11 places every classical music fan should visit in their lifetime

19 August 2024, 09:31 | Updated: 20 August 2024, 10:01

From dedicated museums, historic houses and hometowns of famous composers, to the festivals that immortalise their music, we round up some of the best locations around the world that every classical music lover should add to their bucket list.

While music itself is an ephemeral thing, experienced instantly and fleetingly in the ear, its origins and histories make for a rich tapestry of experiences waiting to be discovered.

There are places all over the world that make for frankly compulsory visitation for every classical music fan. From festivals to final resting places, these destinations and experiences preserve and bring wonderfully to life the contexts and life stories behind the music we love so much.

Here are some of our best recommendations for classical music lovers to add to their bucket lists and experience in their lifetimes.

Read more: 20 incredible classical music concerts across the UK this summer

1. Glyndebourne for picnics and prolonged intervals

   Glyndebourne is a country estate in East Sussex, home to Gus Christie and his wife, international soprano Danielle de Niese. The stunning historic house, dating from the 16th Century and preserved beautifully since, is also the location of one of the most famous opera houses in the world, and the annual Glyndebourne Festival.

   From May to August, the house is open to thousands of opera aficionados and experience-seekers alike, who embark on the journey by car, or by coach transfer from Lewes train station amidst the excited babble of fellow music lovers, to experience opera in a beautiful setting.

   The chance to hear world-class music is accompanied by the chance to have a pre-show picnic, and a glass of something cool and more pinicing during that famously long 90-minute interval. A blissful way to experience classical music.

   Read more: Discover Glyndebourne, the annual opera festival in a 500-year-old country house

   

2. Bayreuth for a pilgrimage with Wagner

   Sticking with opera houses, and Bayreuth Festival Theatre makes this list for its sheer status in classical music history. The purpose-built opera house of legendary Romantic opera composer, Richard Wagner – who arguably transformed the course of music more than any other composer of his time – Bayreuth is the location of a dedicated festival experience devised by the composer himself to give his works an annual showcase on a specially-designed stage.

   Bayreuth wasn’t the first choice of location for Wagner, by all accounts. He initially looked towards the cities of Zurich, Weimar and Munich to house a dedicated performance space for his operas, but it was only when the potential of the old run down Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth became apparent that the town would go down in the history books as eternally associated with the name ‘Wagner’.

   Wagner personally supervised the design and construction of the new theatre, which was architecturally designed to accommodate the huge orchestras he wrote for. The annual festival is still going strong, attended by thousands in July and August every year, and visiting Bayreuth has become something of a pilgrimage for classical music lovers.

   

3. Mosh to classical music at Truck Festival

   Moving to a different kind of festival, and the chance to experience classical music at Truck Festival, an annual independent festival in Oxfordshire founded in 1998. Now, we love it when classical music crops up in unexpected places and, the more the better, in our opinion.

   Every year, the Oxford Symphony Orchestra appears at Truck, and it has quite literally become the stuff of legend. The orchestra makes an annual appearance at the festival, making well known classical music centre stage. While some might want to lean back on the grassy knoll that’s propping up their happy, beer-hazed demeanour, and let the sounds of the orchestra wash over them, others dive into the joyful fizz at the front of the stage and jump around with the cheerful throng of people moshing and crowd-surfing to the symphonic blasts of Beethoven, Offenbach, Rossini, Mozart, and more.

   Read more: Festival crowd erupts into a mosh pit for Rossini overture

   

   Festivalgoers start to mosh to Oxford Symphony Orchestra

4. Classic FM Live for orchestral fireworks at the Albert Hall

   Every year, we descend on the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London, install a great orchestra and brilliant soloists and, with the help of Classic FM friends and hosts, welcome thousands of classical music lovers to the Hall for Classic FM Live.

   Expect great pieces of classical music, the most spectacular soloists performing today, and a finale of music by great composers – accompanied by fireworks, lights, and the occasional blast from a cannon.

   Read more: Classic FM Live – our spectacular Royal Albert Hall concert in pictures

   

   Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’ – Royal Scottish National Orchestra at Classic FM Live

5. Pay respects to classical music greats at Vienna Central Cemetery

   A change of pace now, and time for some reflection. Alongside bringing joyful classical music to life through live experiences, we also love the chance to look back at the history and lives of the great composers and artists who gave us this music we love so much.

