The Savonlinna Opera Festival began in 1912 thanks to the efforts of Finnish soprano Aino Ackte who saw that the romantic setting of Olavinlinna Castle on Lake Saimaa would be a perfect stage for opera.

4 nights price from £3559 per person

Born in Hämeenlinna on 8 December 1865, Jean Sibelius went on to become a national hero. Instilling a Finnish nationalistic fervour through his music, Sibelius is credited as one of the driving forces behind the country winning its independence from Russia.

4 nights price from £2998 per person

Since 1951, the Wexford Festival has attracted an enthusiastic and loyal following of opera lovers from all over the world to the southeast of Ireland every autumn.

5 nights price from £2475 per person

The Buxton International Festival offers one of the most varied and wide ranging programmes of any UK festival, including recitals, concerts, and a dynamic literary festival, as well as productions of carefully-selected operatic rarities.

4 nights price from £1996 per person

The elegant Derbyshire spa town of Buxton will host the 29th edition of its acclaimed festival which celebrates the works of this great English operatic partnership. Productions by international companies of many of Gilbert & Sullivan’s best-loved works are presented in Frank Matcham’s stunning opera house.

4 nights price from £1984 per person

Held every summer in Pesaro, where the composer was born in 1792, the Rossini Festival has always attracted the world’s greatest bel canto singers. Marilyn Horne, Montserrat Caballe, June Anderson, Rockwell Blake, Chris Merrit and Juan Diego Florez are just a few of those who have sung in Rossini’s hometown.

5 nights price from £3397 per person

Verona

Performances of the world’s favourite operas have been given in the magnificent Roman arena on Verona’s elegant Piazza Bra for more than 100 years. 'Aida' was first performed here in 1913 to mark the centenary of Verdi’s birth and has been performed almost every year ever since.

4 nights price from £3546 per person

Tenerife

Escape from the rigours of the British winter for a week of music-making in the subtropical Canary Islands. We return to Tenerife for our exclusive festival, staying at the splendid 5* Hotel Botanico surrounded by lush gardens in Puerto de la Cruz.

7 nights price from £3986 per person

The North Norfolk Music Festival is firmly established as one of the country’s leading chamber music festivals. It’s twenty years since Barry Cheeseman and Simon Rowland-Jones, both well known to Kirker clients, held the first concert in the north Norfolk village of South Creake, five miles from the coast.

5 nights price from £1998 per person

Milan

Marking the 150th anniversary of its premiere, Milan’s La Scala will stage two full cycles of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the first in a decade.

7 nights price from £5978 per person