World Opera Tour
She Hits the High Note

By Charles Bethea

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Peter Rigaud / Deutsche Grammophon
Thirty-six-year-old Russian soprano Anna Netrebko has been called “Audrey Hepburn with a voice.” But opera? We were suspect, too, until we discovered J.Q. Porter Exquisite Travel’s jet tour of the world’s greatest operahouses—including stops in Prague, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and Paris. Here, finally, is opera for the dubious male: Top seats at the French Open and FIFA football matches, plus cycling to Prague’s Karlstejn Castle and judo lessons at President Putin’s Yavara Neva judo school, more than justify following around the world’s best lungs.

In Paris, while you watch Federer attempt to win the elusive French slam at Roland Garros, your female companion (she loves opera; you must love her) can look forward to a never-before-offered private ballet class at the Marinsky Ballet Company in St. Petersburg. That night you’ll have orchestra–level seats for Bellini’s Les Capulets et Les Montaigus, starring Netrebko as Juliette in her debut at the Paris Opera. Soon you’re in royal-box seating for American Renee Fleming’s premiere of Capriccio at Vienna’s State Opera House, fresh off a trek through the Vienna woods. Along the way you’ll meet maestros, witness performances previously available only to heads of state (such as a private rehearsal by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic), and savor Europe’s finest hotels (like George V in Paris) and restaurants (such as Steirereck, Austria’s best dining establishment three years running).

The only real risk is that you may return an opera fan. May 27–June 8. $85,000 per person, all-inclusive; jqporter.com