The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L

The Seine Music Festival 23–30 June 2016

Ensemble Gilles Binchois • Tenebrae I Fagiolini • The Orlando Consort Pascal and Ami Rogé • Kenneth Weiss

Lucille Boulanger • Julien Léonard Christophe Rousset • Juliette Hurel Hélène Couvert • Van Kuijk Quartet

martin randall travel

Martin Randall Travel aims to provide the best planned, best led and altogether the most fulfilling and enjoyable cultural tours and events available. They focus on art, music, history and archaeology in Britain, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, India, China, Japan and the Americas.

Each year there are about 250 expertled tours for small groups (usually 10 to 20 participants), five to six all-inclusive music festivals, a dozen music and literary weekends and about 80 study days in London. For over twenty-five years the company has led the field through incessant innovation and improvement, and set the benchmarks for itinerary planning, operational systems and service standards.

MRT is Britain’s leading specialist in cultural travel and one of the most respected tour operators in the world.

All-inclusive festivals in 2016 We will run the following, in addition to The Seine Music Festival:

“We continue to be amazed at the way Martin Randall Travel have been able to set up a series of private concerts of the highest calibre and held in some of the most wonderful venues in Europe.”

The Suffolk Festival: Music of Tudor & Stuart England. 13–16 June 2016.

Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com.

“An unbeatable combination of wonderful music in great venues and the most congenial travel companions looked after by excellent, pleasant staff. Thank you all!”

The Danube Festival of Song. 5–12 July 2016. Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com.

“I would have a major problem to think of a single criticism. Planning, execution, the programme itself, the joy and enthusiasm of each and every musician and singer, the competence and friendliness of everyone I met from MRT was of the highest level.”

A Festival of Music in Franconia: The Rhine-Main-Danube Canal.

16–23 August 2016. Contact us for full details or visit www.martinrandall.com.

A Festival of Music in Florence.

16–22 October 2016. Full details will be available in November 2015. Contact us to register your interest.

“The speakers were informative, imaginative and passionate in their presentations. The context and correlations they offered were stimulating and enjoyable.”

These are just a few comments from participants on our music festivals – to read more, visit www.martinrandall.com/testimonials.

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Illustration: Paris, Pont Marie, by Sidney Dark in ‘Paris’, publ. 1926.

Opposite page: the River Seine at Meudon, near Paris, late-19th-century lithograph.

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martin randall travel

The Seine Music Festival 23–30 June 2016

• Nine private concerts in beautiful historic buildings along the Seine Valley.

• Major international musicians from France and Britain.

• The mainly French music is appropriate to the buildings in which it is performed.

• Daily talks on music and architecture by leading experts.

• Accommodation is on board a comfortable modern river cruiser.

• All meals are included, provided by the ship’s excellent chefs.

• The meticulously planned itinerary is full but relaxing and unobtrusively managed by experienced staff.

• Historic towns and pretty villages; great churches, abbeys and châteaux; outstanding gardens and the lovely scenery of the Seine valley.

Music in appropriate historic buildings

Music and musicians of the highest quality

This festival presents a thrilling range of French music from the 15th to the 20th centuries – all in appropriate settings.

We have engaged outstanding performers from Britain and France. In addition to those mentioned above, there is Christophe Rousset (harpsichord), Tenebrae directed by Nigel Short, Kenneth Weiss (harpsichord), Juliette Hurel (flute), the Ensemble Gilles Binchois and the Van Kuijk String Quartet.

The Orlando Consort bring music of the 1430s to Carl Theodor Dreyer’s La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928), one of the greatest films of all time, to a 15th-century church in Rouen near the site of her immolation in 1431. Pascal and Ami Rogé perform ‘Impressionist’ music for the piano adjacent to Monet’s garden at Giverny. There is viol music by Couperin and Marais in the Château de Maisons Lafitte, the masterpiece of François Mansart; and Francophile Robert Hollingworth directs I Fagiolini in a programme which includes Ode à la gastronomie by Jean Francaix and Poulenc’s Hôtel in Le Meurice in Paris.

And this is just to mention four of the nine concerts (of which five are full length, four are around an hour). All take place in architectural settings which are both beautiful and appropriate, being of the same period as the building or having some other sort of association.

The potency of the music is magnified by both the appropriateness of the buildings and their size, which is modest in comparison with conventional concert halls. The audience will number not much over a hundred, but nevertheless three of the concerts have to be repeated because the halls are too small to accommodate everyone in a single sitting. This creates an intimacy of musical communication which greatly enhances the artistic experience.

Contents The Programme............................... 5–10

Fitness for the festival.......................... 13

Post-festival tour: French Gothic......... 16

Joining & leaving the Festival.............. 11

Pre-festival tours:

Booking form................................ 17–18

The ship, prices.............................. 12–13

Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis............... 14

Making a booking................................ 19

Speakers............................................... 13

Versailles.............................................. 15

Booking conditions............................. 19

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martin randall travel

The River Seine Shorter than the Rhône or the Loire, the Seine is nevertheless the greatest river of France. History has made it so, with the north of the country, and Paris in particular, emerging in the High Middle Ages as the political, economic, intellectual and cultural centre of gravity.

But geography had a part to play. Rising in Burgundy and flowing northwest through the Ile de France and Normandy, it is navigable for much of its course, and tidal below Rouen.

Scenically much of the valley of the Seine is exceedingly attractive, with sweeps of green pasture and orchards, clusters of beech and lines of poplar, low hills and high chalky cliffs. The name ‘Seine’ is thought to derive from the Celtic ‘squan’ meaning curve, and the most striking characteristic of the river course are those great winding loops which create narrow headlands and shelving promontories.

There are stretches where travellers can feel transported into paintings by Pisarro, Monet and Renoir. Several towns, trading posts, monasteries and castles grew above the banks of the Seine. A representative selection of these are explored during the cruise, which is an architectural as well as a musical journey.

Left: Jumieges, early-20th-century etching by Henry Howard.

Right: Paris, Place de la Concorde, late-19th-century lithograph

by Rigo Frères. Photographs left–right: Tenebrae, Nigel Short.

Great French buildings

Exclusive access

The comfort of a river cruiser

As with most of our festivals, the key feature is that the music is performed in appropriate historic buildings. Performances are in châteaux, churches and a hotel ballroom beside the River Seine or a short drive away. All are historic buildings of charm or beauty, some of them seldom-visited architectural jewels.

The concerts are private, being exclusive to around a hundred festival participants who book a package which also provides accommodation on a first-class river cruiser, all meals, first-class Eurostar between the UK and Paris (if required), travel by luxury coach and talks on the music and architecture.

