Together, we board a boat provided for guests of  the Palace Luzern, which will whisk us across the lake to hear master pianist Maurizio Pollini perform Chopin.

We’re here to participate in, celebrate, really, the magic that is Lucerne Festival, a month-long fete that merges classical music and this lovely little town not far from Zurich into one glorious extravaganza.

The electric mood on board intensifies as we approach Lucerne’s famous concert hall just on the other side of the lake. Known as the KKL, and designed by
award-winning French architect, Jean Nouvel, it hovers on the bank before us more like a phantom ship than a building.

Ranking as one of the world’s top performance venues — thanks in part to exceptional acoustics — the daring design seduces. Lit up at night, its cantilevered masts suggests one of the lake’s iconic boats. And, when we disembark and enter it, I have the sensation of still floating on the dark, cool water.

Some think of fairytale Lucerne as the “city of bridges,” but those, like me, who have come to the festival, can’t help but christen it the city of music. Here, gather a who’s who list of renowned orchestras, elite conductors, eminent soloists, and music aficionados annually.

This event, established in 1938 by Arturo Toscanini to rival the already famous Salzburg Festival (at that time under Nazi influence), has evolved into one of the world’s premier music events.

Before the concert, I wander around, glass of champagne in hand, and peer out of large panoramic picture windows — and into the tiny cutouts that are a Nouvel signature. The lake glistens and the outline of Alps are mysterious and beckoning. Inside, red-wine-colored walls soothe and an almost whimsical interior stream brings the lake inside so that the setting can’t be forgotten.

For all its modern angles, the KKL feels snug and cocoon-like.

Photos by JoAnn Greco

In the lobby, I can hear the lake’s famous steamers, an added acoustical touch that lends sense of place.

Seated at last for Chopin, I notice how the venue’s ceiling mimics the sky, how lights seem tossed like lost constellations.

Wavy white walls remind me of honeycomb, and I think again of the outdoors and the intimacy of a woodland grove. My images are cemented by the wood that wraps the stage, and then floats above it, and highlighted by a glass labyrinth on the ceiling that only accentuates the space’s mystical quality.

Besides the daily evening concerts, music lovers can attend any number of public rehearsals, workshops, recitals, seminars and master courses during the festival’s month long run. Emerging musicians come to the summer festival to study, and many (soon to be) world famous conductors debut here.

Knowing this, I can’t help but think distinguished musicians surround me.  At our hotel, I’m told, several performers are guests, and I look for them in the halls. But in the end, its all about the music and watching a master dance his fingers across the keyboard, hearing his Chopin swell to crescendo, and sharing the ecstasy of the crowd when he finishes, might just elucidate the meaning of life.

On one sunny afternoon, I spy swimmers from my hotel window as they enter the lake from an ancient wooden bath house called Seebad. I can’t resist rushing from my room to join them, paying a fee to enter, then diving from the side into icy water, abundant with swans.

As I splash about, the swans encircle me, and I feel like a character from a fairy tale yet to be written.

Back at the hotel, I take my dinner at Jasper, an exquisitely modern Mediterranean restaurant that revels in its details. Here, the food is so good it might be called a symphony of subtle flavors that explode in the mouth like the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth.

Which I am going to see tonight, at the KKL. As soon as I finish my dessert.

Ulster Hall

Belfast’s turbulent political history hasn’t stopped the Northern Ireland capital from aspiring to a certain level of harmony on the musical front.

The city has spawned its share of famous musical native sons –– from blue-eyed soul crooner Van Morrison to ’70s punk outfit Stiff Little Fingers to current alt rockers Snow Patrol –– while its famed Ulster Hall can lay claim to some pivotal moments in rock history: Most notably, the venue hosted the first public performance of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven in March, 1971

The city’s vivid musical history came alive to me during a recent visit to Ulster Hall, as part of the Belfast Music Bus Tour. My guide, Damien Murray, had worked at the Hall since the ‘60s, and shared his personal memories of concerts by The Who and the Rolling Stones.

At one show, The Who, in Murray’s telling, almost suffered a kind of wardrobe malfunction by planning to wear orange, white and green suits that too closely resembled the colors of the Irish flag. Rather than offend fans who identified with the British, the band changed into T-shirts and jeans that were a far cry from its usual sartorial splendor.

On another occasion, the Rolling Stones, according to Murray, ran afoul of the police in a incident that culminated in a “rowdy” and understandably indignant Mick Jagger being removed from the premises.

Homegrown musical artists also get their due at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre, which honors the city’s musical past and plays a contemporary role in developing new talent.

Oh Yeah Music Centre; photos by Ramona Zacharias

The Centre’s mission statement –– “Open Doors to Music Potential” –– sums up its role as a welcoming spot for emerging artists and for fans who enjoy discovering new performers.

Situated in a former whiskey warehouse, the space includes the Strummerville Rehearsal rooms (backed by the  Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music and complete with equipment donated by Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody), a songwriting room, exhibition space, recording studio and a cafe. Live music events for all ages are regularly held, as are courses, focus groups and workshops.

