Music and Theater

(3rd of 3 parts on Brazil)

My wife and I enjoy attending classical music concerts when traveling internationally. Purchasing tickets for these events can be problematic, however.

In early 2009 I ordered, through a ticket agency, two tickets to a year-end ballet at the Vienna State Opera. They promised delivery in November. When that date arrived, they stated that they had been awarded an insufficient number of tickets; they refunded my money. When I wrote an email to the Austrian Consul in Washington, DC, I was told that I should have dealt directly with the Vienna State Opera.

In 2015, Leipzig, Germany, will host its annual Bachfest, June 12-21. Its focus will be Leipzig’s millennium, as the city was founded in 1015. 

Among hundreds of concerts and events in dozens of locations, a symphony opens in the Nikolaikirche, and there are outdoor concerts in the Market Square.

Information and downloadable programs can be found at www.bach-leipzig.de/en/bachfest. Purchase tickets online or through ticket sellers in Europe. Ticket prices for various events run €2-€102 (near $3-$114). Some events are free.

Visitors to Barcelona who confine their sightseeing to the Gaudí architecture, Las Ramblas pedestrian mall, the Gothic Quarter and the inviting beach miss one of the city’s most enticing attractions.

El Poble Espanyol, or The Spanish Village, (Avda. Francesc Ferrer i Guardia, 13, 08038 Barcelona, Spain; phone +34 93 508 63 00, www.poble-espanyol.com/en), is an open-air museum that combines an introduction to that country’s architectural treasures and various cultures with an enjoyable shopping and dining experience.

10 days, 7 nights, May 31-June 9, 2015. Highlights: In Dakar, Presidential Palace, Grand Mosque, Kermel & Sandaga markets/on Gorée Island, Maison des Esclaves (House of Slaves), Musée de la Femme/Pink Lake/jazz, blues, gospel and more at music festival in Saint-Louis. From New York, $3,399 ppdo or $3,709 single. Spector Travel (Boston, MA; 617/351-0111, www.spectortravel.com).

Homecoming Scotland 2009 will be celebrated countrywide from Jan. 25 (the 250th birthday of poet Robert Burns and a national holiday) to Nov. 30 (St. Andrew’s Day, this year featuring Scottish music from folk to contemporary).

Burns Night is annually marked with poems, music and haggis. Glasgow will have the Celtic Connections winter music festival.

In the Spirit of Speyside Festival, May 1-10, the Scotch whisky industry will host events, tastings and residential whisky courses.

14 days/13 nights in MOROCCO, June 1-15, 2008.

Highlights: Casablanca to Fes by train/any of 19 concerts of music inspired by the world’s great faiths by artists from Ireland, Russia, Afghanistan, USA, Portugal, more/attend classes to learn zikr, the Sufi chant/experience a hammam (steam bath)/Roman city of Volubilis/Palace at Meknes/Moulay Idris, cradle of Moroccan Sufism/Marrakech/fortified city of Essaouira/in Casablanca, Hassam II mosque.

Land only, $2,475. Single supplement, $320.

A small-group tour (limit, eight) gives access to the backstage areas of the Sydney Opera House (phone +61 2 9250 7250, e-mail tourism@sydneyoperahouse.com or visit www.sydneyoperahouse.com). Visitors can stand on the Concert Hall stage, visit the orchestra pit and peek inside dressing rooms plus enjoy breakfast in the Green Room.

At AU$150 (near US$102), the two-hour daily tour starts at 7 a.m. Bookings are required; book online or at the Guided Tours Desk.

An MP3 audio tour of music-related sites in Liverpool, England, can be downloaded for free at www.liverpool08.com/downloads.

“Pete Wylie’s Music Tour” is narrated by the founder of the band The Mighty Wah!, and the hour-long guide (seven tracks) takes day-trippers to sites of 50 years of pop, pyschedelia, punk and dance music. Accompanying the download is a 36-page publication, “Sound City,” which includes a “music map.”