To this exceptional artistic experience is added a further pleasure: the comfort and convenience of the ship, the MS Amadeus Diamond, chartered exclusively for the festival audience.

From the grand and splendid to the small and charming, these venues have been chosen to bring out the best in the performers and the music they play. Usually the music is of the same period as the building in which it is played and sometimes there are specific historical connections.

The spoken word is an important ingredient of the festival. There are daily talks on the music by Professor Richard Langham Smith, Research Professor of the Royal College of Music and leading specialist on French music, and on architecture by John McNeill, renowned art historian and the author of a book on Normandy. See page 13 for their full biographies.

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As both hotel and principal means of transport, the ship enables passengers to attend the concerts and visit some fine buildings in the region without having to change hotel or drive long distances. The succession of fine meals is prepared by the excellent on-board chefs.

There is little regimentation, no obligatory seating plan, no onboard entertainment, no intrusive announcements – and absolutely no piped music.

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The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

The Programme

Day 1, Thursday 23rd June: Paris For information on travelling to and from the festival see page 11.

The ship, MS Amadeus Diamond, will be moored in Paris at the Port de Javel in the 15th arrondissement and ready for boarding from 4.00pm.

After dinner on board, coaches take participants to the church of St Etienne du Mont for the first concert.

Tenebrae takes its name from the dark hours before Easter, and a Renaissance setting of the Lamentations sung on those days dominates the first part of this panorama of French church music. Then we move to light, with two jubilant masses, the first by Duruflé, for many years Director of Music at St. Etienne du Mont, the other by Fauré: his delightful low mass, written for a fisherman’s church in Normandy.

Construction of the glorious church of St Etienne du Mont started at the end of the 15th century and was not finished until the 17th, thus spanning the last period of Gothic architecture and the beginnings of the French Renaissance.

After the concert, return to the ship, which remains moored in Paris overnight.

Concert, 9.00pm Eglise de St Etienne du Mont, French choral music of penance & praise Tenebrae Nigel Short Director Tenebrae’s performances are renowned for creating an atmosphere of spiritual and musical reflection while epitomising the finest attributes of modern English choral singing – precise, vital, expressive of text. Nigel Short was a consort singer with leading ensembles before founding Tenebrae in 2001. Members have experience with choirs such as those of Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and Kings College Cambridge and early music ensembles including the Monteverdi Choir and the Gabrieli Consort. info@martinrandall.co.uk

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The Programme

Day 2, Friday 24th June: Maisons-Laffitte Sail at 9.00am. There are morning lectures on music and architecture. Moor at ConflansSainte Honorine around 2.30pm.

Drive to the château at Maisons-Laffitte.

Concert, 4.00pm Château de Maisons-Laffitte, Baroque chamber music Kenneth Weiss harpsichord Lucile Boulanger viol Julien Leonard viol One of the most accomplished keyboard players of his generation, Kenneth Weiss focuses on recitals, chamber music, teaching and conducting. He has directed many of the leading Baroque ensembles in Europe. As a harpsichordist, recordings include Goldberg Variations, Bach Partitas and transcriptions of opera and ballet by Rameau. He was born in New York, studied in Amsterdam and teaches at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

counterpart the bass viol, especially in the way composers wrote for it. While English music was often introvert, with players facing each other round a table, French viol music featured the instrument in solos or duets and became more and more virtuosic. This was especially the case in the hands of its greatest exponent, Marin Marais, whose music features alongside pieces by William Lawes as well as Louis and François Couperin.

Designed by François Mansart and built 1642–51 for the President du Parlement, the Château at Maisons Laffitte 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 homogenous.

Sail from Conflans to Vernon, mooring in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Julien Léonard and Lucile Boulanger both studied with Christophe Coin. Julien now teaches in Angers while Lucile performs widely as a chamber musician and has been awarded prizes for her interpretations of Bach.

The French basse de viole could hardly have been more different from its English

Above left: the Seine near Vernon, etching by H.C. Delpy, 1904.

Photo top: Kenneth Weiss ©Arthur Forjonel; below: Juliette Hurel and Hélène Couvert ©M. Lemelle and B. de Diesbach.

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Day 3, Saturday 25th June: Bizy, Giverny Moor at Vernon.

There is a ten-minute drive from the ship to the morning concert (which is repeated: the audience divides).

Concert, 10.00 or 11.30am Vernon, Château de Bizy, The French Flute Juliette Hurel flute Hélène Couvert piano Juliette Hurel is in great demand as a chamber musician on French and international stages. She has been principal flute with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra since 1998. Hélène Couvert is her accompanist on all her recordings, and enjoys a solo career with acclaimed discs of Haydn, Beethoven and Janácek.

During the early 20th-century, French flute playing was the best in Europe – the classes at the Paris Conservatoire renowned worldwide.

Flautists such as Taffanel, Fleury and Moyse drew from French composers a rich repertoire. Juliette Hurel programmes some of its highlights including the turbulent Sonata

by Melanie Bonis, paired with better-known stalwarts by Poulenc and Fauré. The lascivious antics of Debussy’s flute-playing satyr are captured in a clever piano reduction of his Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune.

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The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

The venue is the privately-owned Château de Bizy, a beautifully detailed 19th-century reconstruction of a château of the 1740s.

The monumental stable block is indeed eighteenth-century, and magnificent grounds are laid out in true Baroque form.

Rapsodie Espagnole is one of many French impressions of Spain. But this concert also explores the undercurrents that swept Impressionism away: Satie’s Parade, originally a surrealist ballet, is particularly captivating in the piano-duet version.

Lunch is on board the ship.

The Musée des Impressionnismes brings new perspectives to the history of Impressionism through temporary exhibitions. Our concert venue is the auditorium on the lower level.

Giverny is only six kilometres from Vernon.

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 exhibition Gustave Caillebotte, painter and gardener at the Musée des Impressionnismes.

Return to the ship for dinner and sail overnight to Caudebec-en-Caux.

Concert, 5.00pm Giverny, Musée des Impressionnismes, Impressionist piano

When not attending the concert there is time to visit the Flamboyant parish church in Caudebec-en-Caux. Begun under English occupation in 1426, it is one of the most ambitious parish churches of late mediaeval Normandy, famed for the virtuosity of its architecture and the dazzling quality of its sixteenth-century glass.

Van Kuijk Quartet

Pascal Rogé exemplifies the finest in French pianism, his stylistically perfect phrasing and elegant performances winning him awards and acclaim during his esteemed solo career.

In recent years he has turned his attention to the piano duet with his wife Ami. Together, they have travelled the world appearing at prestigious festivals and concert halls.

