2012 Festival Newsletter

FRIENDS OF THE LUFTHANSA FESTIVAL

Festival Friends began in 2010 and last year doubled in number.  Our Friends add greatly to the 'Festival feel' and enjoy the opportunity to meet artists and each other over drinks after selected evening concerts.  They can also book one week earlier than the general public and enjoy a 20% ticket discount.

Become a Friend of the Lufthansa Festival and enjoy -

• priority booking from 25 January
• 20% off ticket prices
• complimentary post-concert drinks with artists after evening concerts on 18, 19, 20, 22 and 26 May
• a complimentary Festival programme; those who join before 30 March will also be credited on the Friends page in the programme

Extra this year:

• 2 tickets to a by-invitation concert with the European Union Baroque Orchestra on 'Europe Day', Wednesday 9 May, at St.John's, Smith Square. More information

To become a Friend, simply buy top- or second-price tickets for 5 or more concerts in one booking.

It's easy to join -

• Book by telephone 020 7222 1061 any time between 10am and 5pm from Wednesday 25 January - a week before general booking opens - and receive a 20% discount
• Say that you wish to become a Festival Friend
• You will then be sent a Friends membership card and details of the EUBO invitation concert, should you wish to attend.

Saturday 26 May, 11.00am
FESTIVAL TOUR - BAROQUE GREENWICH

Our Festival Tour visits a World Heritage Site described by UNESCO as the 'finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape ensemble in the British Isles'. Greenwich Park features the work of, among others, three great Englishmen: architects Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren, and painter Sir James Thornhill.

Starting from Greenwich Pier, the tour, led by a Blue Badge Guide, will include Inigo Jones's exquisite Queen's House, the grand design of Sir Christopher Wren's Royal Hospital for Seamen, and Sir James Thornhill's majestic Painted Hall within the Hospital.

The tour will take approximately 100 minutes.

The tour begins by the statue of Sir Walter Raleigh at the entrance to 'Discover Greenwich', close to Greenwich Pier, SE10 9HT.

Read full details

Photograph Queens's House © Bill Bertram

Sunday 20 May, 1.30pm
Saturday 26 May, 1.30pm
FESTIVAL WALK - HANDEL'S WEST END

Handel made London his home from 1712 until his death in 1759, a period during which the West End became the fashionable enclave it remains to this day. Our Festival Walk, led by a Blue Badge Guide, will begin in Haymarket at the site of the composer's early operatic triumphs and wend its way though St. James's and Mayfair to his home in Brook Street, which we shall visit.

The walk and tour of Handel House Museum will take approximately 100 minutes.

Walks begin at the entrance to Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket, SW1Y 4QL.

Read full details

Photograph Handel House Museum © Matthew Hollow

Sunday 20 May, 1.30pm
Saturday 26 May, 1.30pm
FESTIVAL WALK - HANDEL'S WEST END

Handel made London his home from 1712 until his death in 1759, a period during which the West End became the fashionable enclave it remains to this day. Our Festival Walk, led by a Blue Badge Guide, will begin in Haymarket at the site of the composer's early operatic triumphs and wend its way though St. James's and Mayfair to his home in Brook Street, which we shall visit.

The walk and tour of Handel House Museum will take approximately 100 minutes.

Walks begin at the entrance to Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket, SW1Y 4QL.

Photograph Handel House Museum © Matthew Hollow

Mailing list prize draw: 5 pairs of free tickets from Classical Opera
 

Classical Opera is offering an exciting opportunity for 5 new mailing list subscribers to win a pair of tickets to its Mozart Birthday Concert at Wigmore Hall on 30 January 2012 featuring three of the composer's greatest arias and Symphony No. 40.

Subcribe online now and indicate 'Lufthansa competition' to be in with the chance to win. Prize draw to take place on 20 January 2012.

Photograph of Sarah-Jane Brandon

L'Amour à la française Part 2: T'as d'beaux yeux tu sais... will begin this year's classical music programme at the Institut Français. Singers from the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Academy Opera will interpret songs on the theme of love in the early 20th century by Fauré, Duparc, Chaminade, Boulanger, Roussel, Satie, Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc and Tailleferre. Graham Johnson (pictured), who is one of the foremost accompanists of our day, will introduce this concert.

Tuesday 7 February, 8pm
More information