At ACFEA, all of our tour managers are musicians. In fact, we all have a common background of singing as children or students in choirs that toured, and have continued singing as adults. However, it isn’t often that one of us gets to experience the magic of an international concert tour with our own choir, and I was incredibly fortunate to have that experience this July when my choir, the Northwest Chamber Chorus, embarked on a tour of Slovakia and Hungary.
Though the choir had toured with ACFEA more than ten years ago and had a wonderful experience, they ran into the same challenges a lot of adult groups face when planning a concert tour. The choir is made up of singers who range in age from those in their 20s to those who have sung with the group for its entire 44-year history, and with that comes a wide array of budgets, interests and vacation time availability. It was decided that for this tour we needed to find a destination that wasn’t too expensive, could be well covered in a week without rigorous travel days and would appeal to participants with diverse interests, ranging from the very well traveled to those who were just getting a passport for the first time. Slovakia and Hungary fit the criteria perfectly. With four superb concerts that stretched us to adapt musically to new situations and acoustics, and some wonderful opportunities for bonding over sightseeing and meals, I think we became more cohesive as a choir, musically and socially, and I’m looking forward to what the new concert season will bring!
For more information:
http://www.northwestchamberchorus.org