Classical Music on Holland America

[tomc]

He's a big guy, too. She was probably afraid he was going to tear her to pieces and have her for lunch. Sorry to hear that.

[dakrewser]

Yeah true, but rumor has it you went clubbing with Wagner;)

 

Shh! What happens in Beyreuth stays in Beyreuth...

 

;)

[LoyHAL]

Count us in on this one! More classical music would be great!

 

Sometimes just the volume of the music in the various venues drives us away...

 

I also hope someone from HAL is reading this!

LoyHAL:)

[dakrewser]

Just got an email today for a Mediterranean classical music cruise on Zuiderdam!

 

Called "Classical Latitude," the cruise goes from Barcelona to Venice next October and features:

 

Three Onboard Recitals with Awadagin Pratt

 

• Beethoven Piano Sonatas

 

• Variations and Fugues

 

• The Mystery Concert

 

Seven Seminars: 90-minutes to 3.5-hours

 

• Golden-Age Film Music

 

• A European Pedigree

 

• Mozart: Genius In Every Department

 

• La Mer

 

• Birthplace of the Baroque: Italian Music in the 17th and 18th Centuries

 

• The Greek Way: Concert Music of Greece and the Adriatic Countries

 

• Ports of Call

Two Cocktail Receptions

 

One Afternoon High Tea

(& Champagne) with Awadagin Pratt and our two Speakers

 

Interview and Q & A

 

Optional Land-Based Excursions Three Gala Evening Musicals:

 

• Barcelona

 

• Venice

 

• Messina or Monaco (TBD)

 

################

[tip]

...as long as the dress code police do not start demanding that we only attend in formal wear!!

[Ronaldus]

We have just returned from the "Nieuw Statendam" cruise and we fully enjoyed the live classical  music. The string quartet had a very rich warm sound. Sometimes they played an arranged popular song but we preferred the Brahms and JS Bach. There is nothing like live classical music. We where invited by the captain to have dinner but that invitation was at the same time as the Brahms recital so we did not have dinner with the captain. The Holland America line hired a well known quartet called Atlys. (http://atlysmusic.com/)

[Broon]

Yes, more classical music would suit us. And I do remember Eliot Finkel on board some years ago. He was/is an outstanding musician.

 

[colonialinnkeeper]

We were on the Oosterdam for 26 nights and, unless you went very early, there were no seats to listen to the classical music.  It would be very nice to have additional classical events.  Count us in.

[avian777]

21 minutes ago, Ronaldus said:

We have just returned from the "Nieuw Statendam" cruise and we fully enjoyed the live classical  music. The string quartet had a very rich warm sound. Sometimes they played an arranged popular song but we preferred the Brahms and JS Bach. There is nothing like live classical music. We where invited by the captain to have dinner but that invitation was at the same time as the Brahms recital so we did not have dinner with the captain. The Holland America line hired a well known quartet called Atlys. (http://atlysmusic.com/)

 

👍👍👍  Thanks, Ronaldus, for this very upbeat (and uplifting) Post.  Makes me even more excited about our upcoming cruise.

[Turtles06]

This is a resurrected 11-year-old thread

[avian777]

4 minutes ago, Broon said:

Yes, more classical music would suit us...

 

 

3 minutes ago, colonialinnkeeper said:

...  It would be very nice to have additional classical events.  Count us in.

👍👍👍  Agree - let's make our wishes known to HAL via the cruise survey and e-mail/'phone messages.

[Ronaldus]

5 minutes ago, colonialinnkeeper said:

We were on the Oosterdam for 26 nights and, unless you went very early, there were no seats to listen to the classical music.  It would be very nice to have additional classical events.  Count us in.

During our 7 days it was only fully packed on the last 3 days. The first 4 days it was easy to get a seat even during the concert. Our last day you had to take a seat 20 minutes ahead of time. I'm very happy classical music is getting more attention. It is very important that we encourage young musicians to follow their dreams. I am interested in the Jazz too but my ears hurt with the extremely loud sounds. And by the way most Jazz performances had a big standing crowd as well. So if I have to stand to listen to classical music... so be it. It is worth it to me!  

[Ronaldus]

7 minutes ago, avian777 said:

 

👍👍👍  Agree - let's make our wishes known to HAL via the cruise survey and e-mail/'phone messages.

I already did! These organizations are big and slow so we need to express our opinion to get their attention.

[Ronaldus]

9 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

This is a resurrected 11-year-old thread

Yes, isn't that funny? It takes a long time to get good stuff into the program. 

[Ronaldus]

On 2/7/2008 at 3:10 PM, Richard in Panama said:

Elliot Finkel is exactly the kind of performer I had in mind! He got standing ovations every performance on Celebrity and even his afternoon concert was packed. He is a classical pianist, great pianist, not really a showman.

Wow! He plays at the MET! What a blessing!!!

[Ronaldus]

4 hours ago, Ronaldus said:

Wow! He plays at the MET! What a blessing!!! We can all demand Julia Fischer to stay on the ship for 2 months but that will not be very likely. Instead we can enjoy the art that is available. There are so many interesting moments you can observe with these musicians that is simply only available in a live concert. They all have different characters. One violin player is playing extremely passionate so you can see the hairs hanging of her bow left and right. Fascinating moments that even a layman like me can enjoy.  

