Day 1
Departure from USA via scheduled air service, including full meal, beverage service and in-flight entertainment. The destination is Innsbruck, Austria, via the Munich airport.

Day 2 Innsbruck
Groups arrive in Innsbruck and check into hotels. Chorus members and non-singing participants gather for the Welcome Dinner with introductions, a brief orientation and Tyrolean folk entertainment.

Innsbruck, venue of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, is one of the most beautiful towns of its size (100,000). This 800-year-old university city is bounded on the north by the shimmering wall of the Nordkette Range of the Alps, on the south by the Tuxer Range rising to heights of 10,000 feet. The Empress Maria Theresia loved the Tyrol and Innsbruck, like her ancestor Emperor Maximilian I, which accounts for the city's many beautiful buildings.

Day 3 Innsbruck
Morning guided tours. Rehearsals with Eph Ehly begin after lunch. Non-singing participants may enjoy additional sight-seeing opportunities. Individual group dinners are followed by evening rehearsals.

Day 4 Innsbruck
Morning rehearsals. Afternoon guided tours. Individual group dinners are followed by evening rehearsals.


Day 5 Innsbruck
Dress Rehearsal with chorus, orchestra and soloists in the morning. Afternoon free for seeing more of Innsbruck, shopping, and preparing for the concert. Festival Finale Performance at the Innsbruck Congress Saal Tyrol, the largest and finest concert hall in Western Austria.

Day 6 Munich
Morning transfer to Munich, Germany. An afternoon guided tour of Munich includes the Marienplatz (Glockenspiel), Frauenkirche, Hofbräuhaus (best-known of all German beer halls), the English Gardens, and entrance to Nymphenburg Palace. Nymphenburg Palace was the summer residence of the Bavarian sovereigns, begun in 1664 in the style of an Italian palazzo, but with centuries of enhancements, it now bears a strong resemblance to Versailles Palace in Paris.

Munich, the Bavarian capital is ideally located in southern Germany near the Alps. It is a first.class cultural center and the most flourishing economic zone in the southern part of the country. Munich's cultural wealth, its special atmosphere - a blend of gaiety, tolerance and respect for tradition - and the beauty of the surrounding countryside have combined to make it one of the most appreciated of German cities.

Day 7 Munich
Enjoy a tour to Rothenburg and Augsburg. Officially known as Rothenburg ob der Tauber, this medieval town (one of the oldest on the Romantic Road), takes every visitor right back to the middle of the 16th Century. Once behind the ancient ramparts (no cars are allowed in the center), the visitor is completely charmed by the ancient houses, street signs, fountains and narrow, cobbled lanes. Sightseeing here includes the Town Hall, St. Jakobskirche, the Museum of Medieval Justice (includes instruments of torture), the Herrngasse and many other medieval sites. Continue on to Augsburg for an afternoon of guided sightseeing which includes visits to Schaezler.Palais (galleries), Münster, Rathaus and Fuggerei. The Fuggerei is a quarter in the city named by Fugger the Rich to house the town’s poor. The eight streets in the Fuggerei are lined by 53 gabled houses. The district has its own church and its own administration. Each evening the four gateways are closed, as they always have been.

Founded in 15 BC by a kinsman of the Emperor Augustus, Augsburg is, along with Trier and Cologne, one of the oldest cities in Germany. The Cathedral, Fuggerei Quarter, Red Gate, State Gallery, Town Hall, Maximilianstraße, Mozart Family House are all must sees.

Day 8 Nürnberg
Morning transfer to Nürnberg. Afternoon sightseeing includes a visit to the Kaiserburg (the Imperial Castle). The Imperial Castle in Nürnberg is an ancient castle of Burgraves. It features a Romanesque two-story chapel, an Imperial hall, Belvedere tower and a well. Optional evening concert as part of the 2005 American Celebration of Music in Germany.

The ancient and famous town of Nürnberg (Nuremberg), once a free imperial city, lies in the well.wooded plain of the Middle Franconian Basin, on the river Pegnitz and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal (the "Europa-Kanal"), making it Germany's newest port. Once one of the most beautiful medieval cities in Germany, this small town was never the same after the second World War. Before the War, the Nazi party used this typical "germanic" town for their annual rallies every September. Following the War, the Allies held their war crimes trials here.

Day 9 Heidelberg
Morning transfer to Heidelberg via Rothenburg. Officially known as Rothenburg ob der Tauber, this medieval town (one of the oldest on the Romantic Road), takes every visitor right back to the middle of the 16th Century. Once behind the ancient ramparts (no cars are allowed in the center), the visitor is completely charmed by the ancient houses, street signs, fountains and narrow, cobbled lanes. Sightseeing here includes the Town Hall, St. Jakobskirche, the Museum of Medieval Justice (includes instruments of torture), the Herrngasse and many other medieval sites. Continue on into Heidelberg for dinner/overnight.

The jewel of the Neckar River is Heidelberg, with town, castle and wooded hills rising above the river. A close runner.up to the castle is Germany's oldest university forever immortalized in The Student Prince. It is as delightful as any operetta with its student inns, student prison and the narrow streets of the old town. There are a variety of boat trips available from Heidelberg on some of the loveliest stretches of the Neckar and Rhine Rivers.

Day 10 Heidelberg
A half.day tour of Germany's oldest university town includes the Schloß (castle) offering a splendid view of the city beneath, the old university itself, Cathedral of the Holy Ghost. This is an enchanting city to walk around in. Don't forget the Old Bridge and the Jesuit Church. Optional concert as part of the 2005 American Celebration of Music in Germany.

Day 11 Heidelberg
Day at leisure in Heidelberg. Motorcoach and Tour Manager are at the group’s disposal for additional sightseeing, shopping, or museum visits.

Day 12
Transfer to Frankfurt's International Airport for the return flight to USA. Return home in the evening of the same day.