What could be a better present in the depths of our winter chill than a long weekend in sunny Florida that combines high culture with a feast for the senses. You fly to Miami on Jan. 28 and check into the luxurious Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key, just a causeway away from Miami Beach and the just-opened New World Symphony Campus, southern Florida's newest cultural destination. After a late lunch at chef Christopher Lee's Eden restaurant in South Beach (perhaps the macadamia-crusted salmon), you head to the stunning Frank Gehry-designed facility where the 23-year-old symphony is still celebrating the move into its first purpose-built home. The campus, featuring the sensuously flowing lines that have become an international trademark of Gehry's work, is a state-of-the-art building conceived as a laboratory for music education as well as performance. That evening, you're there for the reprise of the opening concert with a performance of Wagner's brooding Overture to the Flying Dutchman, conducted by artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas, followed by Aaron Copland's Third Symphony and the world premiere of a work by British composer Thomas Adès. Adès's music will be accompanied by a video and digital mural created by Tal Rosner and displayed on the building's 7,000-square-foot exterior projection wall. The next day is a treat for different senses at the Mandarin's spa, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary and an extensive refurbishment with an over-the-top, five-hour-long treatment package that will leave you tingling and ready for a leisurely dinner of roast branzino filet with truffle-mashed potatoes at the new Cecconi's on Collins Avenue (cecconismiamibeach.com; 786-507-7902). Sunday evening, you return to the New World Symphony Campus to enjoy two free concerts, including a musical tribute to Gehry, and try to forget you have to return home the following day.
Mandarin Oriental: mandarinoriental.com/miami; 305-913-8288.
New World Symphony: nws.edu; 305-673-3331.
Laszlo Buhasz
Special to The Globe and Mail