 

[OlsSalt]

Lincoln Center stage now being installed on many HAL ships to replace the former classical duo Adagio offer a five member ensemble - four strings - one piano. On our last Eurodam cruise they were superb when sticking to classical selections.  

 

Past Adagio duos ranged from outstanding to pathetic - mainly due to age, experience and showmanship of the performers involved. Some had played together for what appeared to be years and had very seasoned connections. Other, the younger and more earnest ones were tentative and grinding as if they had no experience as a performance pair.

 

One pair which consisted of two very talented performers were husband and wife, who seemed to be acting out some marital discord in public -she the pianist was constantly trying to drown out her violist partner to his growing non-verbal distress. Then she would flounce off the stage at the drop of the very last note.  She did not like playing "second fiddle" to his more personable entertainment skills, even though he was the main "fiddler".  In between was some technically excellent music but it was definitely not the piano supporting the violinist with that pair - was was more dueling prima donnas while the listener got stretched musically between the two competing threads. .

 

However I believe it is Seattle who determines their iPad playlists, who also asked the very talented and classically trained quintet on the Eurodam to also play medleys of more "popular" based music (Broadway etc - alors!) , which quite frankly was done badly, because it was so far out of their classical skill sets.

 

 In-cabin TV also offers a "classical" music choice but is rather benign but pleasant background music - light classical at best - nothing compelling or intrusive. 

 

Let's say classical offerings remain a work in progress on HAL ships - I'll give them at least a B- which considering the middle of the road appeal of many  HAL ships,  it can be surprisingly good and always welcome.  The former sprawling sofa and tables setting of the Explorers Lounge has been converted to rows of chairs for a more dutiful listening audience, than the "background" setting the former lounge setting offered.  

 

Alas, no tiered dessert trays of complimentary chocolates in the Lincoln Center setting, and they did finally give up the cocktail and liquor-flavored coffee service too. 

Edited January 11, 2019 by OlsSalt

[Ronaldus]

That is one interesting experience. Our experience with Atlys was extremely good so I will not even consider going on a cruise without live classical music from now on. They all have a masters degree in music. That is a good quality measurement the Holland America line can take into account. Perhaps I won't like it as much in the future but this time it was a big hit.

 

Edited January 11, 2019 by Ronaldus

[St Pete Cruiser]

The Lincoln Center is a big improvement over the piano and violin alone in the Explorer.  

 

I'm glad someone questioned this thread as I have been told Celebrity does NOT feature any classical music anymore.

[Marianne]

I often rate my cruises by the classical music played.  I've always enjoyed piano and violin, but also was very impressed with Lincoln Center, especially on my last cruise to Hawaii in November.  Please -- let's have more classical music!!!!

Marianne

[avian777]

1 hour ago, Marianne said:

I often rate my cruises by the classical music played.  I've always enjoyed piano and violin, but also was very impressed with Lincoln Center, especially on my last cruise to Hawaii in November.  Please -- let's have more classical music!!!!

Marianne

👍👍👍    Agree - make your wishes known to HAL via the cruise survey and e-mail/'phone messages. If enough classical music fans make their wishes known, we just might get more classical music!

Edited January 12, 2019 by avian777

[Ronaldus]

8 hours ago, avian777 said:

👍👍👍    Agree - make your wishes known to HAL via the cruise survey and e-mail/'phone messages. If enough classical music fans make their wishes known, we just might get more classical music!

Thank you very much for your positive feedback on classical music! I think a cruise is a very good environment to enjoy classical music. I love the MET replica's and the lights in the Lincoln Center. It makes the cruise more festive.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Lincoln Center Stage is now on 8 ships, the Vistas and larger. When I was on K'dam last winter, I was thrilled to see a talented quintet instead of the poor Adagio pairs we always seemed to get. They clearly loved the music and had such joy in playing it. I met the mother of the pianist and she was so proud of her son. She said that when he was growing up studying classical music,  he worried that he might not be able to get a job as he feared interest in classical music was dwindling. 

 

I agree with others who say, if you enjoy the classical music, make a point of saying so in your feedback. And buy a drink while you're there--before they play because bar service stops during the set--because revenue says it all. 

 

Edited January 12, 2019 by 3rdGenCunarder
typo

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, Ronaldus said:

Thank you very much for your positive feedback on classical music! I think a cruise is a very good environment to enjoy classical music. I love the MET replica's and the lights in the Lincoln Center. It makes the cruise more festive.

 

Not sure what you mean by MET replicas. If you mean the "satellite" chandeliers, that's a happy coincidence. The Queen's lounge decor is the same on K'dam, and Lincoln Center did not play there originally, so the room was not decorated with them in mind. (They were in what is now the Rock Room.)

[Ronaldus]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Not sure what you mean by MET replicas. If you mean the "satellite" chandeliers, that's a happy coincidence. The Queen's lounge decor is the same on K'dam, and Lincoln Center did not play there originally, so the room was not decorated with them in mind. (They were in what is now the Rock Room.)

Yes, I meant the sputnik chandeliers that look just like the MET. Thank you for explaining that!