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Spain is an extremely successful destination tours possible to many regions and towns, including Madrid, Seville, Granada, Barcelona, Cantabria etc for choirs, bands and orchestras. We are delighted to share with you Oxshott Choral Society’s (an adult choir) experience of Madrid last October:

“Our tour organisers One Stage had really put together an excellent programme for our concerts and excursions at a sensible price. The whole weekend was excellent value for money. The tour was a real partnership between tour operator and choir which worked really well.

Day 1 – Thursday 5 October 2017

Our tour party arrived at Heathrow, late morning, all present and correct for our BA flight to Madrid. After an hour and half delay we were on our way. We were greeted on board by the senior steward (who was also a choral singer in a Stevenage choir),  who gave us a rendering of the “Hallejulah” chorus as we came onto the aircraft and then wished us a successful tour with an announcement on the aircraft PA. On arrival in Madrid we met our brilliant tour leader Adriana and checked in to Hotel Florida Norte in time for a buffet meal in the restaurant.

Day 2 – Friday 6 October

After breakfast on Friday, Adriana took us on a whistle stop tour of the city before heading to Alcala de Henares for our first rehearsal and concert. The cathedral (built around 1500) in Alcala de Henares a university town about a forty five minute drive from Madrid was a lovely venue for a concert and we gave our first performance of Mozart’s Requiem to a good sized and appreciative audience. The town itself, where Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, was baptized in 1547 is an attractive university town with a medieval centre and while we were there, there was a parade and market to celebrate Cervantes which all added to the charm. This was a great choice of venue for our concert by OneStage.

Day 3 – Saturday 7 October

Our Saturday morning programme was sightseeing in Madrid with many of the choir choosing to visit the Prado museum. Those who chose to go on a guided tour were taken round to see about thirty especially selected paintings by an excellent guide who really brought the paintings to life with a most instructive talk about each one. In the afternoon we gave our second performance of Mozart’s Requiem in the local church of our guide Adriana – the Paroquia Nuestra Senora de Covadonga. This concert preceded the evening celebration of Mass. The church was packed and the choir gave a memorable performance which was greatly appreciated by the enthusiastic audience. Once again as in Alcala the choir were warmly welcomed here with everyone at the church being so friendly and helpful.  After the concert the choir dispersed in groups to restaurants and bars around Madrid with a group going to an excellent Flamenco evening.

Day 4 – Sunday 8 October

Sunday was a free day with the choir heading for a day trip to Segovia. Once again, as throughout the whole weekend, it was a gloriously sunny day and it was wonderful to explore this beautiful city with its spectacular cathedral, fortress and Roman aqueduct and to enjoy lunch at the various restaurants around the medieval centre.  On returning to Madrid it was time to get ready for our final dinner at Restaurant La Catedral in the centre of Madrid. We enjoyed a lively evening with a tapas meal and drinks and our tour awards were handed out to different choir members by our two coach monitors Helen and Hannah who did a brilliant comic presentation. French and Saunders would have been proud! This was lovely way to spend the last evening of a very happy tour.

Day 5 – Monday 9 October

After an organised guided walk around the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) on the Monday morning, we headed back to the airport and back to Heathrow, having had a truly memorable weekend. It had all gone so well, great company, two lovely concerts in beautiful churches, time for sightseeing, a brilliant final dinner, a hotel which was well located near the centre of the city, and great organisation and leadership from our splendid tour manager Adrianna. A tired but happy group of singers arrived back in the UK.”

Our thanks to group leader, Michael Newman, for sharing the choir’s experience with OneStage.

It’s not too late to enquire about an Autumn tour or to sing at a Christmas market.  A tour can be a short as a weekend away, leaving Friday and coming back on Sunday.

Imagine: shop for traditional gifts amongst the stalls, entertain the crowds with your mesmerising voices, soak up the atmosphere amongst the dazzling Christmas lights and warm up those frozen fingers with a creamy hot chocolate or mulled wine.  Sample the selection of local delicacies on offer like sausages, pork knuckle and dumplings, pastries, gingerbread and festive sweets.