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This morning’s concert is at the Château d’Etelan, whose small drawing room requires the audience to split and the concert to be performed twice.

Concert, 10.00 or 11.30am Château d’Etelan, Debussy & Mozart

Pascal & Ami Rogé

Where better to hear Impressionist piano music than in a concert hall adjacent to Monet’s garden? The young Debussy’s charming Petite Suite evokes those leisurely days of early Impressionism while Ravel’s

Day 4, Sunday 26th June: Caudebec-en-Caux, Etelan, Jumièges, St Wandrille

‘Style, energy and a sense of risk’, wrote the Guardian critic of this young Quartet who triumphed in the Wigmore Hall Quartet competition in 2015. Created in Paris in 2012, they are fast becoming known on the international music scene.

Photo, top left: Pascal and Ami Rogé ©Mark Higby.

Top right: Château d’Etelan, lithograph c. 1850.

Above: Van Kuijk Quartet.

The same reviewer went on to say how ‘they made the music smile’. What more could you want from the Debussy Quartet – his only one – which moves between shimmering textures and long-breathed melodies to some gritty, challenging moments of real excitement? Also book online at www.martinrandall.com

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The Programme heard is Mozart’s Dissonance Quartet from just about 100 years before.

The Château d’Etelan, a manor house built in the first decade or two of the sixteenth century, is evocatively located in tranquil countryside on the edge of a plateau overlooking the final bend in the Seine.

Though modest in scale, it is quite advanced for its time and is unique in Normandy for the use of banded brick and stone. It is still in private hands.

After lunch there is an optional excursion.

The ruin of the once great abbey of Jumièges – monumental, roofless, sun-bleached and spare – is one of the seminal buildings of Romanesque Europe and was particularly influential in England. Likewise ruinous, the most striking remains of the Benedictine Monastery of St Wandrille are the 13thcentury choir and the 14th-century cloister walk. Rejoin the ship in Rouen.

Alternatively stay on board while the ship sails from Caudebec to Rouen, where it remains overnight.

Day 5, Monday 27th June: St Martin de Boscherville, Rouen Drive from Rouen to the pretty village of St Martin de Boscherville.

Concert, 11.00am St Martin de Boscherville, Eglise Abbatiale de St Georges, Forgotten polyphony

independently; the mooring is within walking distance of the cathedral and the quartier St-Maclou.

The celebrated cathedral is a showpiece of Gothic architecture, juxtaposing a rather quirky and beautifully detailed nave with a simplified, 13th-century choir, and reserving its more extravagant later mediaeval architecture for the west front that so mesmerised Monet. Nearby are other Gothic masterpieces, St Ouen and St Maclou, and the contrasting church of Sainte Jeanne d’Arc, finished in 1979 but equipped with a breathtaking display of 16th-century stained glass.

Concert, 9.00pm Rouen, Eglise St Maclou, The Passion of Joan of Arc The Orlando Consort The Orlando Consort is one of Europe’s most expert and consistently challenging early music vocal ensembles. Celebrated at festivals and in concert halls throughout the world, they perform repertoire from 1050 to 1550 with scholarship, skill, imagination and unfailing beauty.

This ambitious concert is centred on the showing of a 1928 film by the Danish artist Carl Theodor Dreyer whose subject is the suffering and death of Joan of Arc. The Orlando Consort have devised this pairing of the film with music composed during the

Ensemble Gilles Binchois Dominique Vellard Director Dominique Vellard has directed the Ensemble Gilles Binchois since its creation in 1979. Devoted to 15th- and 16th-century repertoire and mediaeval song, they have released over forty recordings and performed all over the world.

The Abbey at Boscherville has a monastic fruit garden and a garden of aromatic plants hidden in its cloisters. To walk from these into the vast Romanesque basilica provides an unparalleled way of plugging into the past – especially if the church is filled with French church music. This programme has uncovered four centuries of polyphonic music from regional France based on Gregorian chant, ornamented with what are known as faux-bourdons.

The afternoon is free in Rouen, capital of Normandy, architecturally and scenically one of the finest cities in France. You can join a talk in the cathedral or explore the city book online at www.martinrandall.com

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The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

life of the saint herself: the early 15th century.

The music illuminates every step of this extraordinary film, lauded by film-makers and banned in certain countries.

Sail downstream to Vernon for an afternoon concert (for which the audience divides) at La Roche-Guyon, a small town nestling between the Seine and the high chalk cliffs behind.

It is performed in the very city in which Joan was burned at the stake in 1431. The Eglise St Maclou presents the 15th century at its most jewel-like, and is one of the best examples of Flamboyant Gothic architecture in France.

Concert, 3.00 or 4.30pm Château de la Roche-Guyon, Couperin’s dynasty

Sail overnight from Rouen to Les Andelys.

Christophe Rousset has gained international acclaim with his extraordinary talent as a harpsichordist and chamber musician, performing and recording on the most beautiful period instruments. He is soughtafter both as a guest conductor and as leader of his own ensemble, Les Talens Lyriques.

Day 6, Tuesday 28th June: Les Andelys, La Roche Guyon Château Gaillard, built by Richard the Lionheart in 1196, occupies a commanding site with tremendous views over the Seine valley. Though ruined, the remains are sufficient to demonstrate that this was one of the most formidable fortifications of the Middle Ages.

In Grand Andely, the town below, Notre-Dame is a fascinating and beautiful church which incorporates late Gothic parts with elements of Italianate Renaissance design and outstanding stained glass. An alternative would be free time in Petit Andely, a charming village where the ship is moored.

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Christophe Rousset harpsichord

The concert provides an opportunity to hear music by three of the pillars of the French harpsichord repertoire on an instrument similar to those for which it was conceived.

Louis Couperin was the uncle of François dit-le-Grand and was celebrated for his free ‘unmeasured’ preludes. François developed character pieces, often given evocative and sometimes puzzling titles. Music by Rameau, a masterful operatic composer who didn’t start writing for the harpsichord until his fifties, completes the programme.

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.

The ship sails overnight from Vernon to Conflans.

Illustration opposite: Rouen, lithograph c. 1850.

Photos opposite, top to bottom: The Orlando Consort ©Eric Richmond; Ensemble Gilles Binchois.

Photo above: Christophe Rousset ©Eric Larrayadieu.

Below: Château Gaillard, 20th-century etching.

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The Programme

Day 7, Wednesday 29th June: Auvers-sur-Oise, Paris There is a morning excursion to Auverssur-Oise, an artists’ colony frequented by Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. See the church that Van Gogh painted and the Auberge Ravoux where he lived for the last few weeks of his life.

