THE TOUR INCLUDES: - Top category seats for all performances as listed - 6 nights accommodations at the deluxe Inn of the Anasazi (central) - Full breakfast daily, 2 lunches and 2 dinners - 3 custom (private) tours, including the most important historical and architectural sites, galleries and museums - private Airport-Hotel transfers - tour direction by an Aria Tours director - a comprehensive tour handbook containing travel info, performance synopses and a detailed daily itinerary Cost: $4875 US Single Supplement: $975 US Optional Bandelier excursion: $200 US * includes lunch Deposit: $2500 Balance due: May 11, 2008

OPTIONS FLIGHTS Return flights should be booked to either Albuquerque International Sunport or Santa Fe Municipal Airport. We will be happy to make any flight arrangements, including reward travel with your preferred carrier, for $75 per person. AIRPORT-HOTEL TRANSFERS We include airport-hotel transfers (group) on the published tour dates for either Santa Fe Municipal or Albuquerque International Sunport. Transfers are not included for early arrivals or extended stays, although we can easily make these arrangements for you. TOUR ADDITIONS The itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and desires. Please call us to discuss any changes or amendments you wish to make. INSURANCE We strongly recommend that all tour members purchase cancellation insurance upon registration. We can assist you with this, though you are welcome to purchase a policy at your own discretion. If you would like information on the policies offered by our supplier, please contact us for details, or click HERE for an insurance brochure and application.

There are arguably other cities as exotic as Santa Fe...just not in North America. Rarely does a place speak to so many people on so many levels. Art lovers, opera lovers, history lovers, food lovers, nature lovers and, of course, good old-fashioned love lovers have all fallen under Santa Fe's spell. The landscape conspires to take your breath away. The narrow, winding streets invite you to walk closer together. The 400 year-old adobe buildings ask: "What's the hurry?" There is certainly plenty to explore, from the spectacular Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside of town to the world-renowned galleries, boutiques and restaurants just outside our hotel door. To truly understand why the readers of Conde Nast Traveler put Santa Fe near the top of their must-see list, you'll just have to experience it first hand. And start a love affair of your own.

With a population of 70,000 primarily Hispanic, Anglo and Native American people, Santa Fe, which is Spanish for "Holy Faith", is New Mexico's third largest city behind Albuquerque and Las Cruces. Situated at 7,000 feet above sea level in the foothills of the southern Rocky Mountains, it was founded between 1607 and 1610, making it the second oldest city as well as the highest and oldest capital in the U.S. In 2005, Santa Fe became the first U.S. city to be chosen by UNESCO as a Creative City, one of only nine cities in the world to hold this designation.

Santa Fe has long been a center for arts and culture. It now ranks as the country's third largest art market with nearly 300 galleries and dealers. There are also more than a dozen major museums showcasing an array of art, culture, history and traditions, as well as—of course—the world-class Santa Fe Opera.

We will have top category seats for five performances, stay in the city's finest hotel, and dine at several of the most renowned restaurants in the area. This itinerary offers proof that you needn't travel across the globe for a very special opera getaway.

THE ITINERARY

Monday, August 11
Upon arrival in Santa Fe, you will be met and transferred to the historic Inn of the Anasazi, located just steps from the plaza district, the cultural heart of the city. This boutique hotel is an elegant microcosm of Southwestern style, with massive hand-carved doors, sculptured stairways and sandstone walls that whisper of prehistoric Pueblo living. After settling in to our deluxe rooms, we gather for introductions and then enjoy a Welcome Dinner at the Anasazi Restaurant in the hotel. One of New Mexico’s most highly acclaimed culinary destinations, the restaurant offers an atmosphere that is both elegant and rusticly Southwestern.

Tuesday, August 12
After breakfast we depart on a guided city tour (private), featuring amongst other sites the Santa Fe Plaza, Loretto Chapel and its miraculous staircase, St. Francis Cathedral (where we see the city's 400-year history in its doors), San Miguel Mission, Palace of the Governors. We learn how the city's two unique styles of architecture developed, and we cross the route of the Santa Fe Trail. Your experienced guide will point out interesting shops, galleries and restaurants as well as other features many visitors miss. Lunch is included at the famous Pink Adobe. The afternoon is at leisure.

