the finest accomplishments of French architecture, it combines classical perfection, variation of massing and dramatic roofscape, and is exceptionally complete and homogeneous.
Concert, 4.00pm:
Château de Maisons
‘Mes amours durent en tout temps’ (My loves last forever)
Près de votre oreille
Robin Pharo director, viola da gamba
Ensemble Près de votre oreille offer a glimpse into the fluid world of Renaissance song, where musicians moved back and forth across Europe and between genres. Many of the French and Franco-Flemish composers in this programme travelled to Italy and set Italian texts for their madrigals. However they also brought a mastery of complex polyphony and a deep love of the popular songs of their homelands to the Italian forms. The results are often witty and emotional in ways that transcend the scholarly craft that underpins them.
Sail from Conflans to Vernon, mooring in the early hours of Friday morning.
Illustration: Paris, rue du Haut Pavé and Pantheon, watercolour by Yoshino Markino publ. 1908.
‘First class musicians, lecturers, sta , ship and travel arrangements. Nobody does it as well as MRT!’
Day 3
Friday 18 July
La Roche Guyon, Giverny
Moor at La Roche-Guyon, a small town nestling between the Seine and the high chalk cliffs behind.
After a talk on the music, walk from the ship to the morning recital (which is repeated: the audience divides).
The keep of the Château de la Roche Guyon is perched on the clifftop, merely the topmost element of an extensive series of fortifications (developed further by Rommel in 1944) and of a grand residence which evolved between the 16th and the 18th centuries. Somewhat ramshackle inside, the Grand Salon has precious tapestries and its large windows look out towards the Seine.
Recital, 10.00am or 11.30am:
Château de la Roche Guyon ‘Les Elemens’ (The Elements)
Kenneth Weiss harpsichord
A distinctive feature of the French school of harpsichord composition was the common practice of giving pieces colourful titles to indicate the meaning of the music. Concepts such as a nightingale in love, blossoming violets, or a discussion between the muses all received charming musical treatments that often last no more than a few minutes each. This diverse repertoire has been augmented by Kenneth Weiss’s own transcriptions of other instrumental pieces from the period, all engaged in the same business of making music meaningful.
Lunch is on board the ship.
Giverny is only a short drive from La Roche Guyon. Claude Monet lived here from 1883 until his death in 1926, progressively extending his garden and creating one of the finest horticultural domains in France. There is time before the concert to see the garden or visit the Musée des Impressionnismes. The latter brings new perspectives to the history of Impressionism through temporary exhibitions. Our concert venue will be confirmed in August 2024.
Concert, 5.00pm:
Venue to be confirmed
Debussy & Ravel String Quartets
Quatuor Modigliani
Quatuor Modigliani explore the sensual sounds of the string quartet in turn-of-thecentury Europe. Claude Debussy’s Quartet from 1893 offered radical new harmonies and sonorities for strings, and served as a model for Maurice Ravel for his piece from 1903, a sharper-edged and more dizzyingly virtuosic piece using the same structure. The Debussy and Ravel quartets in turn inspired Joaquín Turina, whose La oración del torero from 1925 blends French techniques with Spanish folk music to invoke a bullfighter’s prayer.
Return to the ship for dinner and sail overnight to Caudebec-en-Caux.
Fitness for the festival
Quite a lot of walking is necessary to reach the concert venues and to get around the towns visited. Most of the concert venues do not have a lift. Participants need to be averagely fit, surefooted and able to manage everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty.
We ask that you take the simple fitness tests on page 24 before booking.
If you have a medical condition or a disability which may affect your holiday or necessitate special arrangements being made for you, please discuss these with us before booking – or, if the condition develops or changes subsequently, as soon as possible before departure.
THE FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
Day 7
Tuesday 22 July
Paris
Sail throughout the morning. There is a talk on the music before the ship arrives in Paris around lunchtime. Some free time in Paris, before the final dinner on board and evening concert in Sainte-Chapelle.
Built in the 13th century as a shrine for Christ’s Crown of Thorns, Sainte-Chapelle is an exquisite example of the Rayonnant Gothic Style which retains its spectacular stained glass. Divided into 15 bays of 15m height, the 1113 stained glass panels of the windows relate scenes of the Old and New Testament and tell the history of the world, according to the Bible, until the arrival of the relics in Paris in the 13th century.