Continue upstream to Paris in the afternoon.

Concert, 6.30pm Paris, Hotel Le Meurice, Ode à la gastronomie I Fagiolini Robert Hollingworth Director Founded by Robert Hollingworth in 1986, I Fagiolini is among the world’s most exciting exponents of Renaissance and 20th-century repertoire, famed for its entertaining and imaginative performances. They won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Ensemble Prize in 2005, the only early music ensemble ever to be so honoured.

A song in praise of the erotic powers of the black truffle, this ‘Ode à la Gastronomie’ takes its name from a 12-voice piece by the witty French composer Jean Françaix. It harks back to the rebellious – but sometimes deeply moving – spirit of the 1910s and 20s, typified by the poets Cocteau, Éluard and Apollinaire. These were set by the audacious young Poulenc whose seven songs for vocal

ensemble form a centrepiece of this highly original programme, which also includes songs by Milhaud and a new arrangement

by Roderick Williams of the heart-breaking adagio from Ravel’s G major concerto for piano and voices.

Situated on the rue de Rivoli, Le Meurice is one of the finest hotels in Paris. The guest list includes many famous names from the arts; Salvador Dalí spent a month in the Royal Suite each year for thirty years. The Salon Pompadour, a recreation of 18th-century opulence, provides the perfect backdrop for this teasing autour du piano.

Moor in Paris overnight.

Day 8, Thursday 30th June: Paris Leaving the festival. Participants have to disembark by 9.30am. See page 11 for onward travel options.

More about the concerts Private events. The concerts are planned and administered by Martin Randall Travel and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the full festival package. The concerts are therefore private.

Seating. Specific seats are not reserved.

You sit where you want. At small venues the audience is split and the concert performed twice.

Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with authenticity and ambience than acoustical perfection. While some of the venues have excellent acoustics, some have idiosyncrasies not found in modern concert halls.

Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues need emergency repairs: there are many unforeseeable circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We cannot rule out changes to the programme due to the tide, to severe increases in water levels (which lead to the closure of locks) or indeed low levels of water. Such changes might necessitate more travel by coach. We ask you to be understanding should these events occur.

Above left: Paris, rue de Rivoli, watercolour by Yoshio Markino publ. 1908. Above right: I Fagiolini ©Eric Richmond.

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The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

Joining & leaving the festival Travel by Eurostar

Own travel arrangements

To join the festival, there is a choice between two Eurostar trains from London St Pancras to Paris. These are paired with trains on the last day. Alternatively you are welcome to make your own arrangements for international travel – see Option 3.

Option 3: no trains

Option 1 Thursday 23rd June. Depart London St Pancras at 10.24am or Ebbsfleet at 10.42am.

After arriving at Paris Gare du Nord at 1.47pm, you are collected by coach and set down near the Louvre for about two hours of independent time. After rejoining the coach, you board the ship at c. 5.15pm.

Thursday 30th June. Disembark at 9.15am to board a coach to Paris. Depart Paris Gare du Nord by Eurostar at 11.13am and arrive at London St Pancras at 12.30pm. This train does not stop at Ebbsfleet.

Option 2 Thursday 23rd June. Depart London St Pancras at 12.24pm or Ebbsfleet at 12.42pm and arrive at Paris Gare du Nord at 3.47pm.

You are then taken by coach directly to the ship, which you board at c. 5.00pm.

Thursday 30th June. Disembark at 9.30am and transfer by coach to the Louvre area for some free time in Paris. Coaches leave for the Gare du Nord at 2.45pm for the Eurostar at 4.13pm. Stop at Ebbsfleet at 5.18pm, arrive London St Pancras at 5.39pm.

Train travel is in first class ‘Standard Premier’ and drinks and refreshments are served at your seat. This is continental breakfast if departure is before 11.00am or a light meal in the afternoon and evening. These times are from the 2015 timetable – changes are likely.

You can choose to make your own way to and from the Festival. There is a price reduction of £230 for this. You are welcome to join our transfers from the Gare du Nord, to meet in the centre of Paris or to go directly to the ship. MS Amadeus Diamond is moored in Paris at the Port de Javel in the 15th arrondissement. Boarding is permitted from 4.00pm but you can deposit your bags before this time.

If you would like to take Option 1 on the outbound journey and Option 2 inbound or vice versa, you would have to make your own arrangements. Unfortunately Eurostar’s group booking conditions do not allow us to make such arrangements.

Pre-festival tours The cost of return Eurostar is included in the price of the pre-festival tours (unless you make your own arrangements). You return to London at 11.13 on 30th June (Option 1).

Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis, 19–22 June 2016 (mc 721): participants take the train from Amsterdam to Paris on 22nd June and spend the night at the 4-star Hotel Westminster in Paris before the start of the festival on 23rd June. For full details of this tour, see page 14.

Versailles, 20–23 June 2016 (mc 736): participants are taken to the ship on the final day of the tour. For full details of this tour, see page 15.

Post-festival tour French Gothic, 1–7 July 2016 (mc 740): participants travel to Paris at 10.24am on 23rd June (Option 1). At the end of the Festival, taxis take you to the 4-star Hotel Westminster to spend the night of 30th June. You are free until the following morning, when you transfer by taxi to the Gare du Nord to meet the rest of the group travelling from London.

For full details of this tour, see page 16.

Above right: St Martin de Boscherville, Eglise Abbatiale de St Georges, steel engraving c. 1850.

Right: engraving after a bas-relief sculpture in the same building from ‘The Arts in the Middle Ages’ publ. 1878.

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martin randall travel

The ship, prices

The MS Amadeus Diamond, launched in 2009, is one of the more comfortable cruisers on the waterways of Europe. The multinational crew is dedicated to the highest standards of service.

With a minimum floor area of 15m2 the cabins are reasonably spacious by the standards of river cruisers. All have windows to the outside and are equipped with the facilities one would expect of a first-class hotel including shower, w.c., toiletries, individually adjustable air-conditioning, telephone, TV and safe.

In layout and furnishings the cabins are identical, the significant differences being the size of windows and height above water level (higher cabins enjoy better views and fewer stairs). Beds are twins which can be pushed together or separated.

Those on the top two decks (Mozart and Strauss) are the most desirable, with floor to ceiling windows which slide open. Also on the Mozart deck are twelve suites measuring approximately 22m2 which have a sofa, table and armchair, a bath, minibar and safe.

Cabins on the lowest (Haydn) deck have smaller windows which do not open.

There are no single cabins as such but we are allocating some two-bed cabins for single occupancy.