This evening, we gather and make our way by private coach for our first performance—the final night for the American premiere run of Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater directed by Peter Sellars. Their new work takes place in an unnamed country at war, and its themes—revenge, forgiveness, and redemption—touch the consciousness in profound ways. The New York Times said of its 2006 Paris premiere, “Saariaho has succeeded in forging a work on an emotional scale only occasionally heard in contemporary opera.” Spanish conductor Ernest Martinez Izquierdo makes his American debut with this production. Mezzo-soprano Monica Groop, who made her Santa Fe debut as the Pilgrim in L’Amour de loin, appears in the title role. She is joined by soprano Pia Freund, who recently sang the title role in Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone in Vienna, tenor Joseph Kaiser, who is featured as Tamino in the new Kenneth Branagh film adaptation of The Magic Flute, and bass Raymond Aceto, whose 2007/08 season performances include Escamillo in Carmen for the Vienna State Opera.

Wednesday, August 13
Enjoy the day at leisure in Santa Fe.

This evening we depart once again for the Sante Fe Opera and a performance of Mozart's enduring and endearing The Marriage of Figaro. Kenneth Montgomery, who led the very successful productions of Cinderella in 2006 and Daphne in 2007, conducts. This new production is staged by acclaimed British director Jonathan Kent, whose most recent SFO credit is The Tempest in 2006. Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni makes his company debut in the title role; the young English soprano Elizabeth Watts is Susanna. Mariusz Kwiecen, who played Don Giovanni in 2004, returns as Count Almaviva, with SFO apprentice alumna Susanna Phillips as the Countess. Isabel Leonard, a young American making her Metropolitan Opera debut this coming season, is Cherubino.

Thursday, August 14
This morning we explore the red rock landscapes of Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch and let the vivid colors inspire us as they did Georgia O'Keeffe. We will see penitente chapels and the bones of early dinosaurs on our excursion. Lunch is included.

This evening we return to the Santa Fe Opera for Billy Budd. Five years after Peter Grimes, Benjamin Britten returned to sagas of the sea for Billy Budd, the tale of a seraphic young sailor’s fall from grace. Based on Herman Melville’s unpublished novel of the same name, Billy Budd is now recognized as one of the most dramatically powerful and thematically poignant operas of the 20th century. The company’s newly appointed chief conductor, Edo de Waart, will lead the performance, collaborating with director Paul Curran, who staged Santa Fe’s memorable Peter Grimes in 2005. Teddy Tahu Rhodes makes his Santa Fe debut in the title role, with Peter Rose as the malignant John Claggart and William Burden as “Starry Vere,” the naval commander who must make life’s ultimate choice.

Friday, August 15
This morning we offer an optional tour through the cliff dwellings and Indian pueblos, to tribal lands where the Tewa people are famous for their black pottery. Learn about Indian and Spanish history, the fascinating volcanic geology and how the atomic age began in this rugged mesa and canyon country. Visit the ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings at Bandelier National Monument and picnic (included) beside a canyon stream.

This evening we attend a performance of Radamisto at the Santa Fe Opera. Handel set a new standard for Italian opera with Radamisto, a gorgeous and rarely heard work that was originally commissioned to launch the Royal Academy of Music in London. This musico-military spectacular celebrates the redemptive powers of love and fidelity in marriage, through a story of interlocking attempts at adultery among the ruling families of ancient Iberia. Radamisto will be conducted by Harry Bicket, who led Platée here in 2007, and staged by David Alden, who won the 2006 Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production for his Jenufa at the English National Opera. The famously challenging title role will be sung by countertenor David Daniels, one of the world’s great Handelians, in his Santa Fe debut. He is joined in the cast by soprano Laura Claycomb as Polissena, male soprano Michael Maniaci as Fraarte, and Luca Pisaroni as Tiridate.

Saturday, August 16
Spend your final day at leisure in Santa Fe.

This evening we enjoy a special dinner at the Santa Fe Opera prior to our performance of Falstaff. Paolo Arrivabeni makes his American debut as conductor and Kevin Newbury is the stage director. Anthony Michaels-Moore sings the title role; Franco Pomponi, a 1994 Santa Fe apprentice, sings Ford; British soprano Claire Rutter is Ford’s wife, Alice; and Italian soprano Laura Giordano is their daughter, Nannetta. Nancy Maultsby and Norman Reinhardt, both of whom performed in the 2007 SFO season, return as Mistress Quickly and Fenton, respectively.

Sunday, August 17
Departure to Albuquerque International Sunport or Santa Fe Municipal Airport is included.