Concert, 8.30pm:
Sainte-Chapelle
Fauré’s ‘Requiem’
The Sixteen Eamonn Dougan conductor
The festival closes with an intimate performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem The piece illustrates Fauré’s sense of death as calm and wondrous rather than painful or sad, with references to wrath and judgement removed and replaced with ‘Pie Jesu’ and ‘In Paradisum’ movements. The Sixteen bring their refined approach to bear on the quiet and reflective sound that Fauré originally intended, emphasised by organ accompaniment instead of an orchestra, bringing listeners closer to the voices.
Moor in Paris overnight.
Day 8
Wednesday 23 July
Paris
Leaving the festival. Participants have to disembark by 9.30am. See page 19 for onward travel options.
More about the concerts
Private. All the performances are planned and administered by us, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the festival package.
Seating. Specific seats are not reserved. You sit where you want.
Audience size. There will be up to c. 110 participants on the festival. Three of our venues cannot hold this number, so at these, the performance will be repeated.
Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with locale and authenticity than with acoustic perfection. The venues may have idiosyncrasies or reverberations of the sort not found in modern concert halls.
Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues may close for repairs, airlines alter schedules: there are many circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We ask you to be understanding should they occur.
Floods and droughts. We cannot rule out changes to the programme arising from exceptionally high or low water levels on the Seine, either of which may bring river traffic to a halt. These might necessitate more travel by coach or the loss of a concert, though we would always try to minimise the impact on the itinerary.
Nathan Giorgetti viola da gamba/cello Johan Löfving theorbo/guitar
Saraband specialise in music that would have been played in 17th- & 18th-century homes, taverns and theatres, with programmes that are inspired by the wider cultural scene. They have played regularly at English Heritage’s Kenwood House as well as Apsley House, Chiswick House, the Foundling Museum and other grand salons and taverns in their quest for the perfect marriage of venue and music. Recently, in collaboration with The Opera Company they have been exploring the music of the French Baroque & researching into the opera and travelling theatre scene of early 18th-century France, resulting in two innovative shows Rameau’s Roots and Theatre of the Salon both of which received 5* reviews in Opera Now Magazine
Guido Martin-Brandis director Opera director Guido Martin-Brandis is artistic director of The Opera Company. Alongside German and Slavic opera, he has a particular passion for the music of the French Baroque, and with The Opera Company has recently directed three operas by Rameau – Castor et Pollux , Pygmalion , Nelée et Myrthis – and with Sarah Bealby-Wright devised a show called Rameau’s Roots , about Rameau’s early life as a travelling theatre musician.
Hilary Cronin soprano
Winner of the London Handel International Singing Competition, Hilary Cronin has worked with ensembles including Early Opera Company, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Arcangelo, BBC Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, English Baroque Soloists, The English Concert, Florilegium, The English Concert, the Hallé, Irish Baroque Orchestra, The King’s Consort, London Handel Orchestra, La Nuova Musica and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Emily Gray mezzo-soprano
Emily has extensive experience as a recitalist and regularly works across Europe. Described as a ‘versatile, powerful mezzo who is magnetic on stage’ (Opera Now, 2024), she has released albums with Naxos, Chandos, Divine Arts Recordings and Convivum all to critical acclaim and is a two-time Classical Brit Award nominee.
Samuel Boden tenor
British tenor Samuel Boden enjoys an international opera and concert career specialising in the fields of early and contemporary music. He has appeared at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Hamburg State Opera, Teatro Liceu Barcelona, Staatsoper Berlin and at the Karlsruhe Handel, Aix-en-Provence and Aldeburgh Festivals.
Robin Pharo founded Près de votre oreille (Close to your ear) in 2017, at the Festival of Early Music in Timișoara, Romania. The ensemble strives to create projects related to the history of the viola da gamba, which allows its artistic director to share both his love of the solo repertoire and that of chamber music.
The ensemble has performed at many prestigious festivals in France, and in 2024 will appear at the Ambronay and Lanvellec festivals, in Poland, the Valetta Baroque Festival in Malta, Montreal, Vancouver and at the Isabel Bader Center in Kingston.
Près de votre oreille also has a particular passion for developing contemporary compositions on historical instruments. In 2018, the ensemble commissioned Le Manuscrit de Voynich , composed by the Bulgarian composer Yassen Vodenitcharov for mezzo-soprano and consort of viola da gambas. With Anaïs Bertrand, Robin Pharo created a cycle for viola da gamba and voice entitled The Waves, composed by Fabien Touchard, recorded for the Scala Music label in 2023.