Haydn deck (lowest) Two sharing: £2,890 per person *Single occupancy: £3,533

Strauss deck (middle) Two sharing: £3,630 per person *Single occupancy: £4,426

Mozart deck (top) Two sharing: £3,990 per person *Single occupancy: £4,868

Suites (Mozart deck) Two sharing: £4,760 per person Making your own arrangements for travel to and from the Festival: deduct £230. *All cabins are designed for double occupancy.

We make a limited amount of cabins on each deck available for single occupancy, which usually sell out quickly. Around three months before the start of the festival we may offer any remaining unsold cabins previously reserved for double occupancy to single travellers on the waiting list at a higher price (Haydn £3,760; Strauss £4,710; Mozart £5,191).

The public areas include the lounge and bar, a library area, gym and a restaurant which can seat everyone at a single sitting on tables of six. The food is good, though more international than French. The sun deck has a chess board, golf putting green and a tented area for shade. Free wireless internet is available and most reliable when the ship is stationary.

There is no lift. www.lueftner-cruises.com book online at www.martinrandall.com

Cabin (15m2) 1. Bed; 2. Television 3. Toilet; 4. Basin 5. Shower; 6. Cabinet; 7. Telephone; 8. Desk; 9. Window; 10. Armchair; 11. Safe.

Suite (22m2) 1. Bed; 2. Television 3. Toilet; 4. Basin 5. Bath tub; 6. Cabinet; 7. Telephone; 8. Desk; 9. Balcony; 10. Armchair; 11. Minibar; 12. Table; 13. Chair; 14. Safe.

From top: Suite (Mozart); Mozart/Strauss deck cabin; Haydn deck cabin (different ship but comparable size and layout).

The festival package The price includes: Admission to all nine concerts.

Accommodation for seven nights on board a comfortable river cruiser.

All meals from dinner on the first day to breakfast on the last. Wine, water and coffee are provided with lunch and dinner.

Interval drinks.

Tea, coffee and fresh fruit are available all day on the ship. Afternoon tea or morning coffee is served in the lounge when it fits in with our itinerary.

Travel by coach to the concert venues when they are beyond walking distance.

Two lecturers, a musicologist and an architectural historian.

All tips for crew, restaurant staff and drivers.

All admission charges and all taxes.

Practical and historical information and a detailed programme booklet.

The assistance of an experienced team of festival staff.

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The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

13

Speakers John McNeill specialises in the Middle Ages and Renaissance and has degrees in art history from the University of East Anglia and the Courtauld.

He lectures at Birkbeck College and for Oxford University’s Department of Continuing Education. He is Honorary Secretary of the British Archaeological Association, for whom he has edited collections of essays on mediaeval Anjou, King’s Lynn and the Fens, Cloisters, and the Medieval Chantry in England. He was editor and contributor of Romanesque & the Past: Retrospection in the Art & Architecture of Romanesque Europe and is author of the Blue Guides for Normandy and Loire Valley.

Professor Richard Langham Smith.

Music historian, broadcaster and writer with a particular interest in early music and 19thand 20th-century French music.

He co-authored the Cambridge Opera Guide on Pelléas et Mélisande and has published widely on Debussy and Bizet. Richard is currently Research Professor at the Royal College of Music. He read Music at York University and the Amsterdam Conservatory. He is currently working on Bizet’s Carmen, preparing both a new edition and a monograph.

Right, Paris, rue du Haut Pavé and Pantheon, watercolour by Yoshino Markino publ. 1908.

Deck plans If you would like a particular cabin, please request this on your booking form.

Mozart deck – cabins 301–312 are suites.

Strauss deck

Haydn deck

Fitness for the festival Quite a lot of walking is necessary to reach the concert venues and to get around the towns visited. Neither the concert venues nor the ship are equipped with a lift. Participants need to be averagely fit, sure-footed and able to manage everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty.

Self-assessment tests. There is no age limit for this festival, but we do ask that prospective participants assess their fitness by trying these simple exercises: 1. Chair stands. Sit in a dining chair, with arms folded and hands on opposite shoulders. Stand up and sit down at least 8 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 2 minutes.

Acknowledgements This brochure was produced in house. The text was written chiefly by Martin Randall and Sophie Wright. It was designed by Jo Murray and was sent to print on 31st July 2015. info@martinrandall.co.uk

3. Agility test. Place an object 3 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 7 seconds. book online at www.martinrandall.com

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martin randall travel

Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis

Art in Amsterdam, Haarlem & The Hague

are included as well as walks through the enchanting streetscape and beside the canals.

to the Festival fly from Amsterdam and return to Heathrow at c. 6.00pm.)

To enlarge upon the theme, two key galleries in other towns are visited. The Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, housed in the almshouse where the eponymous artist spent his last years, provides a perfect introduction to Golden Age art, while the paintings in the Mauritshuis, also benefitting from brilliant re-display, form one of the richest small collections anywhere.

Thursday 30th June. On the final day of the Festival, take the Eurostar from Paris at 11.13am and arrive London St Pancras at 12.30pm (Option 1 – see page 11).

Itinerary Day 1. Fly at c. 12.00 midday from London Heathrow to Amsterdam. Haarlem was the chief artistic centre in the northern Netherlands in the 16th century and home of the first of the great masters of the Golden Age, Frans Hals, whose finest works are in the excellent small museum here. Drive to Amsterdam, where all three nights are spent.

19–22 June 2016 (mc 721) 4 days • £1,790 Lecturer: Dr Guus Sluiter Painting of the Dutch Golden Age – Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer and contemporaries – as well as art of other eras.

Plenty of time for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam which reopened in 2013 as Europe’s best-displayed national gallery.

The Mauritshuis in The Hague also reopened in 2014 after complete refurbishment and ‘looks set to become northern Europe’s most alluring small museum’ (Financial Times).

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is one of the world’s great museums, but it was largely closed for ten years until 2013. Planned extension and refurbishment hit a number of unexpected snags, but the new Rijksmuseum has been greeted with universal praise. Much extra space has been quarried from within the footprint of the 1885 building, and while some of the original decoration has been revealed and restored, the latest museum technology has been adopted and the artworks are beautifully lit. Paintings, sculpture, drawings, tapestries, ceramics, gold and silver – the whole gamut of fine and decorative arts are on display, often in meaningful juxtaposition.

Though the gallery has the finest collection by far of the Dutch Golden Age (the seventeenth century, the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer), it has much else besides, and significant international collections as well. There are two visits to the museum, and Amsterdam’s other main galleries and historic buildings

Pre-festival tour

Day 2. With its concentric rings of canals and 17th-century merchants’ mansions, Amsterdam is one of the loveliest capitals in the world. Our first visit to the brilliantly refurbished Rijksmuseum concentrates on Rembrandt, Vermeer and their contemporaries. In the afternoon walk to the Museum Willet-Holthuysen, a patrician’s house and garden furnished as in the 18th century, and to the house where Rembrandt lived and worked for nearly 20 years.

