AUTUMN IN NEW YORK:
music, dance & art

• Unpack your bags on this residential-style tour, with 10 days in central Manhattan

• Enjoy 9 performances of opera, orchestral music, theatre and jazz at New York’s major venues, including The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Broadway and some of the city’s exciting new arts complexes

• Discover the incredible depth of culture in New York’s leading museums and galleries, along with smaller cutting-edge establishments

• Explore New York’s diverse neighbourhoods, from Midtown to Harlem, from the Upper East Side to Chelsea

• Spend three days discovering the autumnal Berkshires in Massachusetts, including the avant-garde MASS MoCa and Edith Wharton’s home, The Mount

SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER – ARRIVAL (D)

Group members arrive during the day. In the early evening, we gather to meet our fellow travellers, tour leader and tour manager in the hotel, before enjoying a welcome dinner in a nearby restaurant. First of nine nights in New York.

MONDAY 18 NOVEMBER – MIDTOWN, PERFORMANCE #1 (B, L)

We begin the day with a talk by Clive Paget, before embarking on a walking tour of New York’s Midtown district to experience the towering grandeur of the city’s Art Deco architecture, including the Rockefeller Centre, Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. After lunch together, the afternoon is at leisure before a world-class jazz.performance at Lincoln Center.

Performance details

Venue: Dizzy’s Jazz Club, Lincoln Center
Program: TBA
Performers: TBA

TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER – METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, PERFORMANCE #2 (B)

After a talk in our hotel, we head to Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side for a guided tour of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Founded in 1870, The Met remains the cultural epicentre of New York City, housing an exhaustive collection of works that encompass 5,000 years of history from the Near East and Ancient Egypt to European Old Masters and American contemporary art. The afternoon is free to continue exploring the museum or to enjoy a leisurely stroll through Central Park. This evening, we attend a concert at Carnegie Hall conducted by Kirill Petrenko.

Performance details

Venue: Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall
Program: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Isle of the Dead, Op. 29; Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35; Antonín Dvořák, Symphony No. 7
Performers: Conductor, Kirill Petrenko; Violin, Hilary Hahn

WEDNESDAY 20 NOVEMBER – MOMA PRIVATE TOUR, PERFORMANCE #3 (B)

This morning, at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), we survey the superlative creations of the stars of the modern art scene as we enjoy a private tour of the galleries before the museum opens to the public. Documenting the creative movements of the late nineteenth century through to today, the artworks on display rotate every six months and feature a roll-call of artistic luminaries such as van Gogh, Rothko, Warhol and Pollock. Tonight we attend a new production of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Our Town.

Performance details

Venue: Ethel Barrymore Theater
Program: Thornton Wilder, Our Town
Performers: Kenny Leon (director); Jim Parsons (stage manager); Zoey Deutch (Emily Webb); Katie Holmes (Mrs Webb); Bill Eugene Jones (Dr Gibbs); Ephraim Sykes (George Gibbs)

THURSDAY 21 NOVEMBER – TENENENT MUSEUM & LOWER EAST SIDE, PERFORMANCE #4 (B, L)

Clive will give a talk in the hotel before we take the subway to the Lower East Side. On our walking tour of the area, we appreciate the history behind New York’s multicultural beginnings, fuelled by the immigration of ethnic groups from across Europe. A visit to the Tenement Museum offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the migrant and refugee families that settled in crowded city tenements from the 1860s. These complexes began to be gentrified from the 1980s, yet another example of the metropolis’ cycles of renewal. We enjoy lunch at the celebrated Katz’s Deli, an iconic New York delicatessen that has been serving its popular pastrami sandwiches since 1888 and was the location of an infamous scene in When Harry Met Sally. Afterwards, we return to the hotel to relax before tonight’s electrifying performance of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, nominated for nine Tony Awards.

Performance details
Venue: August Wilson Theater
Program: Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
Performers: TBA

FRIDAY 22 NOVEMBER – IN CHELSEA, PERFORMANCE #5 (B)

We meet our guide this morning for a walking tour of Chelsea, Manhattan’s fashionable arts district, and call into some of its many galleries representing established and emerging artists. Continuing with our guide, we follow the High Line, a modern-day success story of urban renewal. Saved from demolition by local residents, the public park is built on a historic freight line elevated above the streets and combines nature, art and design. The tour concludes with the opportunity to sample the overwhelming variety of foods on offer at the Chelsea Market. Tonight, we enjoy an opera performance of Il trovatore at The Metropolitan Opera, featuring David McVicar’s Goya inspired staging.

