Acting as hosts on board, musicians Alexander Krichel, David Orlowsky and Shira Patchornik will be curating their own highly personal concert cruises. With CURATED CONCERTS, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is expanding its cultural portfolio to include a new and exclusive concert format, opening up classical music to new dramaturgical concepts both at sea and ashore. Tailored to their individual musical styles and instruments, they combine performances and emotionally engaging musical narratives with extraordinary destinations along the cruise itinerary. Building on the company’s longstanding curatorial expertise in classical music at sea, shaped in part by the Ocean Sun Festival, this new format brings chamber music to life throughout the year aboard both luxury ships, EUROPA and EUROPA 2. With the launch of three new special-format cruises for 2027, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is making these sophisticated classical music experiences available to its guests: https://www.hl-cruises.de/curatedconcerts
During 2027, the new music format CURATED CONCERTS will combine two concerts on board with an exceptional concert ashore on each of three selected cruises, focusing on a prominent artistic personality on each occasion. These artists will develop the musical concept together with their artistic partners, giving each programme a distinctive dramaturgical identity. The interplay of excellent music, cruise itinerary and exceptional concert venues creates musical experiences that deliberately break away from traditional performance formats. Many of the selected venues are not traditional concert halls, but places with their own history – architecturally distinctive, imbued with atmosphere and a close connection to the respective region.
The EUROPA and EUROPA 2: stages for exclusive high culture at sea
Every aspect of this new classical music format embodies the high artistic standards that characterise the cultural concept on board both luxury ships of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. The ships represent cruises of the highest quality, with outstanding service, diverse cuisine and extraordinary itineraries around the globe. The size and intimate atmosphere of the two luxury ships creates the ideal setting for high culture on board. With a maximum of 400 guests on the EUROPA and 500 guests on the EUROPA 2, a personal connection is fostered that is rarely possible in traditional concert halls. Both ships share a cultural programme of international calibre.
The deliberately limited number of guests creates a particularly private atmosphere, allowing both artists and audiences to meet as equals. Around 1,800 artists perform on board each year, with each cruise forming an integral part of the cultural experience. Artists accompany the cruise over several days, meeting guests not only on the stage but also through personal interactions on board, thus creating a sense of closeness that leaves a lasting impression on the entire musical experience.
With CURATED CONCERTS, the main focus is on the artists’ individual styles. The artists curate programmes, select musical accompaniments and create experiences that offer guests personal insights into their artistic work.
Melodramas between the Baltic Sea and island worlds: CURATED CONCERTS on the EUROPA
From the Baltic light to the Swedish archipelagos, this cruise combines classical piano artistry with literary expression. A highlight is the concert at the Eric Ericson Hall in Stockholm. In this programme, pianist Alexander Krichel and actor Sabin Tambrea explore the rarely performed art of melodrama from a new perspective: music and spoken text enter into an equal dialogue, opening up unusually direct access to the works at hand.
Krichel, a multiple-award-winning pianist at home on major international concert stages, is renowned for a style of piano playing that is both technically precise and narrative in character; this style comes into its own in the Romantic repertoire, in particular. Tambrea, one of the most distinctive actors of his generation, contributes with a deeply personal stage presence, positioning the format somewhere between concert and theatre. This interplay can also be experienced on board the EUROPA, in chamber music formats that evolve atmospherically together with the cruise itinerary along the Baltic Sea.
- Sample cruise MS EUROPA (EUR2713): Summertime Baltic breeze, 18 Jul to 30 Jul 2027, from Hamburg to Kiel, 12 days. Bookable in the PLATINUM fare from € 6,620 per person, double occupancy (including early booking discount, valid until 31 Oct 2026), excluding travel package to and from departure and arrival points. www.hl-cruises.com/eur2713
Vast Nordic worlds and new acoustic spaces in the Arctic Cathedral: CURATED CONCERTS on the EUROPA 2
This cruise sails from Hamburg along the Norwegian coast to the North Cape – through a landscape that can itself be experienced as a soundscape. The concert in the Arctic Cathedral in Tromso forms the architectural and acoustic highlight of this cruise.
Here, clarinettist David Orlowsky will perform alongside a female vocal ensemble, presenting an arrangement created especially for this occasion that reflects the musician’s stylistic versatility, spanning classical chamber music and contemporary interpretation.
Orlowsky is one of the most distinguished clarinettists of his generation. His musical language is characterised by great sonic intensity and the ability to transcend traditional genre boundaries. Through his international projects and award-winning recordings, he has developed his own musical aesthetic that has taken him to major stages around the world. The unique acoustics of the Arctic Cathedral enhance the programme’s dialogic character, blending music, architecture and the Nordic landscape into an atmospheric overall experience. Together with his musical guests on board – each a master of their instrument and discipline in their own right – passengers on this cruise will experience an incomparable and visionary range of sounds.
- Sample cruise MS EUROPA 2 (EUX2716): Norway’s natural wonders, 28 Aug to 12 Sep 2027, from Hamburg to Kiel, 12 days. Bookable in the PLATINUM fare from € 8,490 per person, double occupancy (including early booking discount, valid until 31 Oct 2026), excluding travel package to and from departure and arrival points. www.hl-cruises.com/eux2716
Baroque voices between Stockholm and the Baltic Sea: CURATED CONCERTS on the EUROPA
This cruise explores the rich diversity of vocal and chamber music, spanning the baroque era and the present day. The concert at the Ulriksdal Palace Theatre in Stockholm marks the start of a musical programme that moves between baroque music, folk music and the intimacy of chamber music. Soprano Shira Patchornik, together with her trio Cyrene and lutenist Elias Conrad, presents a programme that combines historical musical traditions with personal arrangements.
Patchornik is one of the most sought-after voices on the international baroque scene. On board, she will showcase the full range of her talent. Guests can look forward to performances from the Romantic era and the world of opera. The repertoire of the winner of the OPUS Klassik 2026 award ranges from Monteverdi to Mozart and includes engagements at leading opera houses and festivals across Europe. Her interpretative versatility combines stylistic precision with a stage presence that is strongly narrative.
On board the EUROPA, this spectrum is expanded to include chamber music and opera programmes that bring together voice, instruments and ensemble in various combinations.
- Sample cruise MS EUROPA (EUR2717): Mare Balticum: tradition meets modernity, 30 Aug to 10 Sep 2027, from Hamburg to Kiel, 11 days. Bookable in the PLATINUM fare from € 5,590 per person, double occupancy (including early booking discount, valid until 31 Oct 2026), excluding travel to and from departure and arrival points. www.hl-cruises.com/eur2717