PRÈS DE VOTRE OREILLE
KENNETH WEISS
Born in New York, Kenneth Weiss began his musical studies on piano. After attending the High School of Performing Arts he entered the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. It was through his studies on the organ and harpsichord that he became aware of the vast early keyboard repertoire and decided to devote his professional life to it. He continued his studies with Gustav Leonhardt at the Amsterdam Conservatory and in 1985 settled in France where he is still based today.
Kenneth Weiss has worked as an accompanist, vocal coach, opera continuist, chamber musician, conductor and soloist for several decades, performing extensively in Europe, North America and Asia. A dedicated teacher, he is currently professor of chamber music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.
QUATUOR MODIGLIANI
‘One of the best quartets in the world today... Balance, transparency, symphonic comprehension, confident style, their performance reached a very high and inspiring level.’ (Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung )
The Paris-based Quatuor Modigliani celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2023. It is a regular guest at the world’s top venues and finest chamber music series. In 2017 the quartet was honoured to be the first ever string quartet to perform in the big hall of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In 2020, the quartet became artistic director of the string quartet festival Vibre! Quatuors à Bordeaux as well as the renowned Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. The quartet is also the founder and artistic director of the SaintPaul-de-Vence Festival.
Other highlights of the past season included a tour of Japan, where Quatuor Modigliani performed with violinist Sayaka Shoji and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, and a major project at the String Quartet Biennale in Paris in January 2024: various young string quartets performed Grieg’s String Quartet in an arrangement for chamber orchestra. The Quartet also performed in Zurich, Los Angeles, Brussels, Cologne, Istanbul and Monaco.
In January 2022, Quatuor Modigliani released its newest album: a recording of all 15 string quartets by Franz Schubert, which was received enthusiastically by the international press.
CLARE HAMMOND
Acclaimed as a ‘pianist of extraordinary gifts’ (Gramophone) and ‘immense power’ ( The Times), Clare Hammond is recognised for the virtuosity and authority of her performances and won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award in 2016.
This year sees her debuts at the BBC Proms, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Salle Bourgie in Montreal, alongside return visits to Wigmore Hall and London’s National Gallery. She records a disc of concertos by Britten, Tippett and Walton with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and performs with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra.
Recent highlights have included Rachmaninov’s Paganini Variations with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, works by Piers Hellawell and Samy Moussa with the Ulster Orchestra, and recitals at the Aldeburgh Festival, Palazzetto Bru Zane in Venice (broadcast on RAI 3), and Festival Baroque de Pontoise.
Contemporary music is at the core of Clare’s work. She has given over 50 world premieres, and her discography includes world premiere recordings of over 20 works. Clare has recorded six discs for BIS, most recently releasing an album of Études by visionary French composer Hélène de Montgeroult, The disc was selected as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone
Award-winning Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Justina Gringytė has received high praise for her ‘knockout technique’ ( The Times) and ‘thunderously powerful voice’ ( Daily Telegraph).
Awarded Young Singer of the Year at the International Opera Awards, and a graduate of the Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House – where among other things she performed at the Olympic Committee’s Opening Ceremony for the London Olympic Games alongside Renée Fleming, Bryn Terfel and Plácido Domingo – Justina is considered one of the foremost rising stars of the opera world. An acclaimed Carmen, her hugely-praised performance with English National Opera was screened live into cinemas.
Highlights of the 2023/24 season included Verdi’s Aida at Lithuanian National Opera, the world premiere of Žibuoklė Martinaitytė’s new work Enheduana , Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’Été with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and Ravel’s Shéhérezade with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano.
JOSEPH MIDDLETON
Joseph Middleton is Director of Leeds Lieder, Musician-in-Residence at Pembroke College Cambridge and a Professor and Fellow at his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music.
