Overview

Usually you’ll find Rick Steves touring the great destinations of Europe. Now you can join him on a different journey: A Symphonic Journey. Just as travel broadens one’s perspectives, so can music. In this hour-long concert special, Rick teams up with the Colorado Symphony on a musical tour that begins in the US, then touches down in seven different European countries as Rick paints the cultural context in words, with the orchestra performing stirring anthems — Strauss in Austria, Wagner in Germany, Smetana in the Czech Republic, Verdi in Italy, Elgar in England, Grieg in Norway, Berlioz in France — each accompanied by glorious video footage. While each piece celebrates a particular nationality, the finale, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, celebrates a continent whose motto is “united in diversity.”