Croydon High School Senior School Choir sang at Cologne Cathedral Christmas Market and combined this with a Midday Prayer Service at the Cathedral over a December weekend. Take your ensemble on a similar weekend break and choose from a variety of destinations including Lille, The Black Forest, Cologne, Munich, Prague and Budapest. You can prepare a 40-minute set (of secular music) to impress the shoppers and see if you can get them to join in.

Treat yourselves to a pre-Christmas adventure in 2018. 

The OneStage Team would like to wish you a very merry Christmas.

Our office will be closed from Friday 22nd December, midday and reopens on 2nd January 9.30am. We look forward to working with you all in the New Year.

Here are a few 2017 highlights from our team:

LEO:

‘It’s always pleasing to know that a tour that you worked really hard on went well, but it’s always an extra nice surprise when a concert really exceeds expectations: this year I operated The Abbey School’s tour to Thuringia and one concert in the small spa town of Bad Salzungen had an amazing turnout of 289 people, raising over €1400 for the church’s historic clock restoration fund. It was so gratifying that so many people got a huge amount out of that concert in many different ways.’

PIPPY: 

Getting appendicitis in the middle of July, (our busiest operations period), and after an initial panic, realising that my fantastic colleagues were able to take over my work with great efficiency, and very few complaints. Thank you our wonderful team, you saved the day! 

JULIAN:

Being part of an audience of 750 in the St Stephens Cathedral for a performance of Messiah as part of City of Birmingham Choir’s tour in April

AND…. experiencing being one of over 10,000 delegates at the American Choral Directors Association Conference in Minneapolis

LAURA:

The highlight of my year has probably been Christchurch Priory’s Choir tour to Venice in July.

Being able to tour manage a very high standard choir with an already known party leader, who’s a phenomenal guy, and a great bunch of people who love what the do and enjoy experiencing new countries, makes the job of a tour manager a pleasure. Venice is such a stunning town: observing St Mark’s square’s rising tide, singing inside St Mark’s Basilica and on top of the Bell Tower, spending a fun day in Aqualandia, being blessed by St Anthony in Padova, makes it my top destination for choirs. Simon Earl is such an incredible organist and a fantastic motivator.

Full article from Travel Weekley

The Team. From L-R: Pippy, Sonia, Becky, Laura, Giulia Julian, Leo, Georgina and Liz

We would like to officially welcome Georgina Lucas to our Ops team in “Team France”. Georgina has recently sung with the University of Bath Chamber Choir and is a violinist, looking for a new orchestra (or two) to play with in and around West London. Georgina will mostly be working on the tours to Normandy, Brittany, The Loire, Paris, Provence and the Cote d’Azur.

Last week, we all spent a day out of the office to attend World Travel Market (WTM) at Excel. This was a great opportunity for us to refresh relationships, develop new products and destinations (watch this space for the launch of some of our new Italian services and more about Cyprus), and enjoy time with our amazing suppliers, many of whom we have worked with since OneStage started up, almost 18 years ago.

Here are a few photos of the highlights from our WTM week.

A mix of ensembles from the Lancaster Grammar School for Girls showed Vaduz how it’s done this summer during the last of their ‘Four Countries, Four Concerts’ series, following outstanding performances in Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Austria. These talented young ladies rocked the town square before enjoying a walk up to the stunning, princely abode perched about Vaduz’s city centre to enjoy the spectacular scenery.

Not many can say that they have temporarily raised the population of a country by 0.25% in one year: OneStage, on the other hand, can proudly boast this having sent two tours down to the doubly-landlocked principality this year for successful concerts and enjoyable sightseeing.

The composer Josef Rheinberger is arguably Liechtenstein’s most famous export (aside from false teeth) and Heritage Masterworks Chorale travelled to Vaduz this autumn specifically to perform a variety of his works in the beautiful Cathedral of St Florin. The group travels in order to perform works of composers in their home city or country and the citizens of Vaduz were certainly not disappointed with their offering. Members of the Rheinberger Association as well as a relative of the composer himself were enchanted with the performance, giving a standing ovation at the end of the concert. Followed by a mass in the Cathedral the next morning, the stunning location has left an impression on the group leader, conductor and composer Tim Knight.