Performance details
Venue: The Metropolitan Opera
Program: Giuseppe Verdi, Il trovatore
Performers: Conductor, Daniele Callegari; Leonora, Angela Meade; Azucena, Olesya Petrova; Manrico, Michael Fabiano; Count Di Luna, Igor Golovatenko; Ferrando, Ryan Speedo Green

SATURDAY 23 NOVEMBER – GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, PERFORMANCES 6 & 7 (B)

We start the day with a talk from Clive before we continue to The Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The building’s innovative spiralling form controversially broke with traditional museum architecture, inviting dissent from exhibiting artists, and yet today it has become a beloved icon with important collections featuring the work of Degas, Picasso and modern masters like Mapplethorpe. This evening we attend an Off-Broadway production of King Lear, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh, and featuring a cast of rising stars from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Performance details
Venue: The Griffin Theater, The Shed NYC
Program: William Shakespeare’s King Lear
Performers: Kenneth Branagh, Rob Ashford & Lucy Skilbeck (co-directors); Kenneth Branagh (King Lear); Jessica Revell (Cordelia/The Fool); Deborah Alli (Goneril); Melanie-Joyce Bermudez (Regan)

SUNDAY 24 NOVEMBER – GOSPEL & SOUL FOOD, PERFORMANCE #8 (B, L)

This morning we depart by coach for Harlem, where we meet our guide for a walking tour through the heart of soulful gospel music and a key part of the African American story. Attending a church service, we experience the uplifting sounds of a choir exuberantly performing songs of hope and joy, before continuing to a soul food restaurant for a hearty lunch. This style of cooking is synonymous with rural Southern traditions, some of which were brought from Africa. Returning to the hotel, the afternoon is at leisure before we attend the 2024 Olivier Award-winning revival of Sunset Boulevard in the evening.

Performance details

Venue: St James Theater
Program: Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Sunset Boulevard
Performers: Jamie Lloyd (director); Nicole Scherzinger (Norma Desmond); Tom Francis (Joe Gillis); Grace Hodgett-Young (Betty Schaefer); David Thaxton (Max von Mayerling)

MONDAY 25 NOVEMBER – ELLIS ISLAND, PERFORMANCE #9 (B)

Today we board a ferry, crossing New York Harbour to appreciate the impressive skyline on our way to Ellis Island, the gateway to Manhattan. Our trip takes us past the Statue of Liberty, France’s symbolic gift of freedom to the American people, and on to the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. Over 12 million migrants first set foot on US soil here and were processed at the immigration complex, their stories now documented through the museum’s displays of photographs, personal objects and historic records. Returning to Manhattan, we round out our New York performance experience with a spectacular display of high-kicking precision by the world-famous Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.

Performance details
Venue: Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden
Program: Christmas Spectacular
Performers: Radio City Rockettes

TUESDAY 26 NOVEMBER – TO THE BERKSHIRES (B, D)

After checking out of our hotel, we farewell Manhattan and board a coach to Art Omi in the Hudson Valley. Situated on 120 acres, this progressive arts centre displays works by contemporary artists and architects, featuring large scale installations in the sculpture park and exhibitions by artists in residence at the Newmark Gallery. We continue to Stockbridge and check into our accommodation before dinner in the hotel. Overnight Stockbridge.

WEDNESDAY 27 NOVEMBER – MASS MOCA & MELVILLE (B, D)

This morning we visit the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCa), located in a converted textile factory. The vast multi-use complex embraces all forms of the visual and performing arts, from painting, photography and sculpture to theatre, dance and film. The historic mill building displays 105 large-scale Sol Lewitt wall drawings, spanning the artist’s career from 1969 to 2007, while three installations by Anselm Kiefer occupy a 10,000-square-foot steel pavilion. After time for lunch at leisure, we enjoy a private tour of The Mount, a beloved country mansion and garden estate designed by Edith Wharton, one of America’s greatest writers. Here, she wrote Ethan Frome and The House of Mirth. (Please note: subject to the publication of opening schedules for November, our visit to The Mount may be replaced with a tour of Arrowhead, the house museum of writer Herman Melville.) Returning to our hotel, we gather for our farewell dinner this evening. Overnight Stockbridge.

THURSDAY 28 NOVEMBER – DEPARTURE (B) – THANKSGIVING

After breakfast this morning, we check out and take a private coach transfer to Boston Logan International airport. We arrive in time for afternoon flights; book your flight to depart no earlier than 3.30pm.

Hotel Riu Plaza Times Square, 4*, 9 nights

https://www.riu.com/en/hotel/usa/new-york/hotel-riu-plaza-new-york-times-square/

The Riu Plaza Times Square is conveniently located in the heart of Manhattan, close to the Theater District, Broadway, Restaurant Row and the main subway lines. Its Theater Buffet restaurant offers convenient pre or post-show dining.

Modern rooms are light-filled and well-proportioned, with free wifi and rain showers in the bathrooms.

The Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, 2 nights

https://www.redlioninn.com/

A historic Berkshire hotel located on the corner of Main St and run by the same family for over 50 years. Rooms are individually decorated with antiques, lending unique character and charm to each.

Hotels in a similar category may be substituted.

• Best available tickets to 9 performances

• 9 nights’ accommodation in a centrally located 4-star hotel in New York and 2 nights staying in boutique accommodation in The Berkshires

• All breakfasts, 6 lunches or dinners

• Entry fees and tickets to sites as described in the itinerary

• All ground transport, guided tours and entrances, and tipping

• Talks by music specialist Clive Paget throughout

• Services of an experienced tour manager throughout

A $1,000pp refundable deposit is required at the time of booking to hold your place on tour.

When we release the final tour program with performances in May 2024, you will have the option to withdraw from the tour and receive a full refund of your initial deposit.

Should you decide to proceed, a second deposit of $2,500pp will be due on 21 May 2024.

We will invoice you for final payment for the tour, due on 03 September 2024.

When you book on one of tours, we ask you to accept our terms and conditions. You can read our terms and conditions here.