Opera Show host Mairi Nicolson names Europe's best cities for music

Melbourne-based tour guide and ABC radio host Mairi Nicolson travels all over Europe to see live opera.

The singing voice – any type of singing – is my favourite instrument,” says Mairi Nicolson, the Kiwi-born host of ABC Classic’s long-running Opera Show.

Mairi also hosts music-led itineraries with Renaissance Tours to some of Europe’s most cultured enclaves, but fell into the genre largely by accident. “Mum used to put on LPs of opera favourites and I was seduced,” she says. “She took us to the opera in Sydney in our teens and I’ve loved it since. I eventually studied singing at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.”

Seeing operas combines Mairi’s passion for travel and music. “I get to see new productions in the most famous theatres in the world, and the greatest singing stars live,” Mairi says.

Mairi Nicolson is the host of ABC's Opera Show.

“Opera is the complete art form. Forget Netflix, in opera there’s always someone falling in love, killing someone, taking revenge, and far too often dying, while singing on for half an hour despite their terminal illness.

“Like opera, Naples is life on steroids.”

Here, she shares her favourite European destinations for opera.

Bucharest, Romania

Bucharest’s biennial Enescu Festival is the world’s best classical music celebration. There’s so much more to the city than its dark Communist past. The people are charming and funny and the country has a rich musical culture. On offer at the festival is a march-past of some of the world’s greatest orchestras, ensembles, conductors and soloists, alongside Romanian artists.

The Enescu Festival in Bucharest.

Naples, Italy

My favourite place in the world for opera is the venerable San Carlo theatre in Naples. Naples itself is one big theatre – every street corner seems to be alive with an explosive operatic scene; people shouting, gesticulating and hugging. I saw Verdi’s Nabuccolast time I was there. After the chorus was sung, the audience clapped for so long, the cast encored it, with all of us singing along.

Teatro di San Carlo (San Carlo Theatre) in Naples.

London, England

I’ll never forget Puccini’s Madam Butterfly at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The theatre was partly modelled on Roman amphitheatres, so the director and designer created a spectacular in-the-round production with an enormous Japanese water garden. Butterfly is a pretty unrelenting tragedy with passionate music and I remember getting my tissues out at the start as the orchestra began to play.

Royal Albert Hall, London.

Barcelona, Spain

The Liceu in Barcelona is the perfect traditional opera house. It’s opulent, doused in art and on a prime piece of real estate on the famous La Rambla. I’ve seen the Kansas-born superstar Joyce DiDonato play the ruthless Roman empress Agrippina in Handel’s opera there. It was a four-hour epic.

The Liceu opera house in Barcelona.

Bilbao, Spain

Bilbao is a rewarding city to visit for art and music. Alongside Frank Gehry's ground-breaking Guggenheim Museum is the historic Arriaga Theatre, which opened in 1890, modelled on the Paris Opera House. Another astonishing modern complex is Euskalduna Palace, built on the banks of the Bilbao estuary.

The Arriaga Theatre in Bilbao.

HIGHS AND LOWS

The big freeze

One of my early adventures was a three-week trek in the Himalayas. I was young and badly prepared. My jacket was thin and inadequate, and I discovered too late that the sleeping bag I’d hired was too short and not warm enough. I was so under-dressed I couldn’t sleep.

Glam stay

I once stayed at the Hotel Danieli in Venice; it was absolutely breathtaking. It’s the epitome of traditional luxury with a rooftop breakfast terrazza overlooking the Grand Canal. I wish I could have stayed there all day. Sweeping up to the hotel in a water taxi was special, too.

Originally published as Opera Show host Mairi Nicolson names Europe's best cities for music