Custom Performance Tours, Built Around Your Ensemble

Your ensemble has its own sound, its own goals and its own reasons for traveling. Your performance tour should reflect them.

Perhaps you want your choir to explore the traditions behind its repertoire. Your orchestra might be preparing for a major concert hall experience, while your band could benefit from working with a new clinician. Those priorities should help shape where you travel, how you perform and what your musicians bring home.

At Encore, international performance tours are at the heart of what we do. We work closely with directors to connect their ensembles with audiences, fellow musicians and the cultures surrounding their music. We bring that same care to custom tours and distinctive performance opportunities in the United States and Canada, including experiences that keep your program moving forward between overseas journeys.

What Makes a Performance Tour Truly Custom?

A custom performance tour begins with a conversation about your ensemble, not simply a choice of destinations. What are your musicians working toward? What repertoire will they bring? Would they benefit most from a formal concert, a musical exchange, a workshop or a combination of experiences?

The answers matter. A choir preparing sacred repertoire needs a different setting from a jazz ensemble. An orchestra traveling with large instruments needs careful planning for equipment, transportation and rehearsal space. An adult ensemble may have different priorities for pacing and free time than a school group.

We work through those details with you, from finding performance settings that suit your group to incorporating workshops and masterclasses that support your musical goals. Rehearsals, performances and time to explore should work together, giving your musicians room to prepare, connect and enjoy the places they have traveled to see.

You can see that variety in our Concert Showcase: Milton Academy Jazz Ensemble performing at Assejazz in Seville, Alexandria Choral Society sharing music with Scottish partners in Dundee, and Sacramento Youth Symphony taking the stage at Vigadó Hall in Budapest. Each offers a different way for musicians to connect with a destination through performance.

Explore International Tours With Your Budget in Mind

Budget belongs in the planning conversation from the beginning. If an international tour feels out of reach, there may be possibilities you have not yet considered. A quote for one itinerary does not tell you what every international experience would cost.

Destination, travel dates, tour length and routing all influence the price. We help you explore those choices while protecting the experiences that matter most to your ensemble. Spending more time in fewer places, for example, may be worth considering alongside a change of destination.

That conversation might include Costa Rica or the Baltics alongside the destinations you already have in mind. Costa Rica combines musical opportunities with remarkable natural landscapes, while the Baltics offer rich choral traditions and distinctive performance settings. Their appeal goes well beyond their potential value.

Our economical performance tour destinations offer a useful starting point. Your consultant can help you compare options for your departure city, dates and group size, so you can make an informed decision about what is possible.

A Fundraiser That Helps Make Your Tour Possible

A thoughtful itinerary is only part of the plan. Helping musicians participate matters, too. Our Fabulous Fundraiser gives qualifying ensembles a complimentary travel prize they can use to raise money toward the cost of their tour.

For qualifying groups traveling internationally beyond the United States and Canada, we provide a five-day trip for two to London or Paris, including round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations and daily breakfast. Your ensemble can use the trip as a fundraising prize to help subsidize travel costs and make participation possible for more musicians.

The international fundraiser has helped groups raise $30,000 toward their tours. Results depend on each group’s efforts, but that success shows what an ensemble and its community can accomplish together.

We also provide a domestic airfare prize for qualifying groups traveling within the United States or Canada. Whether your ensemble is planning an overseas concert tour or an experience closer to home, fundraising can be part of the conversation from the outset.

Your consultant can explain the fundraiser available for your program, qualification requirements and prize details. Groups should confirm applicable laws and school or organizational policies before organizing a raffle.

Custom Performance Tours in the United States and Canada

An overseas concert tour can be a milestone your ensemble works toward over several seasons. The years between those journeys offer opportunities of their own.

A custom tour in the United States or Canada can introduce new members to traveling together, give returning musicians a fresh challenge and build enthusiasm for the next overseas tour. The starting point remains the same: a performance experience that serves your ensemble’s goals.

That experience does not have to revolve around a scheduled event. We can build a custom tour around your ensemble’s interests, whether you want to explore American musical traditions in New Orleans, combine performances with the cultural life of Boston or Chicago, or discover the musical heritage of Montreal and Quebec City. Our sample itineraries are starting points to develop together, not fixed programs your group must follow.

We also work through the practical details that allow your musicians to focus on performing, including rehearsal time, instrument and equipment arrangements, transportation and the flow of each day. Your proposal brings those choices together and identifies the experiences and services included in your tour.

The Symphony Hall Series: A Stage Worth Preparing For

Our Symphony Hall Series gives orchestras the opportunity to rehearse, learn and perform in celebrated American concert halls. With destinations such as Boston and Chicago, the series brings together meaningful stage time, professional coaching and the excitement of making music in a setting your musicians will remember.

The concert hall can also be the starting point for a broader experience. We can explore a custom tour around an available event, incorporating additional workshops, performances, cultural visits or an evening attending a professional concert. Hotels, meals, transportation and time to explore can be planned around your ensemble’s priorities and budget.

Each event has its own format and availability. Explore our current Symphony Hall Series offerings, then work with your consultant to shape the surrounding tour.

Rhythms International Music Festival: Learning Through Performance

For bands, choirs and orchestras seeking focused feedback and musical growth, Rhythms International Music combines performance with a supportive, noncompetitive festival experience.

Adjudication and personalized clinics give musicians an opportunity to learn from a fresh perspective, with development rather than rankings at the center of the experience. For directors, the value continues after the trip through feedback and ideas to explore in future rehearsals.

We can help build a trip around a suitable Rhythms festival in the United States or Canada, adding cultural activities or an extension that reflects your group’s interests. The festival provides the educational centerpiece, while we work with you to shape the surrounding tour. Your consultant can confirm available locations, dates and arrangements.

What Could Your Ensemble’s Next Tour Make Possible?

A performance that challenges your musicians. An exchange that introduces a different musical perspective. A shared experience that brings your ensemble closer together. Start with what you want the tour to accomplish, and we will help you explore where it could take you.

Whether you are ready to plan an international concert tour or looking for a distinctive experience in the United States or Canada, tell us about your ensemble. Share your musical goals, potential travel dates and budget, even if you have not chosen a destination. We will work with you to turn those priorities into a custom tour proposal.