At 1:30 p.m., flight AF 1710 departs Paris Charles de Gaulle.

Arrive in Hamburg at 15:05, transfer to the city center.

Check-in at the Westin Hamburg Hotel.

Welcome dinner.

Overnight at the Westin Hotel.

Breakfast at your hotel.

To this day, Hamburg proudly claims to belong to the Hanseatic League. It is a real pleasure to walk along the banks of the Elbe, in the Jenischpark, a real forest in the Othmarschen district, or in the narrow alleys of the Blankenese district…We’ll tour the harbor and the neo-Gothic brick warehouses of the Speicherstadt by private boat, before meeting again for a seaside lunch.

The early afternoon will be an opportunity to discover the Saint Pauli district, which is now back to its former glory, the impressive Lutheran church of Saint-Michel and its five organs, and the arcades bordering the Alster (a lake very popular with the inhabitants), before reaching the imposing Town Hall.

At 8 p.m. at the Elbphilharmonie (main hall):

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA / JANINE JANSEN / SIR ANTONIO PAPPANO

London Symphony Orchestra

Sir Antonio Pappano: Conductor

Janine Jansen: Violin

– L. Boulanger: A Spring Morning (orchestral version)

– S. Barber: Concerto for violin and orchestra Op. 14

– S. Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor op. 27

The London Symphony Orchestra presents three works of wildly expressive art. Composed a year before the musician’s untimely death at the age of 24, D’un matin de printemps is a marvel of light and hope. The play is all the more moving because Lili Boulanger knew she was walking inexorably in death. Performed by the imperial Janine Jansen (considered by many musicians to be the greatest violinist of our time), ), Samuel Barber‘s Violin Concerto is one of the masterpieces of instrumental literature of the 1930s, so prodigal in concertante treasures. Like those of Berg, Stravinsky or Prokofiev, the American composer’s concerto combines elegiac lyricism with a last movement of extraordinary virtuosity. Concluding this program, Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 is the ideal work to display Antonio Pappano‘s fiery temperament, the new Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra. Premiered in 1908, the symphony has remained famous for its sublime slow movement, a deluge of melancholic melodies of which only the Russian composer has the secret.

10 p.m. End of the performance

Dinner at the end of the concert.

Breakfast at your hotel.

Morning at leisure

Lunch in the city centre.

Private tour of the Steinway workshops.

In 1797 Heinrich Engelhardt Steinweg was born. Doesn’t the name ring a bell? And yet, this young German was to revolutionize music, first by creating his first instruments in his country of origin and then by founding, during his exile in the United States, the company Steinway and Sons (with its Americanized name). But it was in Hamburg (after Steinweg’s death) that the first factory was set up and that these admirable concert instruments are still being built. Steinways remain the most prestigious pianos on our planet: the greatest soloists use them (Rubinstein, Argerich, Horowitz, Brendel, Lang Lang…) and their manufacturing process has kept all its implacable perfection. In fact, it takes more than a year to “compose” a Steinway piano, more than twelve thousand parts to assemble, thus the rarest types of wood brought together thanks to cutting-edge technology. La Fugue opens the doors of these unique workshops for a journey to the heart of musical excellence.

At 8 p.m. at the Elbphilharmonie (main hall):

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA / ALISON BALSOM / SIR ANTONIO PAPPANO

London Symphony Orchestra

Sir Antonio Pappano: Conductor

Alison Balsom: Trumpet

– S. Barber: Adagio for Strings Op. 11

– W. Marsalis: Concerto for trumpet and orchestra in E flat major

– R. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D major

What an original program! Certainly, Barber’s Adagio for Strings is one of the most popular music of the 20th century. There are countless films (Platoon, Elephant Man, etc.) that use this short eight-minute orchestral work. But such is its emotional power that BBC Radio 4 listeners voted it “the saddest work ever written” in 2004! Wynton Marsalis‘ Trumpet Concerto, on the other hand, is an absolute novelty. Or rather no, it’s a piece that’s already establishing itself as a classic. After the premiere of the work in 2023 by Michael Sachs, it is the turn of another huge star of the brass instrument, the British Alison Balsom (a real star in her country) to perform this concerto which traces the entire history of the trumpet in six movements. Wynton Marsalis is one of the few artists to shine in both jazz and classical music with equal talent. The last work on the program will conclude the evening in apotheosis: the music of the British Ralph Vaughan-Williams (1872-1958) is so little known in France and the Symphony No. 5 (1943) is one of the most exciting and luminous masterpieces of its author. In the ideal acoustics of the Hamburg Elbphilharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Antonio Pappano will be able to defend this work so dear to their hearts.

Breakfast at your hotel.

At 11:35 a.m., flight AF 1411 departs from Hamburg.

Arrival in Paris Charles de Gaulle at 1:20 pm.

OPTIONAL SHOW ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 1 – HAMBURG

At 5 p.m., at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, Großes Haus:

THE CLEMENCY OF TITUS – W.A Mozart

                  Jetske Minjsenn: Production

                  Janina Zell: Dramaturgy

                  Ben Baur: Set & Costume Design

                  Eberhard Friedrich: Choir