   A way to do this can be the sombre and dignified final resting places of these greats. If you find yourself in Vienna, and in the south of the city, head over to Vienna Central Cemetery, a large bit of parkland featuring Art Nouveau architecture and the graves of some of the most famous names in music.

   Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss I and II, and Arnold Schoenberg all rest there, among other people famous in their fields, including architect and designer Josef Hoffmann and innovative 20th century Hollywood star, Hedy Lamarr.

   

6. Vienna for open air concerts in palace gardens, or New Year’s Concert celebrations

   Remaining in Vienna for a minute, and we’d be remiss not to recommend seeing a performance in this city steeped in music history. The birthplace and base for so many famous composers – from Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Maria Theresia von Paradis, to Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and more – the city upholds its musical heritage with several annual celebrations of music.

   Every summer, the esteemed Vienna Philharmonic takes up space at Vienna’s stunning Schönbrunn Palace, which has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The orchestra plays from a podium in the middle of the palace’s baroque park, and the audience is surrounded by the extraordinary scenery of the palace and grounds. Even better? Entry to the open air concert is free.

   At the end of the year, the Vienna Philharmonic embarks on another fine tradition – the Vienna New Year’s Concert. The uplifting program centres around the music of the Johann Strauss family and their contemporaries.

   

7. Torre del Lago, for the Puccini Festival and villa

   Sticking with open air concerts, and opportunities to experience classical music in stunning surrounds, we want to take you to the town associated with legendary Romantic opera composer Giacomo Puccini.

   Torre del Lago, a lake-side town in the province of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy, is where Puccini held a villa – now a museum dedicated to his honour – where he lived and worked on many of his famous operas.

   Every summer, Torre de Lago hosts its Puccini Festival, staging operas in its open-air theatre next to the picturesque Lake Massaciuccoli. Powerful music in a breathtaking location.

   

8. Troldhaugen, Norway, for the home of Edvard Grieg

   Composer Edvard Grieg is one of Norway’s proudest exports, and his life and story is enshrined in the beautiful Troldhaugen in Bergen.

   The composer’s home from 1885 until his death in 1907, the picturesque villa is a living museum and the location of the composer’s hut, as well as his and his wife, Nina’s, graves, and the world-class Troldsalen concert hall.

   A day out at the museum can be accompanied by refreshments at the museum’s cafe, and an evening concert at the Troldsalen – and, always, those stunning views of forest and fjord.

   

9. The Dvořák and Smetana museums in Prague

   The esteemed composer sons of Czechia, Antonin Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana are honoured with dedicated museums in the country’s capital, Prague. Both housing fascinating collections of scores and artefacts from the composers’ lives – the Dvořák housed within the Czech Museum of Music on the west bank of Prague’s Vltava river, and the Smetana in a stunning 1880s waterworks building on the opposite bank of the river.

   There are plenty of other museums and classical music sights – including the magnificent Smetana Hall, the Rudolfinum, and Municipal House – in the historic city of Prague, which is well worth a visit by any classical music fan. You can just feel the history walking around the place.

   

10. Handel Hendrix House, for two musical greats united by location

    A gem of a place in the UK’s capital, Handel Hendrix House was founded for the preservation of the homes of “two musicians who chose London and changed music… separated by a wall and 200 years.”

    Located at 23-25 Brook Street in Mayfair, the museum occupies five floors in total, four of them preserved with artefacts immortalising the life of Baroque composer George Frideric Handel, and the top floor commemorating the genius guitarist and singer-songwriter Jimi Hendrix.

    Entry to the museum gives you a journey into the lives and times of these two musical greats within the wider context of London, and there are also opportunities to attend talks, rehearsals and family days in these inspiring historic spaces.

    

11. Arena di Verona, for breathtaking new experiences in ancient architecture

    Any classical music bucket list isn’t complete with an iconic classical music location in Italy. And a highlight is Verona’s ancient Roman amphitheatre, which hosts concerts and events all year round.

    Built an astonishingly long time ago – 30 AD, which makes it older than the Colosseum in Rome – the Arena di Verona is one of the best preserved structures of its kind and has hosted ancient sporting games, opera productions from the Renaissance era to the present day, modern rock concerts, festivals of all genres, and modern sporting events reminiscent of its original use, including cycling and volleyball.

    Works by the most famous opera composers of all time have been performed on the arena’s hallowed stage – including by Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni and more.

    Capacity is 30,000 and the scale of the place – as well as its astonishing 2000-year history – is nothing short of extraordinary.