The Spirit of Bach!
Dresden, Leipzig, and Germany's Musical Heartland

Join in welcoming Artistic Directors Dmitri Atapine and Hyeyeon Park, eminent cellist and pianist respectively, and their colleagues on an inspiring music-filled tour of two of Europe’s most beautiful and culturally rich capitals. The immortal Johann Sebastian Bach is the musical focus as Music@Menlo artists perform concerts in distinctive locations throughout Leipzig and Dresden, alongside specially curated private events and special access to some of the region’s most treasured cultural landmarks. An optional three-day coda in the capital of Berlin puts a special finishing touch on this wonderful journey to northern Germany.

Your journey begins in magnificent DRESDEN, often called “Florence on the Elbe,” a city literally risen from the ashes of World War II devastation. Tour the historic center of the city and iconic monuments such as the beautifully rebuilt Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), the stunning Semper Opera, one of the most beautiful theatres in the world, the Zwinger Palace, home to the Alte Meister Galerie, with its important painting collection, and many others. Cruise down the Elbe River, one of the longest waterways of Central Europe, into the sweeping countryside of “Saxon Switzerland” in our own private boat. View one of the great treasure troves of Europe, at the Green Vault amassed by Augustus the Strong, in an exclusive evening visit. After which, violinist Stella Chen and flautist Tara Helen O’Connor join Dmitri and Hyeyeon for a private concert in the elegant ballroom of the Royal Palace.

LEIPZIG wears its rich musical heritage on its sleeve. Trace the steps of titans of German culture such as Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Wagner, Liszt, Martin Luther, Goethe, Schiller, and many others. Enjoy a private guided tour of the Bach Archive and Museum, an all-Beethoven chamber concert at the Gewandhaus, the city’s principal concert hall, and two private Music@Menlo concerts, one at Mendelssohn’s house the last two years of his life—his only house still open to the public—and another, to close the tour, at St. Thomas Church, where Bach held forth for 32 years and where he is buried.

A day-trip to WEIMAR includes a visit to the museum of the Bauhaus, the still-influential, modernist architectural movement; a harpsichord recital of Bach’s keyboard music near where is house stood; and the home of Franz Liszt, his primary residence the last 17 years of his life.

The optional extension to BERLIN takes us to the medieval center of old Prussia. A coach tour of the city, visits to outstanding museums, tours of vibrant artistic quarters, a boat ride along the River Spree, and another private concert by Music@Menlo artists. All along the way, revel in central five-star accommodations, dine at fine restaurants in town and country, and enjoy all the outstanding music throughout these historic cities that make up one of Europe’s premier destinations. Join us!