The Centre has also released two albums, 2008’s The Oh Yeah Sessions and this year’s The Contenders, both of which feature the music of up-and-coming local bands. A volunteer told me that members of a group featured on The Contenders actually had to get permission from their high school to skip class in favor of spending the day in the recording studio.

“I just love that!” he enthused.

I felt the same way about the spirit embodied by Belfast’s musical past and present –– and what it could mean for the city’s future.

Everyone in the crowd  — which has gathered in front of the reflecting pool next to the Palau de la Musica for an outdoor performance from the Municipal Band of Valencia — seems to know each other.  I’m in the middle of a city of almost one million people, yet the ambience is similar to the summer band concerts in Callicoon Center, a rural town of about 500 residents near my home in upstate New York.

“Everyone in Valencia loves music, in any form,” says Ana Cogollos, 25, one of the band’s clarinet players, pronouncing the city name as “Balenthia” in her lovely accent. “We have a large audience here every week at the Palau de la Musica, and they have been supporting the town band for many, many years.”

Indeed, when the band, organized in 1903, begins to play Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capricho Espanol, the kids stop running between the lawn chairs, adults put down their programs, and the sea birds, which had been squarking in the palm trees, become quiet.

On this same evening, just a fifteen-minute walk from the band concert, “Carmen” is being staged, part of the Festival del Mediterrani, helmed by Maestro Zubin Mehta. Opera has been performed in Valencia for decades, but only in the past few years has the scene in this city become known world-wide, due to the completion of Valencian-born Santiago Calatrava’s futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, which includes the spectacular white concrete and glass opera house, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia.

After the band and opera performances, Valencians go out for dinner, and then perhaps stroll through the old city, or along the Mediterranean beach front, where more music, in the form of jazz, blues, or classical guitar, flow into the streets from nearby clubs, dance halls, and  local street musicians.

Since Valencia was founded by the Romans in 138 BC, it’s been over-shadowed by the political and economic power of Madrid, and the cultural and educational influence of Barcelona, the country’s second biggest city, which lies about three hours up the coast from Valencia.

But with Valencia hosting the 2007 and 2010 America’s Cup sailing races, and winning the right to hold an annual European Grand Prix auto race along city streets near the Port district, it began to catch the eyes of the international sports and travel media. As the City of Arts and Sciences project took shape, and the enormous futuristic buildings actually became a reality, there was no doubt that Valencia had entered a new phase in its urban development.

The city is now not only attracting sailing and racing fans, but upscale international visitors who want to see if Valencia really has everything —cultural attractions, great cuisine, weather, excellent hotels, and miles of pristine city beaches.

In addition to its thriving performing arts, Valencia has more than 40 museums, and 30 city parks and gardens, including Turia Gardens, the serpentine-shaped, five-mile park created out of a former river bed, that cuts through the middle of the city in a beautiful swath of green lawns and palm trees.

photos by Ron Bernthal

First time visitors are discovering numerous neighborhoods to explore, such as el Cabanyal, formerly a fishermen’s district, now dotted with two and three-story houses covered in ceramic tiles of bright blues and greens.

Of course, this eclectic neighborhood, only a few blocks from the sea, has been discovered by both European tourists who love its ambience, and local developers, who are eyeing the narrow streets as potential commercial projects.

“Improving the district’s economics would be okay, as long as the character of the neighborhood is preserved,” says Alejandro Garcia llinares, who helps run his family’s popular restaurant,  located in the middle of el Cabanyal.

As a flamenco guitarist played in a corner of the historic bar and restaurant, Casa Montana, Alejandro Garcia Ilinares looked around at the crowd of Valencians drinking wine and eating tapas, and spoke quietly, “Valencia is all about having fun, eating well, and enjoying life,” he said.

“We have seen some modern development in the city, which is good, but these historic neighborhoods need to be preserved, the traditions need to be respected, the music and melody of the city must continue.”

photo by Ronald Knapp

Since its beginnings, the Grachtenfestival has grown from only a few performances along the major canals of the city to a comprehensive effort that organizes concerts in private apartments, off-beat museums, warehouses, public parks and, even, on boats.  “We try and be creative when it comes to organizing music venues,” says festival director Alma Netten, who started the event more than decade ago. “We really make use of the canals, the city’s architecture, and its classical music heritage.”

Although the Grachtenfestival attracts thousands of Amsterdammers each year, along with many other Dutch and European residents, it is still flying under the radar when it comes to American visitors. Of course, American tourists are well acquainted with the city’s rich array of icons:  Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Anne Frank, diamonds, Heineken, the Red Light District, liberal marijuana laws, tulips, and, yes, those canals. But few have even heard about the Grachtenfestival, which is a shame.

About 100 events are scheduled for the 2010 Grachtenfestival with tickets priced, as usual, quite inexpensively (between 5-12 Euros or $8-$19), with somewhat higher prices for the opening and closing concerts. Many of the outdoor events are free. If you’re thinking of going, now’s the time to start planning.