‘We don’t like to be in the ‘normal’ venues that choirs tour to and we appreciated that the off the beaten track speciality that this tour needed may be a problem, however our dealing with One stage has proved to stress free and helpful, all of my choir members had a wonderful time in stunning locations with excellent hospitality…’ Tim Knight

We’ve made it to Manchester! If you’re in the area, come along to Music and Drama Education EXPO and see Becky and Julian on stand G7. Free advice and inspiration to plan your next music tour to Europe and beyond.

Becky can offer great advice on our French and Spanish products; we have great venues and accommodations in Normandy, the Loire, along the West Coast , Provence and Lyon.  Or ask about touring to the Basque Country or Galicia for a different flavour of Spain.

Julian holds a wealth of touring knowledge in his head – (he knows everything!) – and has some amazing ideas for touring to Eastern Europe. Come and find out more…

If you have missed us today, then get in touch and we will come and see you. Email us to set up an appointment.

Participating in a festival on your tour has many benefits. Festivals generate more publicity via the support of their sponsors and the local town hall, drawing the crowds specifically to watch your ensemble. Amazing venues (which might be unaffordable or have restricted access for a one-off performance) may be available to perform in. This can range from concerts on Mondays at the Bach Monument in Leipzig to San Gimignano Town Square or Aix Cathedral or the Ruínas do Carmo – Museu Arqueológico do Carmo in Lisbon.

OneStage has enjoyed receiving feedback and photos from our groups who participated in the Lisbon Music Fest and The Provencal Festival of Youth Orchestras this summer. Sutton Youth Orchestra stayed in Lisbon and played the Ruínas do Carmo to more than 300 people and in Evora Square to an audience of 800+. Essex Youth Orchestra and Jazz Band also toured to Lisbon and performed in Mosteiro da Batalha, the Museu dos Coches and the Fórum da Parreirinha. See more photos on our facebook page and more photos from Sutton on tour…

” I would thoroughly recommend performing as part of the Lisbon Music Fest to other groups. This is a very well organised, professionally run festival with outstanding venues and well promoted concerts. We’re proud to be the first of what I am sure will be many groups from England (and only the second from the UK) to perform at this festival in years to come.  The spectacular venues and large appreciative audiences that we experienced at the Lisbon Music Fest will live long in the memories of staff and students alike. Thank you for another fantastic tour!” 

Lewis Gibbs, Head of Sutton Music Service.

Our July tourers are all safely home and we welcome your feedback and any photos you would like to share with us.

Our official office opening hours throughout August will be 10:00-16:00 hrs whilst we prepare for the start of the new term in September.  If you would like to meet up with OneStage, then we are happy to come and visit you at your school or offices or somewhere convenient to discuss touring plans. Alternatively, you can meet us at the following events:

5th Sept – Julian at Northwest Music Mark

4th October – Julian and Sonia in Manchester at the Music & Drama Education EXPO

24th-25th November – Julian, Sonia & Becky at Music Mark annual conference in Warwickshire

If you are a tourist office or cultural association, or charity organising a series of concerts and events and would be interested in receiving visiting British music ensembles, then please contact us here. OneStage is proud to have helped many charities to raise money for various causes over the years through the wonderful singing and playing by our touring performance groups. Please contact us via the email address: tourenquiries@onestage.co.uk

There is a new position available for a Tour Consultant in our operations team (a French-speaker would be ideal) and the closing dates for applications is 26th August 2017.  If you would like more information then call the office on 020 8568 5486 or email pippy@onestage.co.uk. 

UPDATE 5 July 2017

Due to a broadband fault in the locality of our offices in SW London, we are unable to receive emails or communicate externally electronically , so if you have an urgent query please call the office using 0208 568 5486

We’re sorry for any inconvenience, and hope to be back up and running as soon as possible