The 24/25 season sees Joseph partner artists including Veronique Gens, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Ian Bostridge, Dame Sarah Connolly, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Huw Montague Rendall, Roderick Williams, Florian Boesch, Christoph Prégardien, Carolyn Sampson and James Newby in recital. With Louise Alder and Mauro Peter he performs Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch in Wigmore Hall, Frankfurt Oper, Vienna Musikverein, Barcelona, Leeds and Cambridge. Joseph also returns to the Berlin BoulezSaal and Schubertiade Schwarzenberg with Sophie Rennert and his recording projects include an ongoing 5-album set of Mahler Lieder for Signum Records and Wolf Lieder for BIS Records
His fast-growing discography on Harmonia Mundi, BIS, Chandos and Signum have won him a Diapason D’or, Edison Award, Prix Caecilia as well as numerous Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine Award nominations.
ENSEMBLE GILLES BINCHOIS
Since its creation in 1979, the Ensemble Gilles Binchois has striven to explore, cultivate, tame, reveal, and present a whole period in the history of music that had not hitherto found its place in concert programmes, discographies, or even musical studies in conservatories. The Ensemble regularly performs works spanning eight centuries of music, ranging from Gregorian chant to Monteverdi. It is above all the Ensemble’s passion that determines its choices of repertoire and projects it towards new paths.
The Ensemble has not ceased to hone and refine its work on these repertoires, by approaching them in the light of the latest discoveries, leading to a better understanding of a musical notation that is often complex and imprecise. These four decades of familiarity with early repertoire have shaped interpretations and recordings that have continued over the years to be benchmarks for many teachers and musicologists in universities throughout the world.
DOMINIQUE VELLARD
Dominique Vellard was a choirboy at Notre-Dame de Versailles, which prompted his passionate love of Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, French composers of the 17th century and Bach organ music and chorales. Soon after completing his studies at the Versailles conservatory, Dominique Vellard decided to concentrate his work on medieval and Renaissance repertoire, fields in which he felt he was entirely free to express his musical aesthetics.
Dominique Vellard has made more than 40 recordings, whether as soloist, conductor, or leader of the Ensemble Gilles Binchois, which he has directed since 1979. He has taught at the Schola Cantorum in Basel since 1982, is artistic director of the festival Les Rencontres Internationales de Musique Médiévale du Thoronet, and composes vocal music.
THE SIXTEEN
The UK-based ensemble, hallmarked by its tonal richness, expressive intensity and compelling collective artistry, has introduced countless newcomers to works drawn from well over five centuries of sacred and secular repertoire. The Sixteen’s choir stand today among the world’s greatest ensembles, peerless interpreters of Renaissance, Baroque and modern choral music, acclaimed worldwide for performances delivered with precision, power and passion.
Celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, The Sixteen arose from its Founder and Conductor Harry Christophers’ formative experience as cathedral chorister and choral scholar. The Sixteen has widened its reach at home in recent years as ‘The Voices of Classic FM’, and with an ongoing Artist Residency at Wigmore Hall.
Since 2000 its annual Choral Pilgrimage has brought the ensemble to Britain’s great cathedrals and abbeys to perform sacred music in the spaces for which it was conceived. Following the success of the inaugural Choral Pilgrimage, The Sixteen launched its own record label in 2001. CORO has since cultivated an awardwinning catalogue of over 200 titles.
International tours are an essential part of life for The Sixteen. The ensemble makes regular visits to major concert halls and festivals throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.
EAMONN DOUGAN
Eamonn Dougan is an inspirational communicator with a wide-ranging repertoire and is a renowned vocal coach and baritone.
He is Associate Conductor of The Sixteen, founding Director of Britten Sinfonia Voices, Music Director of the Thomas Tallis Society, and Chief Conductor for Jersey Chamber Orchestra.
Eamonn has conducted The Sixteen for many years, and recently directed a highly successful five-disc Polish Baroque series. The first disc, music by Bartlomiej Pekiel, was met with widespread critical acclaim and was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award.
Other conducting engagements have included BBC Singers, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Wrocław Philharmonic Chamber Choir, among others. Eamonn’s developing opera work has included Purcell’s Dido and Aenea s, Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Così fan tutte with Ryedale Festival Opera.
Eamonn is a Visiting Professor to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. During the Autumn 2020 term, Eamonn was Acting Director of Music, Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford.
Focused tour examining the most influential of European palaces and related buildings.
A study not only of art, architecture and gardens but also of history and statecraft. Includes a performance of Vivaldi and Guido’s ‘Four Seasons’ at the Versailles Opéra Royal.
Versailles was the grandest and most influential palace and garden complex in Europe, and arguably the most lavish and luxurious and most beautifully embellished too.
