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Berwang Winter Music Holiday |
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Direct shortcuts to other Music Holidays: Berwang Holiday Music Course (August) Bach to Bacchus Weekend (May, October Trittenheim)
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| Updated 080218 |
Berwang Winter Music Holiday
24th-31st January 2009
Would you like a winter sports holiday combined with music-making? It might comprise an invigorating day on the slopes, skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing or just walking gently in the locality of Berwang, and then, later in the day or if the weather precludes outdoor activities, making music together.
Music for wind
instruments, strings and singers - chamber 
music, chamber choir or mixed
ensemble -
would be a wonderful way to round off the day, either as participant or
listener. The Tyrolean winter
holiday has an atmosphere all of its own - deep snow everywhere yet, in the
sunshine, you can enjoy lunch sitting outside on top of a mountain or in the
village, in shirtsleeves. The smell
of wood fires and gluhwein add an extra touch. Photo
above, right, shows singing rehearsal at BWMH06
Berwang
has a comprehensive and varied range of ski runs and lifts: easy, undemanding
slopes for beginners and the less experienced, and some challenging runs for the
more advanced. For those not into
skiing etc, there are 
delightful walks through the pine trees, either winding up
the mountainside or on the flat to the neighbouring
hamlets.
The views from almost everywhere are stunning, and you are rarely far
from somewhere to sit and relax with a hot chocolate!
Ski equipment can be hired and various
ski passes 
purchased locally. The ski school
in Berwang operates daily, morning and afternoon.
Individual lessons are also available with the ski instructors.
Nowhere are you far from a ski lift (a chair or T-bar lift) and most of
these link up to provide a circular ski tour around the village.
Berwang also boasts a wide variety of shops, bars and restaurants, a bank
and supermarkets, so everything is close at hand.
Photo
above, right, shows some of the BWMH06 group relaxing over lunch after a
morning's skiing.
The
usual January ski day finishes around 4:30-5:00pm and, after visiting a local café for
a beer or hot drink and cake(s), the thought of some singing - both secular and
religious works, or playing chamber
music, such as the Beethoven Septet or Schubert Octet, should make a really
satisfying end to the day.
Other
holiday activities, such as a floodlit toboggan run, Eisstockschiessen (shown
left during BWMH06, an
‘agricultural’ form of curling - accompanied by gluhwein, of course!) and
traditional Tyrolean evenings are available. The holiday
is flexible with more free time or music-making during the day, depending on
participants’ preferences.
The holiday is based on
bed-and-breakfast accommodation in 
SHARED
double rooms with private bath/shower and WC, and includes group evening meals
on the first and last days. Other accommodation, including rooms for
single occupancy, is available on application and on payment of a supplement
(please ask for details). There are plenty of restaurants, cafés and
bistros in Berwang serving a variety of food (fondue shown above, right) at reasonable prices and at times
to fit in with the music activities.
The Berwang Winter
Music Holiday
is organised by
Kerry
Camden, who will also direct the music activities (shown right, directing
a wind ensemble rehearsal). Himself a professional musician (distinguished bassoonist, teacher, wind
tutor, 
conductor, adjudicator and
arranger). In 2005-8, Kerry has been assisted by
Christopher Brown, counter-tenor, conductor and composer (shown left).
After
payment of a £50 booking fee, the 
basic cost
is €uro 590 per person,
payable in full on arrival in Berwang, comprising: bed and breakfast
accommodation in SHARED double rooms with bath/shower and WC for the 7 nights of
24th-30th January 2009, group evening meals on 24th and 30th January (first and
last nights only), and all music activities. Other
accommodation is available on
application and on payment of a supplement (for a single room in a
B&B, add
about €30, please ask for a specific quote).
Ski equipment, lift passes
and travel must be purchased or hired separately. Further information is
available from Hofherr, a local ski equipment and service company; click
here: [If you want the page you are
directed to translated from the German, one way is to put
'sport hofherr' into Google and, by the website listing it finds, click on
'translate this page']
TRAVEL: We shall provide firm details when the flight schedules are known, but typical flights are: EasyJet departing London Stansted at 07:55 on departure day and scheduled to arrive at Munich at 10:50; returning on EasyJet flight from Munich, departing at 21:00 on return day and scheduled to arrive at London Stansted at 22:00; see www.easyjet.co.uk.
The onward
journey is by train at least as far as Garmisch-Partenkirchen,
as it is prohibitively expensive to provide a coach from the airport to Berwang.
The details of the train journey are mentioned in the brochure and on the
website, viz: via S-Bahn (entrance within the airport concourse)
to Munich Hauptbahnhof (München Hbf). There,
you need tickets on Deutsche Bahn: either singles 'Einfach' or returns 'hin und
zuruck' to Garmisch or Berwang-Bichlbach. You
would be given an itinerary with your ticket, which should show a change at
Pasing and another change at Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Pasing is best for the
first change, as the platforms tend to be more adjacent than the alternative).
The train from Munich to Garmisch takes about 1.5 hours and runs
approximately hourly; a single is under €20, group returns are not
much more. It is possible to
book train tickets in advance, but we do not recommend this, as group
travel is cheaper and specified trains may be missed in case of delays/missed
connections etc. The website
to check up on the trains is at www.bahn.de. The specific page for researching - in English - trains from Munich
to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Bichlbach on the D-Bahn website should be [click
on link following]: http://www.bahn.de/-S:PtVORN:d5g3uNNNWFOG7dNNNN9M/p/view/international/englisch/international_guests.shtml
There are two
possibilities, which we are considering, for the onward journey from Garmisch to
Berwang:
(1)
By train to Berwang-Bichlbach, for which you should also budget for the
small cost of a taxi/minibus to meet the train, under 10 mins drive to Berwang,
but we would try to arrange for you to be met as a group and driven to your
accommodation.
OR
(2)
We usually, subject to demand, provide taxis and/or a minibus to meet the party at
Garmisch-Partenkirchen and transfer you and your luggage to/from Berwang.
From our experience in the last 2 years, this is the most convenient option as it
avoids a quick change for the onward train to Berwang with the risk of missing
the connection and having a long wait for the next one. The viability and cost
of this will depend upon how many are in the group, but in the past has been in the region of
€15-20 each way (ie €40 or less, return).
Depending on the weather and road conditions, the road transfer takes in
the region of 45 minutes.
For those taking a different flight, we suggest you try to arrive at Munich airport before the EasyJet flight, so that the whole party can travel on to Berwang together. If you prefer to meet at Garmisch/Berwang-Bichlbach, where we are planning to provide onward transport to your accommodation (see (1)/(2) above), please enquire in due course about meeting time. From 2009 onwards, we regret we are ONLY able to arrange group transport for those BOTH either joining or meeting the recommended flight at Munich, outbound, AND either joining the recommended flight or prepared to be be at Munich airport at the time required by those booked on the recommended flight on the return; NO individual transportation will be arranged or advised on, due to the time this takes and to keep administrative costs (and therefore price) to a minimum.
Please send completed Booking Form with your Booking Fee of £50 or
contact
us or e-mail BWMH@musicholiday.com:
Further details can also be found by clicking on the links in this paragraph or in the left-hand border.
For general information on our muscholidays, e-mail info@musicholiday.com or, for the Berwang Holiday Music Course specificallly, held annually in August, BHMC@musicholiday.com. There are also Weekends, held in Trittenheim in the Mosel valley, Germany, combining music-making and wine tasting - see www.musicholiday.com/bacchus !
