Ready to do something a little adventurous, very fun, definitely enlightening, and in the company of great people? Once again the Museum School of the Springfield Museums offers a variety of exciting day trips and extended excursions. Complete itineraries at SpringfieldMuseums.org/programs.
Day Trips
Local Treasures, the Smith College Museum of Art & the Lyman Plant Conservatory
Jeanne Fontaine; Friday, January 26; depart: 9:30 am; return: 4 pm; $64, Members, $75, nonmembers; includes admissions, guided tours, lunch, bus transportation and gratuities. Enjoy guided tours of both the Art Museum and Botanical Garden. First established in 1879, the Smith Art Museum is best known for its remarkable collection of American and European art of the 19th and 20th centuries. Built in the nineteenth century, the Lyman Conservatory houses over 3,000 species of plants and comprises one of the best collections of tropical, subtropical, and desert plants in the country. Lunch is included at the Hotel Northampton.
Please register by February 1st!
The BSO
Jeanne Fontaine; Friday, March 2; depart: 8:45 am; return: 5:30 pm; $155, Members, $182, nonmembers; includes admissions, bus transportation and gratuities. Enjoy lunch at the elegant BSO Café before a concert featuring violist Leila Josefowicz and former New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert conducting Sibelius En Saga; Debussy’s Jeux and John Adams’s Scheherazade 2 for violin and orchestra – a work composed for violinist Leila Josefowicz. En route, enjoy an enlightening pre-concert lecture by New England Public Radio host Walter Carroll.
Josh Simpson Glass Studio & Artisans Studio Tour
Jeanne Fontaine; March 13, depart: 9 am; return: 5 pm; $, Members, $, nonmembers; includes: tours, lunch, bus transportation and driver tip. Enjoy a guided tour and glass blowing demonstration at the Shelburne Falls studio of world renowned glass artist Josh Simpson. There will be a discussions and a catered boxed lunch with Josh and his “hot shop” team and a visit to the Salmon Falls Artisan’s showroom in Shelburne Falls.
Please register by February 24th!
Metropolitan Opera. NYC: Turandot
Michael Cascia; Saturday, March 24; 7:45 am- 9 pm; $195, Members; $230, nonmembers, includes orchestra seating, boxed lunch, bus travel and driver tip. The Met’s monumental staging presents Puccini’s grand spectacle of legendary China starring Oksana Dyka and Martina Serafin in the role of the ice princess and Marcelo Álvarez as the unknown prince who must thaw her heart or die. Maria Agresta, Hei-Kyung Hong, and James Morris are among the other remarkable artists featured in this cherished Franco Zeffirelli production, led by Carlo Rizzi and Marco Armiliato.
Extended Excursions
Chicago: Epicenter of American Architecture
April 18-23, 2018; Jeanne Fontaine; Land only: $2,975; $3670, singles. Visit some of Chicago’s most intriguing and dazzling sites – Millennium Park, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Driehaus Museum/Nickerson Mansion, the Auditorium Theatre, and numerous other architectural gems. We will stay at the renowned, Historic Palmer House Hilton Hotel in the heart of the Loop. Highlights include: Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings, his home and studio in Oak Park, as well as the iconic Robie House and a guided architectural boat tour.
Across Spain and Portugal
October 12-28, 2018; Jeanne Fontaine; Land and air: $4,878, members; $6,173, singles; Barcelona extension, October 28-30, available. Fortified cities and tiny fishing villages, rugged Atlantic coastline and commanding Pyrenees peaks, iconic shrines to both religion and fine art, and intimate lodgings in historic paradores and pousadas – it all awaits on this enchanting journey from Lisbon across the north of Spain, ending in vibrant Barcelona. Highlights include: Santiago de Compostela, Bilbao’s Guggenheim, Antoni Gaudí’s Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia. Discover more of Barcelona with an optional 3-day/2-night post-tour extension.
Information Session: Sunday, April 15 at 12:30 pm, at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts.
A complete itinerary on all tours is available by calling the Museum School at 413-263-6800 ext. 382 or 377.