It was much more than a building to house the monarch, his family and his court. It was conceived as the seat of government when France was at the apogee of her power, and as a structure to demonstrate and magnify the power of Louis XIV, to subdue his subjects and to overawe foreigners. A study of Versailles encompasses not only architectural history and garden history but also political science and the psychology of power.
Built and altered by five French kings, Versailles is several palaces. Even during Louis XIV’s reign elements changed constantly, reflecting not only changes of taste but also political realities as they changed from decade to decade. Indeed, at its core it remains a small-scale hunting lodge built by his father (surely meant to be demolished in due course), and apartments were refurbished and parts added right up until the Revolution.
Enlarging the understanding of Versailles and to set it in context we also visit the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte, in many ways its inspiration. Attention is likewise paid to the town of Versailles, first laid out by Louis XIV, as well as to the park and gardens at Versailles.
ITINERARY
Day 1: Versailles. Leave London St Pancras at c. 9.30am by Eurostar for Paris. Drive to Versailles where all three nights are spent. Spend the afternoon immersed in the grandeur, the beauty and the symbolism of the King’s and Queen’s apartments, which culminate in the Hall of Mirrors.
Day 2: Versailles. Morning lecture followed by a walk to view the grand approach to the palace and some of the its dependencies in Versailles town. Continue with a guided tour of the King’s Private Apartments. Evening performance at the Opéra Royal (the château’s opera house): The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), The Four Seasons (Guido); Orchestra of the Opéra Royal, Stefan Plewniak (solo violin and conductor).
Day 3: Versailles. Explore the palace’s gardens, which remain largely as Le Nôtre created them, the parterres, basins and sculpture around the palace and the avenues and canal which seem to stretch to infinity. Then visit the family retreats of Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon and the Domaine de Marie Antoinette.
Day 4: Vaux-le-Vicomte, Paris.
The greatest country house and garden complex of its time (1656–61), Vaux-le-Vicomte was built by Nicholas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s finance minister. It is in many ways the predecessor of Versailles, for Louis XIV, after arresting Fouquet for corruption, plundered the property and later employed its chief designers and craftsmen at Versailles. Continue to Paris for the Eurostar arriving at St Pancras at c. 6.30pm.
Participants combining this tour with ‘Music along the Seine’ spend two nights in Paris before the festival (not included in the price of the tour). Please contact us if you would like us to provide a quote for booking a hotel on your behalf.
LECTURER
Patrick Bade. Historian, writer and broadcaster with wide-ranging arthistorical and musical expertise weighted towards French history and culture. He resides in Paris for several months of the year, where he has a home in the 10th arrondissement. Educated at University College London and the Courtauld Institute, he was senior lecturer at Christie’s Education for many years. He has also worked for the Art Fund, Royal Opera House, National Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He has broadcast for Radio 3 and 4 and Classic FM and has published several books.
PRACTICALITIES
Price, per person. Two sharing: £2,240 or £1,980 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £2,540 or £2,280 without Eurostar.
Included: rail travel by Eurostar from London to Paris (Eurostar Plus); travel by private coach; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts, 1 lunch and 2 dinners with wine, water and coffee; all admissions to gardens and châteaux; first category (‘Prestige’) concert ticket; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.
Accommodation. Hôtel Le Louis Versailles Château (all.accor.com): modern 4-star hotel within walking distance of the château. Single rooms are doubles for sole use.
How strenuous? There is a lot of walking and standing around. The gardens cover a large area and paths are often uneven so sure-footedness is essential. You need to lift your luggage on and off the train and wheel it within stations.
Group size: 10–22 participants.
Illustration: Chateau de Versailles, copper engraving c. 1750.
FRENCH GOTHIC
THE GREAT CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE
Post-festival tour:
23–29 July 2025 (ml 744)
7 days • £2,890
Lecturer: Dr Jana Gajdošová
The cradle of Gothic, northern Europe’s most significant contribution to world architecture.
Nearly all the most important buildings in the development of Early and High Gothic, with an entire day at Chartres.
Unparalleled examples of stained glass, sculpture and metalwork.
Gothic was the only architectural style which had its origins in northern Europe. It was in the north of France that the first Gothic buildings arose, it was here that the style attained its classic maturity, and it is here that its greatest manifestations still stand.