Cultural performances in Amsterdam do not begin and end with the Grachtenfestival, either. The city offers more than 60 theatres and concert halls, showcasing world-famous organizations like the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, the Dutch National Ballet and the Netherlands Dance Theatre. The historic Muziektheater is the home of the Netherlands Opera, and other musicians and cabaret entertainers find a home in the Royal Carre Theatre on the River Amstel and in the nearby Kleine Komedie, a wonderful little theatre that dates back to 1788.

One good book: Tulipmania: Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age

Brian Kramer and his band at Stockholm's Stampen (photo Brengt Nyman)

Soon the stage is so packed with musicians that a sax player has to stand on the floor in front to play his hard-driving, gut-wrenching solos. Off to the side, sitting on a window ledge, a man pounds a set of wooden bongos.

The little room with the big sound is the Stampen Jazz club. Every Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m., the club holds a blues jam, free to the public. Brooklyn native and veteran blues guitarist Brian Kramer started the sessions more than a decade ago and you can still find him there every weekend.

Brian Kramer, leader of Stockholm's unlikely blues tradition (photo Brengt Nyman)

With a Swedish wife and two children, Kramer became a permanent resident of Stockholm in 1996 but there was no place for a blues musician to jam at the time. “Mainly I started this out of my own desire to play blues in the most spontaneous way possible,” Kramer says. Club owner Josef Haddad encouraged him to experiment and from the first session, the club was packed. ”It was an immediate hit,” Kramer recalls. “Musicians came out of the woodwork to be part of it.”

With the musicians came an audience. “Usually jams are for musicians by musicians and not considered good entertainment for the mainstream,” he says. “But the public was equally interested, and excited about watching spontaneous blues unfold before their eyes.”

While tourists do attend performances, it’s the regulars – what Kramer calls “Stampenites” – who make the scene a success. “They give us so much energy and it makes all the musicians want to play their best,” he said. “We have hundreds of friends who crowd the club year round.”

One harmonica-playing U.S. pilot actually rearranges his schedule, trading shifts with other pilots, so he can be in Stockholm on Saturday afternoons. It’s easy to spot the regulars. Prime real estate is at the bar, where single men take up the stools, clutching their beers and never budging for fear of losing their spot. Families with children sit in round booths by the window.

Kramer takes center-stage, doing most of the vocals, playing guitar, and inviting musicians he knows to join him and his band. As guest musicians replace the house-band members, he eventually joins the crowd.

Behind the band is a cloth backdrop that reads, “Happy Jazz.” Old trumpets, trombones, and drums hang from the ceiling along with relics from the club’s former life as a 1950s-era pawn shop. The scene is an eclectic mix of individualism, authenticity and weirdness.

“You just walk through the door and you can feel the history, sense the vibe,” Kramer said. As for Haddad, he’s happy to stick with American blues as long as it draws paying customers. On the first night of the jam, he turned to Kramer and said, “Brian, people who listen to blues music drink more than people who listen to jazz. Stampen is a blues club now. ”

photo by JoAnn Greco

On Kartnerstrasse, in the heart of Vienna, a musician has set up his “stage,” and begins playing his violin. Arm extended, bow at the ready, he’s facing a souvenir shop named Mostly Mozart. Further up the street, a riot of posted flyers announce a month’s worth of musical events — all of them happening tonight. Bewigged — and often iPod’d – “Mozarts” are everywhere, hawking concerts.

It’s easy to see why Vienna calls itself the world capital of music. Home to the famed Vienna Boys Choir (who lift their angelic voices on Christmas Day at the Hofmusikkapelle) and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (whose New Year’s Day concert attracts a worldwide audience), this regal city is also famous for it eponymous waltz. Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, and, of course, Mozart all lived and worked here —  and there’s a house museum for each one to prove it.

But, for me,  the most unique attraction is the House Of Music, where on my last visit I “conducted” the  Philharmonic. There I stood on the podium, baton in hand, coaxing the orchestra to unleash Mozart’s distinctive opening of “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”. Each time I lifted my baton, the musicians responded exactly on cue to my tempo and rhythm. When the piece ended, I was rewarded with the sound of enthusiastic applause. It’s all part of the computer-controlled “Virtual Conductor,”  which as of this Nov. 28 unveiled an enhanced experience and updated programming.

photo courtesy of Austrian Tourist Office

The Haus der Musik’s site is  a grand mansion, perfectly situated between the Opera and St. Stephen’s Cathedral, where the founder of the Vienna Philharmonic once lived. (It now also houses the orchestra’s archives.) Its  multi-media exhibits, developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cover everything from music history to the origin of sound to interactive play like Virtual Conductor.

On the first floor, an exhibit details the illustrious history of the Philharmonic; while upstairs, the “Sonosphere” presents tonal and sound phenomena in varied ways, starting with a pre-natal whooshing. The third floor is devoted to famous composers who lived in Vienna, as well as the Virtual Conductor. On the next floor, “Brain Opera” devised by an MIT professor, focuses on the future of music and music-making, allowing visitors to try their hand at composition.

Whether it’s composing or conducting that soothes your savage breast, you can do it all at this museum — and, as in the rest of Vienna, you can do it 365 days a year, from 10am to 10pm. Now that’s what I call a stroke of genius!

One good book:  Vienna for the Music Lover: The complete guide to Vienna’s musical sites and performances today