why go on foreign choir tours?

I haven’t actually been on many choir tours overseas. I like singing and I like travel, but I don’t necessarily enjoy mixing the two, because on a choir tour one’s free time and opportunity to explore and meet local people is limited. And also my first commitment is to being with my family. But I regularly get enquiries as to whether I am interested in going on such tours.

I know of one choir tour which is already oversubscribed with choir members, over a year ahead. While a few years ago I went on one where fewer than half of the singers had performed with the choir they nominally represented.

So why are some tours more attractive than others? I can only speak for myself, but these are the sorts of questions I consider:

  • How attractive are the location, performance venues and other scheduled parts of the tour? Do they fit in with ‘places I would like to go to’?
  • What about the cost, both absolutely and as value for money? On one tour I went on, the (not very large) choir subsidised six or seven professional musicians who travelled out with us, not including the conductor.
  • And the repertoire to be performed? A piece I dislike is still a piece I dislike, wherever I happen to be singing it.
  • Do I have confidence in the organisers – with regards to such matters as travel arrangements, accommmodation and quantity of free time?
  • Who will be rehearsing and directing? Someone I know and respect?
  • Who are the other singers who will be going? Do I already know them, and am I confident about the ones I don’t know? Will I get on with them, and will the performances be of a decent standard?
  • How much time will it take, factoring in the time taken to get to and from the tour location from home? Will I miss anything important at home?
  • Will there be rehearsals beforehand, or will they take up a significant amount of time on the tour?
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