From the middle of the 12th century the region was the scene of unparalleled building activity, with dozens of cathedrals, churches and abbeys under construction. Architects stretched their imaginations and masons extended their skills to devise more daring ways of enclosing greater volumes of space, with increasingly slender structural supports, and larger areas of window.
But Gothic is not only an architectural phenomenon. Windows were filled with brilliant coloured glass. Sculpture, more life-like than for nearly a thousand years yet increasingly integrated with its architectural setting, was abundant. The art of metalwork thrived, and paint was everywhere. All the arts were coordinated to interpret and present elaborate theological programmes to congregations
which included both the illiterate lay people and sophisticated clerics. Nearly all the most important buildings in the development of the Early and High phases of Gothic are included, and the order of visits even follows this development chronologically, as far as geography allows. A whole day is dedicated to the cathedral at Chartres, the premier site of the building arts of the medieval world.
ITINERARY
Day 1. Travel by Eurostar at c. 11.30am from St Pancras to Paris. Continue by coach to Laon and the hotel, in an attractive lakeside setting. First of three nights near Laon.
Participants combining this tour with ‘Music along the Seine’ disembark the boat on the final day of the festival with those taking the Option 2 Eurostar. Join the Option 2 coach transfer to the Gare du Nord at 2.00pm to meet the rest of the group travelling from London.
Day 2: Noyon, Laon. One of the earliest Gothic cathedrals (c. 1150), Noyon’s four-storey internal elevation marks the transition from the thick-walled architecture of the Romanesque to the thin-walled verticality of Gothic. Laon is spectacularly sited on a rock outcrop. Begun c. 1160, the cathedral is the most complete of Early-Gothic churches and one of the most impressive, with five soaring towers.
Day 3: Soissons, Reims. Soissons Cathedral is a fine example of the rapid changes which took place in architecture at the end of the 12th century. Reims Cathedral, the coronation church of the French monarchy, begun 1211, is a landmark in the development of High Gothic with the first appearance of bar tracery and classicising portal sculpture. At the church of St Rémi the heavy Romanesque nave contrasts with the light Early-Gothic choir.
Day 4: St-Denis. On the outskirts of Paris, the burial place of French kings, St-Denis was an abbey of the highest significance in politics and in the history of architecture. In the 1140s the choir was rebuilt, and the pointed arches, rib vaulting and skeletal structure warrant the claim that this was the first Gothic building. 100 years later the new nave inaugurated the Rayonnant style of Gothic with windows occupying the maximum possible area. First of two nights in Chartres.
Day 5: Chartres. The cathedral at Chartres, begun in 1145 and recommenced in 1195 after a fire, is the finest synthesis of Gothic art and architecture. Sculpture and stained glass are incorporated into an elaborate theological programme. A full day here provides time for unhurried exploration of the building and space to reflect and absorb. See also the church of St Pierre.
Day 6: Mantes-la-Jolie, Beauvais, Amiens. Visit the 12th-century collegiate church at Mantes-la-Jolie. Beauvais Cathedral, begun 1225, was, with a vault height in the choir of 157 feet, the climax in France of upwardly aspiring Gothic architecture and the highest vault of medieval Europe. Overnight Amiens.
Day 7: Amiens. The cathedral in Amiens is the classic High-Gothic structure, its thrilling verticality balanced by measured horizontal movement. Drive to Lille for the Eurostar to London St Pancras, arriving c. 7.00pm.
LECTURER
Dr Jana Gajdošová. A medieval art specialist at Sam Fogg Limited, Jana teaches on a variety of courses for the Bartlett School of Architecture and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Since completing her PhD in 2015, she has published in GESTA, The Burlington Magazine, the JBAA, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, and Speculum on variety of topics including experimentation in medieval buildings, Gothic sculpture, memory and architecture, and medieval bridges. She is the newly appointed director of the British Archaeological Association and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
PRACTICALITIES
Price, per person. Two sharing: £2,890 or £2,660 without Eurostar. Single occupancy: £3,240 or £3,010 without Eurostar.
Included: train travel by Eurostar (Eurostar Plus); coach travel; hotel accommodation; breakfasts and 5 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.
Accommodation. Hôtel du Golf de l’Ailette, Chamouille (ailette.fr): comfortable 4-star located a short drive from Laon in an attractive position by a lake. Hotel Le Grand Monarque, Chartres (grand-monarque.com): centrally located 4-star hotel. Hotel Mercure Amiens (all. accor.com): modern 4-star hotel near the cathedral. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.
