Music and Theater

The Kabuki-za Theatre (Ginza, Tokyo, Japan; phone, for info, 81 3 3541 3131 or, for tickets, 81 3 5565 6000, www.shochiku.co.jp/play/kabukiza/theater), a landmark in Tokyo’s Ginza district, will be demolished and rebuilt, due to the structure’s age. The first theater on the site was built in 1889, and it was rebuilt three times, last in 1950 (based on the 1924 building destroyed by fire). 

Farewell performances will be held January-April 2010, then productions will move to a new venue until the theater is rebuilt. Tickets cost ¥2,500-¥17,000 ($26-$178).

In Aphrodisias — which means “city of Aphrodite” — in southwest Turkey, you can see the 4-column entrance to her temple (pictured). The majority of ruins date between 85 BC and AD 300, and the Romans’ love for beautification can be seen in all the detailed marble carvings.

Austrian Airlines Vacation Center (800/790-4682, www.austrianair-vacations.com) is offering a 6-day/5-night “New Year’s in Vienna” package, Dec. 28, 2009-Jan. 3, 2010.

At $3,999 per person, double occupancy, it includes tickets to the preview of the New Year’s Day Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic and a performance of Strauss’ opera “Die Fledermaus,” tickets to Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony” at the Konzerthaus, dinner at Hotel Sacher and a half-day tour in Vienna. 

Each Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m., a “High Tea” is offered with a performance by an opera singer in the dining room of the Guillaume at Bennelong restaurant in the Sydney Opera House (phone +61 2 9250 7250, e-mail tourism@sydneyoperahouse.com or visit www.sydneyoperahouse.com). The menu includes a glass of wine, assorted teas, savouries, pastries and petit fours. The price is AU$145 (US$99) and bookings are required. 

In Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor, on every night with good weather there is a light show involving 44 of the city’s waterfront skyscrapers. The 14-minute “A Symphony of Lights” starts at 8 p.m. and uses orchestrated lasers and lights set to music.

Good places to view the show (and where there is narration in English on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) include sightseeing ferries and the “Avenue of the Stars” on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. It also can be viewed at the waterfront outside Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai.

The organization Perlen der Klassik, or Pearls of the Classical (Berlin; info phone +49 030 43 60 53 90 or ticket phone +49 030 41 74 44 14 or visit www.berliner-schlosskonzerte.de [in German]), stages performances of classical music in ancient buildings in Germany. Venues include Berlin’s 16th-century Französischer Dom (French Cathedral) and Munich’s Allerheiligen-Hofkirche, a chapel in the Bavarian royal residence. Ticket prices run €21-€45 ($26-$56).

Every Wednesday, May through August, Copenhagen Castle Concerts (www.castleconcerts.dk) puts on free performances of classical music in the churches of historic royal residences in and around Copenhagen, including Frederiksborg and Kronborg. The concerts start at 5 p.m. May and June, 5:30 p.m. in July and 4 p.m. in August.

Contact Wonderful Copenhagen (Gammel Kongevej 1, Copenhagen V., Denmark; phone +45 3325 7400, www.visitcopenhagen.com).

The Berlin Philharmonic orchestra (Simon Rattle, conducting) will perform an open-air concert at Berlin’s Waldbühne Amphitheater on June 21, 2009, at 8:15 p.m. The program includes works by Aram Khachaturian, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky.

A concert ticket costs €21 or €28 ($27/$36), depending on the seat. Visit www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en or call (030) 254 88 999.

8-day/7-night cruise-tour, May 24-31, 2009. Highlights: Board M/V Helvetia II in Basel, SWITZERLAND/ Cruise up the Rhine and visit Baden-Baden, Speyer, Andernach, Mannheim, Neustadt and Freiburg, enjoying seven classical music performances of orchestral and chamber works. From £2,660 (near $3,853). Single supplement, from £540 ($782).

Martin Randall Travel (Voysey House, Barley Mow Passage, London, W4 4GF, U.K.; phone 020 8742 3355, www.martinrandall.com).

2009 is the 200th anniversary of the death of composer Joseph Haydn, and his home province of Burgenland, Austria, is holding dozens of concerts in Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt plus special programs, many free.

“Storm and Stress” concerts, June 18-21, focus on pieces written 1768-1772; day tickets, €15-€59 (near $19-$74). Variations of the piece “The Seven Last Worlds of Our Savior on the Cross” will be performed Aug. 13-14 (€15-€26). “Haydn Days” features music composed in London and Paris, Sept. 9-27 (€15-€59).