I’ve done countless concert tours as both a performer and concert touring specialist. Many of my formative memories in choir and in life happened on tour: singing in reverberant cathedrals and concert halls across Europe, testing the acoustics of a whisky mash tun in Scotland, busking on the King Charles Bridge in Prague, competing in the Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod in Wales, performing Poulenc’s Figure Humaine at a concert hall in Seoul, breaking out in song anywhere possible with a quartet of friends, and making meaningful connections with other local choirs, to name a few.
From my over 20 years participating in and managing concert tours, here are 8 essential tips (and other considerations) for building a concert tour for your choir - and patrons - to offset your costs and gain groupies for life.
1. Consider working with a concert touring company.
Concert touring companies are experts in this arena and, while they cost a little more, there are a lot of critical benefits to working with a concert touring company. Concert touring companies are very knowledgeable of local customs, visa requirements, etc, and stay up to date on any changes so you don’t have to worry about all of that government stuff. They do it all so you don’t have to. Concert touring companies, arrange ALL of the details for you! Yes, there will be data of your participants that you’ll need to send them, but this is the best way to be the most hands off and let the professionals take the reins—perfect for when you are busy running your own choir and don’t have time for these details but want to give your group the choral travel experience of a lifetime.
Here are a few more areas that touring companies cover that are well worth the investment:
- Insurance—While anyone can take care of travel logistics for a tour, concert touring companies have the insurance needed to cover costs in case of any number of issues.
- Connections—Concert touring companies have connections literally around the world. They have staff members and consultants on the ground in all of the major (and smaller) cities to be able to get you the best options for sightseeing, hotels, and mainstream or intimate venues. It’s what they do!
- Fees—These companies do need to make money so keep in mind that it will likely cost upwards of $500+ per person for their services that they build into the tour price. This fee is well worth their time and expertise in arranging a personalized tour for you and your choir.
- “Free” spaces—You get a few “free” spaces included in the tour. These are a great way to get your director and accompanist to travel for free. Technically, they are not free trips, but the cost is split among all of the other participants.
- Familiarization Tour (or FAM trip)—Many touring companies will provide free or very inexpensive FAM trips. This is where you join another tour group to get a feel for the type of trip that company could give you. If interested, inquire with the company to see if you can join a FAM trip.
2. Decide on a budget.
This will inform what you do on tour, where your hotels are located, etc. Do you want to travel as inexpensively as possible? Do you want to splurge for the finer things, like nicer hotel rooms or more sightseeing? You can mix and match for a good combination of city center and out-of-the-city hotel locations to maximize the budget. Tour location also dictates price, as some cities are more expensive than others. Speaking of…
3. Choose your location.
Do you want to stay within the U.S.? Travel internationally? Do you want to participate in a choral festival? There are so many amazing locations around the world to travel. Internationally, Western & Central Europe is a great jumping off point because there are so many built in cathedrals, churches, and other venues for your performances. Other countries have so many amazing sites and experiences to offer as well. Something to note: you may need to be more creative with concert venues in countries that don’t have any (or many) churches.
4. Decide how large you want your group to be.
This affects both the price point and the feeling of the tour. Age can play a part in the consideration here. How many chaperones will you need for your small versus large group of students? What do you, as the choir leader, feel you can handle in terms of group size?
On the price point, the more people there are, the lower the cost of the tour, to a point. Charter buses can usually carry 45-47 passengers. Once you go over that capacity, you have to hire another bus and then it can get more expensive, unless you have enough people to fill both buses. If you have a group of, say, 50, then those 50 people will be sharing the cost of two buses, rather than 75 people sharing the cost of two buses or 45 people sharing the cost of one bus. If you think you may go over, preliminarily cap your tour group at 45 people and then create a wait list. If enough people sign up to make it worth a second bus, then allow the people on the waiting list to sign up.
5. Include venues in smaller towns.
This is something that groups often overlook (or look down upon) as they all want to be in the most prestigious and historic venues. While musically and culturally historic venues tend to offer bragging rights, they sometimes don’t actually offer the best musical experience. Larger cities have more events going on so locals have to choose where to spend their time—this sometimes results in smaller audiences at those concerts.
If you do opt for a cathedral in a larger city, consider performing a lunchtime concert. Many times, evening concerts don’t actually bring a large crowd, so a lunchtime concert will offer a built-in audience. Alternatively, churches or halls in smaller towns tend to be the most musically fulfilling as there aren’t other events competing for their time so the whole town comes out.
Also, check where the venues are located. For one tour I arranged and traveled with, the conductor really wanted to perform at the famed Coventry Cathedral in England. The original venue had been bombed in 1940 during the Coventry Blitz of WWII and now there is a magnificent contemporary space next door (I can see why this director wanted to perform there, musically and historically), however, the location was essentially on the side of a road between towns. Only four people showed up for that concert! Advertising can help a lot but some venues are just really difficult to get an audience.
6. Think carefully about the dynamics (pun intended) of your tour.
Do you want your schedule filled with constant activity? Do you want more free time to allow your choir members to do individual or small group activities? Or a mix of both? The age and mobility of your group also play a part here. Don’t forget to leave time for rest/jetlag. Scheduling activities on the first day is beneficial in keeping you moving and allows you to acclimate to the time zone—but keep them light, like a city bus tour.
7. Consider doing a musical exchange with a local choir.
Cultural and musical exchanges with local choirs are incredible moments for your singers. On the practical side, they can help with the promotion and logistics and they can act as a built in audience. More importantly, exchanges can develop into core diplomatic and cultural moments; your singers acting as ambassadors for your choir, school, town, and country. They can also create lasting relationships. I am still in touch with choral friends I made on tours to England, Germany, and South Korea.
8. Build a Patron Tour to offset your costs.
A great way to offset your own tour costs is to build a patron tour and invite your supporters to come along. You can build in a dollar amount of your choice that serves as a donation to your organization. This is a great way to offer behind the scenes access to your patrons. They get to join in something they wouldn’t normally get to see, spend time with your choir members, and create lasting memories tied to your choir, all while traveling!
When I have done this, the members of our patron tours have become inner circle members of our organization, higher level donors, and even new board members. The tour skyrocketed their engagement with our organization and they have all become even stronger advocates for our ensemble.
Concert tours can be life-altering. They provide personal bonding moments within the choir members and the memories shared through this experience create lasting bonds. Your choir can gel and improve musically over the course of a tour and tours give your members new life experiences through travel and song. You and your choir members become ambassadors to other countries, joining together in a shared musical language that transcends borders. For these and so many more reasons that you really can only discover for yourself, consider planning a tour for your choir!
Now we want to hear from you: what tips do you have for creating a fantastic choir tour? What memories have you made on a choir tour that you cherish? Share in the comments below!
Katie Colleen Hickey, whose voice “electrified…with operatic ecstasy” (Ken Herman, San Diego Story), is a professional soprano, the Executive Director of Bach Collegium San Diego, arts management consultant, and the owner of a luxury arts & culture experience firm. Katie holds a Masters in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths College, University of London. She was the Co-Founder of the San Diego Summer Choral Festival, and the San Diego Pro Arte Voices, founding board member of the Choral Consortium of San Diego, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of The FF Collective - a nonprofit that amplified underrepresented voices in the arts: women, persons of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and differently-abled people, and is highly sought after as a consultant with numerous arts organizations and nonprofits in Southern California. Katie also serves on the Advisory Board of the South Loudoun Youth Chorus.