MIAMI & SOUTH BEACH
Thursday, January 28th through Sunday, January 31st
Southern Florida’s spectacular Atlantic coast offers an ideal winter getaway, combining the celebrated coastline of Miami Beach – especially the uniquely preserved Art Deco architecture of South Beach – and a thriving cultural scene stretching from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale.
The most exciting recent news from Miami Beach was the 2011 opening of the Frank Gehry ‘New Campus’ theatre, the acclaimed new venue for Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT)’s New World Symphony. We have carefully planned our itinerary to include a concert in this latest example of Gehry’s ground- breaking vision. The theatre has been unanimously praised as the perfect match for MTT’s progressive concept: “The New World Symphony is a place where young musicians can hone their skills and competitive edge... It serves as a launching pad for their careers. Now, with the New World Center as our home, audiences can witness and participate in this process as never before.” (Michael Tilson Thomas).
We will hear the New World Symphony in an exciting orchestral pro- gram of works by Mozart, César Franck, and Richard Strauss.
We have chosen the last weekend of January this winter in order to include Vincenzo Bellini’s melodic ‘bel canto’ opera Norma in a colorful production by the outstanding Florida Grand Opera (FGO) in downtown Miami. The company’s home is the state-of-the-art Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the new complex which has invigorated South Florida’s creative life. Designed by architect Cesar Pelli, the expansive center contains the magnificent Sanford and Dolores Ziff Opera House. Under the leadership of General Director Susan Danis, FGO has earned enviable reviews for all of its recent productions, highlighted by the brilliant ‘Nabucco’ and ‘Pearl Fishers’ we encountered during the past two seasons.
Our dates are happily coincident with the Miami visit of the esteemed Cleveland Orchestra, among a handful of today’s foremost U.S. ensembles. Under the Austrian Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, our evening concert in the Knight Concert Hall will feature Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3 and Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto (for violin & cello).
Our daytime program will include include a return visit to Miami’s Perez Art Museum, the area’s newest cultural attraction, designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. There will be ample time to discover the historic Art Deco district of South Beach – easily accessible from our South Beach Savoy Hotel – and we have planned a not-to-be-missed dinner at Joe’s Stone Crab, the celebrated seafood restaurant nearby the Savoy.
Our accommodations for four nights will be at the Savoy Hotel, which enjoys an ideal site at the quiet southern end of South Beach. “The Savoy is a historic storied Art Deco landmark 75-room, all suite beachfront hotel nestled in a private neighbor- hood within the Miami Beach Art Deco Historic District.” (Savoy Hotel). Located at 425 Ocean Drive, this landmark property offers easy access to the beach and to the Art Deco center of the town, as well as its own swimming pool, fit- ness center, and Terrace Restaurant (open until early evening). For later dining, the Savoy is a comfortable walk from café and restaurants catering to the exuberant South Beach nightlife. Each of our travelers will be accommodated in a ‘standard suite with poolside view’ (one queen/king bed and a double pullout sofa).
Price Per Person (based on Double Occupancy): $2,975
Price Per Person (based on Single Occupancy): $3,670