Walk back to the hotel through some of Amsterdam’s most attractive streets.

Day 3. The Hermitage has an excellent exhibition, The Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age, until the end of 2016. The Royal Palace, formerly the town hall, was decorated by the leading Dutch painters of the 17th century (subject to closure for royal functions). Return to the Rijksmuseum for a second visit. There is some free time to visit two other major art museums nearby which have also recently been refurbished and extended, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum of modern and contemporary art.

Day 4. Opened in June 2014 after long closure for refurbishment, the Mauritshuis at The Hague ‘looks set to become northern Europe’s most alluring small museum’ (Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times). The superb collection of paintings includes masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer. The Gemeentemuseum has 19th-century Hague School paintings, the realist milieu from which Van Gogh emerged, and works by the pioneer abstractionist Mondriaan. Festival participants take the train from Amsterdam to Paris, spending the night at the Hotel Westminster. (Those not continuing onwards

book online at www.martinrandall.com

The order of visits on this itinerary may change to take advantage of temporary exhibitions.

Lecturer Dr Guus Sluiter.

Art historian and Director of the Dutch Funeral Museum in Amsterdam.

He has worked in a number of other museums in the Netherlands including the Mauritshuis in The Hague and the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. He is a board member of the Foundation of Amsterdam Museums and Research Fellow of the Dutch Institute for Art History in Florence. He has published widely in the Netherlands and Italy.

Practicalities Price: £2,040. This includes: flight (Euro Traveller) with British Airways, London– Amsterdam (Airbus 320); first class rail Amsterdam–Paris; travel by Eurostar Paris– London; hotel accommodation as described below; travel by private coach; breakfasts and 3 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer. Single supplement £410 (double for single occupancy). Price without flights and Eurostar £1,880.

(Price if not combining with the Festival: £1,790.

Single supplement: £290. No flights: £1,630.)

Accommodation. Hotel Estheréa, Amsterdam (estherea.nl): central 4-star hotel in a historic building with colourful, comfortable rooms. Hotel Westminster, Paris (warwickwestminsteropera.com): comfortable 4-star hotel with traditional décor.

How strenuous? There is quite a lot of walking and standing in museums, and the tour would not be suitable for anyone with difficulties with everyday walking. Average distance by coach per day: 23 miles.

Group size: between 10 and 20 participants.

Above left: Amsterdam, from ‘Old Dutch Towns & Villages’, (publication date unknown).

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The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

Versailles

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The greatest palace & garden Pre-festival tour

20–23 June 2016 (mc 736) 4 days • £1,630 Lecturer: Em. Professor Antony Spawforth 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 concert in the Château’s Royal Chapel with Collegium Vocale Gent.

Led by Professor Antony Spawforth, author of Versailles: A Biography of a Palace.

Versailles was the grandest and most influential palace and garden complex in Europe, and arguably the most lavish and luxurious and most beautifully embellished.

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.

Versailles is several palaces. This is well disguised by its overwhelming homogeneity and symmetry, but even during Louis XIV’s reign elements changed constantly, reflecting not so much changes of taste but also political realities as they changed from decade to decade. Indeed, at its core remains a smallscale 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 there are also visits to the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, in many ways its inspiration, the Louvre, principal royal palace before and after Louis XIV’s reign, and to the grounds of Marly-le-Roi, a demolished palace constructed to allow the Sun King to retreat from the formality of Versailles Particular attention is paid to the park and gardens at Versailles, with a visit to the extraordinary vegetable garden, and the tour is timed to coincide with the occasional functioning of the fountains with musical accompaniment.

Itinerary Day 1: Vaux-le-Vicomte. Leave London St Pancras at c. 9.30am by Eurostar for Paris. The greatest country house and garden complex of its time (1656–61), Vaux-le-Vicomte was info@martinrandall.co.uk

built by Nicholas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s chief minister. It is in every way the predecessor of Versailles, for impelled by envy and greed the King imprisoned Fouquet, confiscated the property and later employed most of its designers and craftsmen at Versailles. Drive to Versailles where all four nights are spent.

Day 2: Versailles. After circumnavigating the vast palace, spend the morning immersed in the grandeur, the beauty and the symbolism of the King’s and Queen’s apartments, which culminate in the Hall of Mirrors. Then visit the family retreats of Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon and Domaine Marie Antoinette.

Day 3: Versailles. Returning to the palace, explore the 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. In the afternoon visit apartments from the time of Louis XV, characterised by lightness and delicacy and frivolity.

Further excursions into the gardens take in the extraordinary King’s vegetable garden (Potager du Roi). Evening concert in the Chapelle Royale of the Château: Requiem for the Funeral of Louis XV (Jean Gilles), Skip Sempé (conductor), Cappricio Stravagante, Collegium Vocale Gent, Judith van Wanroij (soprano), Robert Getchell (counter-tenor), Fernando Guimarães (tenor), Lisandro Abadie (bass-baritone).

Day 4: Versailles, Marly-le-Roi, Paris.

Morning walk around Versailles town including the Cathédrale St Louis, for which Louis XV laid the first stone, and the exministries of War and Foreign Affairs. Drive to Marly-le-Roi, Louis XIV’s retreat from the formality of Versailles, which became his favourite residence. No building survives, but the terraced park is evocative. Continue to Paris to join the Festival. (Those not joining the Festival travel back to London by Eurostar arriving at St Pancras at c. 5.45pm.)

Thursday 30th June. On the final day of the Festival, take the Eurostar from Paris at 11.13am and arrive London St Pancras at 12.30pm (Option 1 – see page 11).

Lecturer Emeritus Professor Antony Spawforth.

Historian, broadcaster, lecturer and writer specialising in Greek and Roman antiquity and in rulers’ courts.

Books include Versailles: A Biography of a Palace. Formerly Assistant Director of the British School at Athens, he is now Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at Newcastle University.

Practicalities Price: £1,630. This includes: return rail travel (first class, standard premier) by Eurostar; 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; all tips for waiters and drivers; all taxes; the services of the lecturer. Single supplement £170 (double room for single occupancy). Price without rail travel by Eurostar £1,450.

Accommodation. Pullman Château de Versailles (pullmanhotels.com). A modern 4-star within walking distance of the Château.

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. There is very little time spent in the coach.

Group size: between 10 to 22 participants.

