Global Ambassador Choir: Germany and Austria – Footsteps of Bach & Handel

We will have use of a private coach and driver while touring.

The appeal of Berlin is its fascinating mixture of history and zeitgeist, offering diverse attractions in art, culture, music, entertainment and countless shopping possibilities. The modern hotel landscape, an incredibly diverse gastronomy and unbeatably favourable prices will make you want to return again and again. The city’s vibrant and flourishing creative scene combines with the fire-hot music and club culture to put a unique stamp on the unmistakable character of this metropolis.

Most likely in the Potsdam area, where Bach and his son Carl Philipp Emanuel met King Friederich the Great of Prussia, eventually leading to the composition of The Musical Offering.

The group will spend time to perfect the blend and sound of the mass choir in a group rehearsal at our hotel this evening.

The group will have a three hour rehearsal at the hotel this morning.

Sightseeing in Potsdam, Berlin, and perhaps Brandenburg.

This evening you will have an included dinner at a local restaurant.

When Martin Luther (allegedly) nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenburg Castle Church, in the town where he lived and preached, it set the Protestant Reformation in motion. A critical site for human and musical history, learn more about this pivotal event in this lovely town. Note the church tower, encircled in one of Luther's famous hymns, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott," famously harmonized by Bach and used as the basis for his Reformation Day Cantata, BWV 80.

Leipzig is a city that flourished from the 16th century onwards thanks to the wealth it created from the rich nearby silver mines. Leipzig enjoys a reputation for outstanding excellence in music, with the likes of Bach, Wagner, Mendelssohn, and Schumann all having lived here, and literary work with Germany’s greatest poet, Goethe, setting a fundamental scene of Faust in the Auerbachs Keller.

Take a Walking Tour of Leipzig, to see such sights as Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas’s Church) and Thomaskirche (St. Thomas’s Church), both of which have important connections to the composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Take a look to the largest collection of Bach archives in Germany.

Tonight, we will enjoy our evening meal together in a local restaurant.

It was built in 1212 and originally established as a place of worship for Augustinian Canons. Highlights of the church are the Baroque-style turret and the magnificent main entrance. It is also the final resting place of Johann Sebastian Bach, who was organist and cantor here for 27 years.

Visit Mendelssohn-Haus which was saved from destruction and lovingly restored through the tireless efforts of maestro Kurt Masur during his tenure as conductor of the Gewandhaus orchestra, the Mendelssohn-Haus is now just as it was when Mendelssohn lived here with his family. The house in Leipzig has been preserved as the last and sole private residence of the composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. It is of great historical and cultural importance.

The Schumann-Haus is dedicated to Robert and Clara Schumann. There is a permanent exhibition on the first floor of the historic classical house, where they spent the first four years of their lives together. From 1840 to 1844, the two masters worked and entertained such guests as Liszt, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Wagner. The museum describes the life and work of the couple.

Venue options include Thomaskirche, where Johann Sebastian Bach was organist and cantor for 27 years, as well as Evang.-Luth. Kirchenvorstand, Evang.-Luth. Pfarramt, and Nikolaikirche.

Visit the birthplace of Georg Friedrich Handel, where the international Handel festival takes place annually. Visit the Handel Haus and learn more about one of the most significant baroque composers (born the same year as Bach!). While JS Bach visited and performed in Halle, his son Wilhelm Friedemann (for whom the Inventions were composed) lived and worked here for many years after being appointed the organist for Halle's Marktkirche...a position JS Bach applied for in vain!

This evening you will have an included dinner at a local restaurant.

Your concert performance is today. Venue options subject to final confirmation.

Enjoy a City Center Walking Tour, highlighting many of Dresden's most important landmarks and monuments, including the Sächsische Staatsoper, the Hofkirche, the Residenzschloss, the Fürstenzug, and the Frauenkirche.

The Dresden Frauenkirche looks back on a long history. The various previous churches were already consecrated to Mary, Mother of God, and were named Frauenkirche. In the 18th century, the famous George Bährs domed building was built, which shaped the cityscape of Dresden for two hundred years. Destroyed shortly before the end of the Second World War, the ruins of the Frauenkirche remained as a memorial in the heart of the city until the unique reconstruction project began in 1993. Since 2005 the Frauenkirche has once again been an open church for the city.

Dresden castle is named for the City of Dresden as the capital city in the German state of Saxony, and well as its regal, commanding and almost “Castle like” neo-gothic architecture.

Your concert performance is today. Venue options subject to final confirmation.

Vienna was for 600 years, the glittering capital of the Hapsburg Empire. Today it is the capital of Austria. Vienna has an incomparable musical heritage and is the city of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn, Brahms, and Johann Strauss.

Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezin. Theresienstadt served two main purposes: a waystation to the extermination camps, and a "retirement settlement" for elderly and prominent Jews to mislead their communities about the Final Solution. Its conditions were deliberately engineered to hasten the death of its prisoners, and the ghetto also served a propaganda role. Unlike other ghettos, the exploitation of forced labor was not economically significant.

Our base for the next two nights will be in Vienna.

Stroll through Old Vienna on a walking tour that will include the Hoher Markt with the Virgin Mary's Wedding Fountain and an Art Noveau clock, the Altes Rathaus, the old Chancellery of Bohemia, the Clock Museum, and St. Peter's Church.

Spend some time at the Central Cemetery where the tombs of Beethoven, Brahms, Schönberg, and Schubert, as well as the Mozart's Monument. Other notable musicians buried here are Antonio Salieri, Hugo Wolf, Karl Goldmark, and singer Lotte Lehmann.

Stop just outside the city center for a visit to the 1,441-room Schönbrunn Palace, which was designed for the Habsburgs before becoming the imperial summer palace, and where Mozart and Haydn both performed as children. Our tour will include the State Apartments and a stroll through the Imperial Gardens. Make a brief visit to the Wagenburg, or Carriage Museum, which contains a fine display of imperial coaches from the 17th through the 20th century.

An interactive discovery museum where visitors can conduct the Vienna Philharmonic from a virtual conductor’s podium (the musicians on the screen will tell you if you are up to par.) Journey back in time to see the great classical composers; and compose a waltz and have it played. A total of 5,000 square meters has been set aside exclusively for areas dedicated to a wide array of approaches to music.

Your group will visit one of the three following museum houses: Haydn’s House, Pasqualati House and Mozart's Figarohaus Apartment and Museum.

This evening you'll enjoy dinner at a local restaurant.

Venue options include St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the United Methodist Church, the Residence of the Canadian Ambassador and Haus Gustav Klimt. Other possible venues may include the Karlskirche, US Embassy, Perchtoldsdorf, and Medieval Fortress, Esterhazy Palace, or Schönbrunn Palace.

Our rewarding and enjoyable tour comes to an end as our Tour Director accompanies us to the airport on our final day.