Music and Markets Tours invites you to join us this fall for a musical house party in France! We’ll meet in Bordeaux, spending a night in this regally elegant city, then be on our way to the beautifully restored wine estate of Le Faure near St. Emilion in the Bordeaux region, home of the Orpheus and Bacchus Music and Wine Festival, owned and organized by Ian Christians. Here, we’ll settle in to enjoy his house party with outstanding musicians and fellow music lovers.
We’ll mingle with other guests, savoring aperitifs by the pool before stepping into the salon of La Musique, where artists will introduce the works prepared for the evening.
La Musique, originally designed in the 1700’s as a celebration hall for the vendange (grape harvest), is a concert salon unlike any other – with its wonderful oak beams, stone arched windows, and a superb Steinway previously owned by Alfred Brendel.
We’ll relax on comfortable sofas as we’re transported by glorious chamber music, played by the Wihan String Quartet and friends.
And then dinner – the nightly creations of a private chef are presented by candlelight in the large beamed dining room of L’ Orangerie, one of the three houses arranged around the Le Faure courtyard. The chef introduces each night’s menu, and then Ian Christians, or a specially invited chateau owner, presents the night’s wine selection.
Daytrips with fellow music-lovers can include such pleasures as learning about the wines of Bordeaux and how to taste wines, a visit to a charming local village on market day, an introduction to a marvelous chateau and winemaker, or even a short trip on the Atlantic ocean to sample excellent Arachon oysters and a selected wine.
We’ll continue our autumn journey with a few days in the luscious green Dordogne region, where dramatically situated villages are tucked along the banks of the rambling river that gives the area its name. Discovering pilgrimage sites perched precariously on steep cliffs, powerful chateaux, medieval towns, and several charming hamlets designated “the most beautiful of France”, we’ll enjoy the fine regional cuisine and wine of the area along the way.
Completing the tour with a night in Bordeaux, we’ll have enjoyed these marvelous regions of France to the fullest!