Above: Château de Versailles, lithograph c. 1850 by Lemercier.

book online at www.martinrandall.com

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martin randall travel

French Gothic

Cathedrals of Northern France Post-festival tour

1–7 July 2016 (mc 740) 7 days • £2,110 Lecturer: Dr Matthew Woodworth

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 mediaeval Europe.

Overnight Amiens.

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.

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.

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 twelfth 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 mediaeval world.

Itinerary Thursday 30th June. On the final day of the Festival, spend the night at the Hotel Westminster in Paris and take a taxi to the Gare du Nord the following morning to meet the rest of the group travelling from London.

Day 1. (Those not participating in the Festival travel by Eurostar at c. 1.00pm from St Pancras to Paris.) Travel by coach to Laon and the hotel, in an attractive lakeside setting.

First of three nights near Laon.

Lecturer

Day 2: Noyon, Laon. One of the earliest Gothic cathedrals (c. 1150), Noyon’s 4-storey internal elevation marks the transition from thick-walled Romanesque architecture to the thin-walled verticality of the Gothic era. 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: Reims, Soissons. 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. Soissons Cathedral is a fine example of the rapid changes which took place in architecture at the end of the 12th century.

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. The full day here provides time for unhurried exploration of the building

book online at www.martinrandall.com

Dr Matthew Woodworth. Art historian with a focus on mediaeval architectural history.

Studied History of Art and Architecture at Brown University and obtained his MA from the Courtauld. He completed his PhD on the architectural history of Beverley Minster at Duke University, North Carolina. He is currently writing a volume for Pevsner’s Buildings of Scotland series.

Practicalities Price: £2,280. This includes: return travel

by Eurostar (first class, standard premier); coach travel; hotel accommodation as described below; breakfasts and 5 dinners with wine, water, coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager. Single supplement £490 (double room for single occupancy). Price without Eurostar £2,140.

(Price if not combining with the Festival: £2,110.

Single supplement: £190. No Eurostar: £1,970.)

Accommodation. Hotel Westminster, Paris (warwickwestminsteropera.com): comfortable 4-star hotel with traditional décor. Hôtel du Golf de l’Ailette, Chamouille (ailette. fr): comfortable 3-star located a short drive from Laon in an attractive position by a lake. Hotel Le Grand Monarque, Chartres (legrandmonarque.com): central 4-star hotel.

Hotel Mercure Amiens (mercure.com): modern 3-star hotel near the cathedral.

How strenuous? There is a fair amount of walking and standing around. 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: between 10 and 22 participants.

Above: Beauvais Cathedral, watercolour by A.H. Hallam Murray, publ. 1904.

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The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

Booking form Your name(s) – as you would like it/them to appear to other festival participants.

1.

2.

Contact details for correspondence.

Address

Email ☐ Please tick if you are happy to receive your booking documentation by e-mail only, where possible. ☐ Please tick if you do NOT want to receive regular updates by e-mail on our other tours, music festivals and London Days. ☐ Please tick if you do NOT want to receive any more of our brochures

Postcode

What prompted your booking?

For example, an advert in ‘The Garden’ or another publication, a marketing email from Martin Randall Travel, or receiving the brochure.

Telephone (home) Telephone (work) Mobile

Deck & cabin type (see page 12). Please tick.

Single occupancy Haydn deck (lowest)

☐

Pre- and post-festival tours. Tick to book.

Twin cabin Twin cabin (beds together) (beds separate)

☐

☐

Strauss deck (middle)

☐

☐

☐

Mozart deck (top)

☐

☐

☐

Mozart suites

–

☐

☐

☐ Rijksmuseum & Mauritshuis, 19–22 June 2016 (mc 721) See page 14 ☐ Versailles, 20–23 June 2016 (mc 736) See page 15 ☐ French Gothic, 1–7 July 2016 (mc 740) See page 16 Room type (tick one): ☐ Double room for single occupancy ☐ Twin room (two sharing) ☐ Double room (two sharing) Group travel (tick one):

Travel option. See page 11. Please tick an option below, unless you have booked a pre- and/or post-festival tour. ☐ Option 1: Eurostar with free time in Paris on day 1.

23rd June: London–Paris via Ebbsfleet, 10.24am–1.47pm 30th June: Paris–London, 11.13am–12.30pm ☐ Option 2: Eurostar with free time in Paris on day 8.

23rd June: London–Paris via Ebbsfleet, 12.24pm–3.47pm 30th June: Paris–London via Ebbsfleet, 4.13pm–5.39pm ☐ Option 3: no trains.

I will make my own travel arrangements to and from the Festival.

☐ I will join the return group travel from London. ☐ I will make my own travel arrangements for both the tour and the Festival.

Special requests including dietary requirements (even if you have told us before), and requests for extra nights.

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martin randall travel

Booking form Passport details (in block capitals). Essential for international train travel, airlines, and incase of emergency on tour.

Participant 1

Participant 2

Surname

Surname

Forename(s)

Forename(s)

Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)

Date of birth (dd/mm/yy)

Passport number

Passport number

Place of birth

Place of birth

Country of issue

Country of issue

Nationality

Nationality

Date of issue

Date of expiry

Date of issue

Date of expiry

Next of kin or contact in case of emergency.

Name

Telephone number

Address

Relation to you

Payment details Please tick a payment amount: ☐ EITHER deposit(s) amounting to 10% of the total booking cost (including pre- or post-festival tours if you have booked these).

☐ OR by bank transfer. Please use your surname and the festival code (mc 737) as the reference and allow for all bank charges.

Account name: Martin Randall Travel Ltd Bank name and address: Royal Bank of Scotland, Drummonds, 49 Charing Cross, London SW1A 2DX

Total: £

Account number: 0019 6050. Sort code: 16-00-38 IBAN: GB71 RBOS 1600 3800 1960 50 Swift/ BIC code: RBOS GB2L

Please tick a payment method:

Agreement

☐ cheque. I enclose a cheque payable to Martin Randall Travel Ltd – please write the tour code on the back (mc 737).

I have read and agree to the Booking Conditions on behalf of all listed on this form.

☐ credit or debit card. I authorise Martin Randall Travel to contact me by telephone to take payment from my Visa credit/Visa debit/Mastercard/AMEX.

Signed

☐ OR full payment – required if you are booking within ten weeks of the festival (i.e. 14th April 2016 or later)

Bookings paid for by credit card will have 2% added to cover processing charges. This brings us into line with standard travel industry practice.

It does not apply to other forms of payment.

