Classical Destinations: An Armchair Guide to Classical Music

‘Classical Destinations’ introduces a new concept in travel and history, exploring Europe's most spectacular cities and landscapes while luxuriating in the great classical music composed within their precincts. Viewers will learn about the lives of the master musicians, the cities they lived in, and how their work reflects the very same surroundings we see today.

Narrated by the celebrated British actor and music expert Simon Callow, ‘Classical Destinations’ mixes documentary, music performance, real life soap-opera (and grand opera!), philosophy and tragic-comic whimsy in a moving visual tapestry combining stunning High Definition images and an unforgettable soundtrack that features the world's greatest orchestras and soloists.

‘Classical Destinations’ has assembled a gifted trio of presenters to tell these stories in words and music: Simon Callow, one of Britain's most recognisable actors, and a respected writer and commentator on classical music, brings the stories of Mozart (whom he portrayed in the first production of Peter Shaffer's ‘Amadeus’), Beethoven, Bach, Puccini and many others to life with an idiosyncratic mix of insight, authority and charm; Niki Vasilakis, still in her early twenties but already hailed as an exciting young violin virtuoso, performs musical masterworks onscreen against dazzling European surroundings (including Classical Destination's brilliant and original theme music); Matt Wills is an acclaimed writer/performer for stage and television.

‘Classical Destinations’ captures these magical combinations: the primeval forests of Finland and the music of Sibelius, the Rococo splendour of Salzburg and the world of the child Mozart; the brilliant light of Venice and the corresponding clarity and vivacity of Vivaldi's Four Seasons; the grandeur of the German cathedrals and their counterpart in the architectural majesty of Johann Sebastian Bach's masterpieces. .