Illustration: Chartres Cathedral, engraving by W. Alison Martin c. 1900.
How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking and standing around, as well as some long coach journeys. You should be able to lift your luggage on and off the train and wheel it within the station. Average distance by coach per day: 89 miles.
Group size: 10–22 participants.
MAKING A BOOKING & FURTHER PRACTICALITIES
MAKING A BOOKING
1. Booking Option. We recommend that you contact us to make a booking option which we will hold for 72 hours. To confirm it, please send the booking form and deposit within this period – the deposit is 10% of your total booking price.
2. Definite booking. Fill in the booking form and send it to us with the deposit. It is important that you read the Booking Conditions at this stage (see page 27) and that you sign the booking form. We also ask that to take the fitness tests described on this page before committing to a definite booking. Full payment is required if you are booking within ten weeks of the date the festival begins.
Alternatively, make a definite booking straight away via our website.
3. Our confirmation. Upon receipt of the booking form and deposit we shall send you confirmation of your booking. After this your deposit is non-returnable except in the special circumstances mentioned in the Booking Conditions. Further details about the festival may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards.
FITNESS TESTS
We ask that you take the following fitness tests before booking. By signing the Booking Form, you confirm that you have done so. Please also read ‘fitness for the festival’ on page 7.
1. Chair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least eight times in 30 seconds.
2. Step test. Mark a wall at a height that is halfway between your knee and your hip bone. Raise each knee in turn to the mark at least 60 times in two minutes.
3. Agility test. Place an object three yards from the edge of a chair, sit, and record the time it takes to stand up, walk to the object and sit back down. You should be able to do this in under seven seconds.
An additional indication of the fitness required, though we are not asking you to measure this, is that you should be able to walk unaided at a pace of three miles per hour for at least half an hour at a time, and to stand for at least 15 minutes.
MUSIC ALONG THE SEINE
16–23 JULY 2025 (ML 740)
NAME(S) – as you wish them to appear on the list of participants. Please note that we do not use titles:
Participant 1:
Contact details for all correspondence:
Address
Participant 2:
Postcode/Zip Country
Telephone (home) Mobile
E-mail
Tick if you are happy to receive your festival and booking documents online where possible (confirm your e-mail address above).
Please complete this section, even if you have told us your preferences before:
How would you like to be kept informed about our future tours and events?:
By post
Yes No
E-newsletter
Yes No
What prompted this booking? It is very helpful for us to know how you first heard about this event, and if you can be specific, e.g. if in an advertisement, the name of the publication it appeared in; if we sent you a communication, what type? (e-mail or post?):
ACCOMMODATION & TRAVEL OPTION
Deck – tick one Cabin type – tick one Travel option – tick one
Single occupancy cabin
Haydn – lowest
Strauss – middle
Mozart – top
Twin cabin with beds separate
Twin cabin with beds together
Suite with beds separate – Mozart only
Suite with beds together – Mozart only
PRE- & POST-FESTIVAL TOURS
VERSAILLES : SEAT OF THE SUN KING , 11–14 July 2025
FRENCH GOTHIC , 23–29 July 2025
Room-type:
Double / twin room
Double for sole use
Travel option:
I require the group transport arrangements, either side of the tour and festival.
Making your own arrangements for joining and leaving the festival.
FURTHER INFORMATION. Please notify us of dietary restrictions (for example, religious, medical or if you are vegetarian or vegan). Please also use this space to request room upgrades, or extra nights, etc.
MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL LTD
10 Barley Mow Passage London W4 4PH
United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)20 8742 3355 info@martinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com
Contact the London office from the USA and Canada:
Tel 1 800 988 6168 (toll free) usa@martinrandall.com
MARTIN RANDALL AUSTRALASIA
PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068
Australia
Tel 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 anz@martinrandall.com.au
MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL…
is Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.
MRT aims to produce the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, architecture, archaeology, history, music and gastronomy, and are spread across Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, Japan and the Americas.
For 2025 we have planned around 200 expert-led tours for small groups (usually 10–20 participants), four music festivals of our own devising (such as Music along the Seine), several short history and music breaks, an extensive programme of online talks, and single days in London.
For over 35 years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, setting the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards.
To see our full range of cultural tours and events, please visit www.martinrandall.com