Date

Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Barley Mow Passage London W4 4GF, United Kingdom

Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia

Canada Telephone (647) 382 1644 Fax (416) 925 2670 canada@mar tinrandall.ca

Telephone +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@mar tinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

Telephone 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@mar tinrandall.com.au

USA Telephone 1 800 988 6168 5085

The Seine Music Festival, 23–30 June 2016

Making a booking 1. Booking option

2. Definite booking

3. Our confirmation

We recommend that you contact us first to ascertain that your preferred accommodation is still available. You can make a booking option which we will hold for one week (longer if necessary) pending receipt of your completed Booking Form and deposit. Alternatively, skip this step by making a definite booking straight away at www.martinrandall.com.

Fill in the Booking Form and send it to us with the deposit(s). It is important that you read the Booking Conditions at this stage, and that you sign the Booking Form. Full payment is required if you are booking within ten weeks of the festival (i.e. 14th April 2016 or later).

Upon receipt of your Booking Form and deposit we send you confirmation of your booking.

Further details about the festival may also be sent at this stage, or will follow shortly afterwards.

After this your deposit is non-returnable except in the special circumstances mentioned in the Booking Conditions.

Canada, Australia or New Zealand. Nationals of other countries should ascertain whether visas are required in their case, and obtain them if they are.

is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong. Most of our flights and flight-inclusive holidays on our website and in our brochure are financially protected by the ATOL scheme. But ATOL protection does not apply to all holiday and travel services listed.

Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking. If you do not receive an ATOL Certificate then the booking will not be ATOL protected. If you do receive an ATOL Certificate but all the parts of your trip are not listed on it, those parts will not be ATOL protected. In order to be protected under the ATOL scheme you need to be in the UK when you make your booking and/or one of the flights you take must originate or terminate in the UK with the group.

Booking conditions Please read these You need to sign your assent to these booking conditions on the booking form.

Our promises to you We aim to be fair, reasonable and sympathetic in all our dealings with clients, and to act always with integrity.

We will meet all our legal and regulatory responsibilities, often going beyond the minimum obligations.

If you cancel. If you have to cancel your participation in the Festival and/or a pre-/postfestival tour, there would be a charge which varies according to the period of notice you give.

Up to 57 days before departure the deposit only is forfeited. Thereafter a percentage of the total cost will be due:

We aim to provide full and accurate information about our tours and festivals. If there are changes, we will tell you promptly.

from 56 to 29 days: from 28 to 15 days: from 14 to 3 days: within 48 hours:

If something does go wrong, we will try to put it right. Our overriding aim is to ensure that every client is satisfied with our services.

We take as the day of cancellation that on which we receive your written confirmation of cancellation.

What we ask of you

If we cancel the Festival or pre-/post-festival tour. We might decide to cancel the Festival or tour if at any time up to eight weeks before there were insufficient bookings for it to be viable. We would refund everything you had paid to us.

That you read the information we send to you.

Specific terms Our contract with you. From the time we receive your signed booking form and initial payment, a contract exists between you and Martin Randall Travel Ltd. Eligibility. We reserve the right to refuse a booking without necessarily giving a reason.

You need to have a level of fitness which would not spoil other participants’ enjoyment of the holiday by slowing them down – see ‘Fitness for the festival’ on page 13. To this end we ask you to take the tests described. By signing the booking form you are stating that you have met these requirements. Those participants who are unable to cope during the festival or pre-/post-festival tour may be required to opt out.

Insurance. It is a requirement of booking that you have adequate holiday insurance for the duration of the Festival (and pre-/post-festival tours if booking these too). Cover for medical treatment, repatriation, loss of property and cancellation charges must be included. Insurance can be obtained from most insurance companies, banks, travel agencies and (in the UK) many retail outlets including Post Offices.

Passports and visas. Participants must have passports, valid for at least six months beyond the date of the festival. No visas are required for travel in France or The Netherlands for UK or other EU citizens, or for citizens of the USA,

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The limits of our liabilities. As principal, we accept responsibility for all ingredients of the festival or tour, except those in which the principle of force majeure prevails. Our obligations and responsibilities are also limited where international conventions apply in respect of air, sea or rail carriers, including the Warsaw Convention and its various updates.

If we make changes. Circumstances might arise which prevent us from operating the festival or tour exactly as advertised. We would try to devise a satisfactory alternative, but if the change represents a significant loss to the festival or tour we would offer compensation. If you decide to cancel because the alternative we offer is not acceptable we would give a full refund.

English Law. These conditions form part of your contract with Martin Randall Travel Ltd and are governed by English law. All proceedings shall be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Financial protection.

We provide full financial protection for our package holidays which include international flights, by way of our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence number 3622. When you buy an ATOL protected flight inclusive holiday from us you receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what

We provide full financial protection for our package holidays that do not include a flight, by way of a bond held by ABTA The Travel Association.

We will provide you with the services listed on the ATOL Certificate (or a suitable alternative).

In some cases, where we aren’t able do so for reasons of insolvency, an alternative ATOL holder may provide you with the services you have bought or a suitable alternative (at no extra cost to you). You agree to accept that in those circumstances the alternative ATOL holder will perform those obligations and you agree to pay any money outstanding to be paid by you under your contract to that alternative ATOL holder.

However, you also agree that in some cases it will not be possible to appoint an alternative ATOL holder, in which case you will be entitled to make a claim under the ATOL scheme (or your credit card issuer where applicable). If we, or the suppliers identified on your ATOL certificate, are unable to provide the services listed (or a suitable alternative, through an alternative ATOL holder or otherwise) for reasons of insolvency, the Trustees of the Air Travel Trust may make a payment to (or confer a benefit on) you under the ATOL scheme. You agree that in return for such a payment or benefit you assign absolutely to those Trustees any claims which you have or may have arising out of or relating to the non-provision of the services, including any claim against us (or your credit card issuer where applicable). You also agree that any such claims maybe re-assigned to another body, if that other body has paid sums you have claimed under the ATOL scheme.

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Martin Randall Travel Ltd Voysey House Bar ley Mow Passage London W4 4GF, United Kingdom

Martin Randall Australasia PO Box 1024 Indooroopilly QLD 4068, Australia

Canada Telephone (647) 382 1644 Fax (416) 925 2670 canada@mar tinrandall.ca

Telephone +44 (0)20 8742 3355 Fax +44 (0)20 8742 7766 info@mar tinrandall.co.uk www.martinrandall.com

Telephone 1300 55 95 95 New Zealand 0800 877 622 Fax +61 (0)7 3371 8288 anz@mar tinrandall.com.au

USA Telephone (connects to the London office) 1 800 988 6168

5085

Illustration: Rouen, oiliograph c. 1870. All the illustrations in this brochure are in the Martin Randall collection.