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The Kirker Ischia Music Festival

Amalfi Coast 7 nights Price from £2,920 per person
Departs: 11 Oct 2023, 09 Oct 2024
Departs: 11 Oct 2023

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Our annual visit to the beautiful and verdant island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples is a highlight in the Kirker calendar. Each year we travel with a group of distinguished musicians who play in a series of private concerts exclusively for our guests in the music room at La Mortella. Sir William Walton and his wife Susana lived here for many years. Lady Walton created what is today one of the world’s most famous gardens. Today La Mortella is a foundation, expertly managed by Alessandra Vinciguerra and her devoted team who ensure that the Walton’s legacy thrives today.

 

The Hotel

Our base for the week is the 4* Hotel Tritone, located right on the Bay of San Francesco. The hotel is family owned and surrounded by beautiful gardens overlooking the sea. There are two bars, a restaurant, sun terraces and a luxurious spa offering a wide range of treatments. There are a number of indoor and outdoor swimming pools and guests have direct access to the beach from the pools. Within a few minutes’ walk are a number of restaurants and cafés, and the centre of Forio is about twenty minutes’ walk along the beach. There you will find the historic old town with shops, restaurants and cafés such as Maria’s Bar, a favourite of W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman. Hydrofoil services operate to Ischia Porto, Naples and Procida from Forio port. For those who might want to make additional visits to La Mortella, you can walk up the hill from behind the hotel which leads steeply up to the gardens. Descending is easier and affords a panoramic vista. Bedrooms are simply furnished but comfortable, and we can recommend upgrading to superior rooms overlooking the gardens or the sea. Please ask for details.

 

The Itinerary

There will be an included half day tour of Ischia, a private tour of La Mortella in the company of the gardeners and a visit to a winery for to taste their local Ischitano wines and produce. During our visit to La Mortella, created by the celebrated garden designer, Russell Page, we will learn how Lady Walton’s ideas and foresight inspired its creation and continued to develop the garden right up until her death in 2010. There will be an optional tour to Naples where we will enjoy a walking tour and a guided visit to the Teatro San Carlo, one of Italy’s most historic and beautiful opera houses.

 

What's included

...when you travel with Kirker

  • Return flights
  • Seven nights’ accommodation with breakfast
  • Seven dinners
  • Six private concerts as well as one concert given by the Walton Trust
  • All sightseeing, entrance fees and gratuities as described
  • Private guided tour of La Mortella garden
  • Services of the Kirker Tour Leader

Flight Details

Flights with British Airways:
Depart from London Heathrow at 10.10, arrive Naples at 13.55
Depart from Naples at 14.45, arrive London Heathrow at 16.40

 

Departure Dates and Prices

Optional room supplements:

Side sea view: £224 
Front sea view: £350
Superior park view: £252
Superior sea view: £490

2023

11 Oct 2023

Status Limited

Price from£2920

Single Supp.£392

Call 020 7593 2284

2024

09 Oct 2024

Status Available

Price from£2976

Single Supp.£395

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Barry Cheeseman

Barry Cheeseman

Cultural Tours Senior Executive

barry.cheeseman@kirkerholidays.com

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maxwell-quartet.jpg

Maxwell Quartet

String Quartet

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Simon Roland-Jones

Simon Rowland-Jones

Viola, Composer & Kirker Music Director

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Peresivana.jpeg

Laura Lolita Peresviana

Soprano

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William Vann.jpeg

William Vann

Piano

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Thomas.jpeg

Thomas Kelly

Piano

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Music Programme

The Musicians
MAXWELL QUARTET
THOMAS KELLY, piano
LAURA LOLITA PEREŠIVANA soprano
WILLIAM VANN piano
SIMON ROWLAND-JONES viola


Thursday 12 October
Maxwell Quartet
Haydn: String Quartet in F, Op.77 No.2
A selection Scottish folk music arranged by members of the Maxwell Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op.131


Friday 13 October
Thomas Kelly, piano
Scarlatti: Sonatas
Schumann: Kinderszenen
Rachmaninov: Sonata No.1


Saturday 14 October 
17.00 Thomas Kelly, piano
Clementi: Sonata
Chopin: Ballade No.1
Ravel: Sonatine
Liszt: Rigoletto Paraphrase
Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No.1

NB This concert is being given as part of La Mortella’s own autumn concert series, Incontri Musicali. We have arranged for Thomas Kelly to give this recital. The performance will be available to the public and seats for the Kirker party will be reserved at the front of the concert hall.

After this concert, our party will stay on for the Kirker exclusive event concert.

18.30 Maxwell Quartet and Simon Rowland-Jones, viola
Bridge: Three Idylls
Britten: String Quartet No.2
Mozart: String Quintet in C, K515


Sunday 15 October
Laura Lolita Perešivana, soprano
William Vann, piano
Dvořák: Gypsy Songs, Op. 55
Arensky: Five Romances
Walton: Three Songs
Emīls Dārziņš Songs
Arias by Puccini and Rossini


Monday 16 October 
Maxwell Quartet
Thomas Kelly, piano
Walton: Passacaglia for solo cello
This short piece was first played by Rostropovich, for whom it was composed, at the Royal Festival Hall on 16 March 1982, two weeks before William Walton's 80th birthday.
Haydn: String Quartet in C, Op.20 No.2
Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor
Camille Saint-Saens took part in the first performance at the Société nationale de musique on 17 January 1880. The pianist was also the work’s dedicatee, but he was far from impressed and swept off the platform at the end leaving his music behind on the stand. Nevertheless, Franck’s passionate and thrilling work is much loved today by audiences and musicians alike.


Tuesday 17 October
Laura Lolita Perešivana, soprano
William Vann, piano
Thomas Kelly, piano
Maxwell Quartet
Boccherini: String Quartet
Walton: Siesta - the composer’s own arrangement for piano 4 hands
Walton: Beatriz’s Song – version with Quartet
Caroline Shaw: “Punctum”
Busoni: Sonatina № 6 "Fantasia da Camera super Carmen"
Neapolitan songs including Torna a surriento & Santa Lucia
Laura Lolita will end with a selection of arias, including the glittering showpiece 'Bel raggio lusinghier' from Rossini's opera Semiramide.


 

2024 Music Programme

All but one of the concerts included in the tour are private recitals for Kirker clients and are held in the Sala di Musica at La Mortella. There will one additional concert given as part of La Mortella’s own series of public concerts for young musicians given throughout the summer. Transfers are provided for each concert between the hotel and La Mortella. The programme will include quartets by Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart, Walton and Smetana. Arias will feature pieces by Handel, Mozart, Gluck and Monteverdi, and recitals with work by Schubert, Debussy and Duparc. Simon Rowland-Jones, viola, will also perform alongside the other musicians for pieces across the festival.

 

Staff Reviews

Kirker Ischia Music Festival

By Barry Cheeseman, 18 November 2016

I hope you enjoy viewing our film documenting the 2013 Kirker Ischia Music Festival. As the person who is fortunate enough to organise and attend them all, I would like to share my own reasons why I think Ischia is such a rewarding week’s holiday. I have just finished leading one of our opera tours to Vienna and instead of flying home to London I travelled onward to Malta to join the Baroque…

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Related Location

Ischia

Recent Testimonials

The Kirker Ischia Festival

By Mrs C, Norfolk, 04 February 2019

The hotel was excellent and cannot be faulted and all the Kirker arrangements were as expected, and again, could not be faulted. It was such a privilege to be in the company of such talented musicians, and to hear them in the surroundings of the lovely garden of La Mortella added to the pleasure. The music was superb - often challenging but always a joy.

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