July 14, 2025 Encore Tours Announcing Prelude 2026 in Rome We’re excited to officially announce that Prelude 2026 will take place in Rome, Italy, from January 15–19, 2026, over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Backstage Blog Learn More
June 2, 2025 Encore Tours How to Use Our Repertoire Library to Plan Your Next Tour Setlist Backstage Blog Planning Your Tour Learn More
April 22, 2025 Encore Tours How Encore’s Price Guarantee Protects Your Tour: No Surprises, Just Stability Backstage Blog Planning Your Tour Learn More
March 25, 2025 Encore Tours What to Expect on Tour: A Director’s Guide Backstage Blog Planning Your Tour Learn More
January 25, 2018 James Smith Site Inspection: High School Jazz Band in Japan In October of 2017, Harvard-Westlake School band director Shawn Costantino and I departed California on an inspection trip to Japan in preparation for his upcoming tour in March of 2018. Backstage Blog
January 11, 2018 Joe Becker Boston: Our Musical City At Encore Tours, we believe music and travel go hand in hand. It would be unfortunate to praise the advantages of music travel while headquartered in a city that is musically uninspiring. Backstage Blog
January 4, 2018 Sabrina Nikolov Site Inspection: Germany and the Netherlands One of the many fantastic opportunities Encore Tours offers its Directors is a pre-tour trip called a site inspection. Backstage Blog
December 28, 2017 Joe Becker Yankee Swap vs. White Elephant Yankee Swap and White Elephant: two similar gift-giving events that are commonplace amongst offices, holiday parties, and family gatherings across the U.S. Backstage Blog
December 19, 2017 Ward Dilmore The “ETH” Word: Ethics of Gifts for Public School Music Directors From a young age we’ve learned that words containing the letters “e-t-h” carry a heavy load. “Giveth and taketh” immediately come to mind. Backstage Blog
December 14, 2017 Kate Huffman 15 Best Elf on the Shelf Music Memes Maybe it’s a great way to relax from Holiday concert prep or maybe it’s just plain fun, but for whatever reason, some of the best “Elf on the Shelf” memes with a musical tw… Backstage Blog
December 12, 2017 Kate Huffman 10 Inspirational Quotes About Music and Travel Music and travel, it’s what Encore Tours does best. Here are some of our favorite quotes to inspire your next choir, band, or orchestra trip! 1. Backstage Blog Featured Resources
December 7, 2017 Kate Huffman Peter’s Music Picks: Long May You Run As the holidays approach, Peter has been getting in the spirit and feeling nostalgic by listening to and singing along with Neil Young’s Long May You Run. Backstage Blog
November 30, 2017 Dr. Carolyn Watson 10 Fabulous Pieces for High-Level Youth Orchestras – Part 2 Renowned conductor Dr. Carolyn Watson gets back to us with some more of her favorite pieces for high-level youth orchestras. Backstage Blog Music Educator Resources