There has been so much going on this term that we have hardly had time to write about it. Hopefully our social media pages have kept you in touch with the latest news at OneStage, whilst we travel across Europe, attend conferences, meet with suppliers and clients and find time to come to the office too. Please follow us on facebook and twitter @onestageuk and on instagram @onestagetours

Please bear with us whilst we make some changes to our working procedures in the office. Some of our phone nos are down but you can still reach us using the 020 8568 5486 or 4586 nos.

Here are some of the highlights from the last couple of months:

September 2018

OneStage Team Meeting

We all had the chance to run through the highlights of the year at our annual team meeting and discuss all the feedback from tours. We then travelled in luxurious style down the Thames to Twickenham  & back, without capsizing the boat!!

Our NEW Festival- Loire 2019

We celebrated the launch of our 1st OneStage Festival “Music en scène” – “Music On Stage” which will take place in the Loire Valley in summer 2019. Now FULL for 2019, we will start taking bookings for 2020 very soon. Find out more here: Loire Fest

October 2018

Music & Drama Education EXPO in Manchester

Julia, Becky and Sonia had the chance to present our one-off Festival which takes place in Germany in 2020 to celebrate OneStage’s upcoming 20th birthday & Beethoven’s 250th anniversary. You can find out more information by clicking here: Bonn 2020.

Welcome Cathy!

We welcomed Cathy Lear to the team! Cathy plays the double bass and piano and previously worked with the Philharmonia. She also speaks fluent German and French and will be a great addition to OneStage.

November 2018

WTM 2018

World Travel Market comes around each year and our team did their best to get around the show to network and cement relationships with new and existing partners in countries all over the world. Some of the exciting and exotic places which OneStage launched as part of our long-haul music tour portfolio this year include: Vietnam, Costa Rica, Argentina & Uruguay and Hong Kong!  Get in touch and find out more about where you could explore with your ensemble.

A big “Thank You” to the French Embassy for our kind invitation to celebrate 500 years of the Renaissance & building of Chateau Chambord with them.

Music Mark

Julian, Sarah & Sonia will be attending Music Mark. If you would like to book an appointment to chat to us, or simply meet us on our stand, then we welcome the opportunity to discuss your plans and experiences touring with your ensemble.

What’s Next?

There are a lot of tour handovers taking place and we have an exceptionally high volume of tours taking place in 2019, so thank you all for your support and we look forward to liaising with you on your 2019 tour and plans for 2020.

We have lots of inspection visits “on the go”, a new website which we are hoping to launch at the beginning of next year (launch date TBC), up-grade to our current system to try and make everything more streamlined and efficient, and of course, a Christmas party to arrange.

OneStage are excited to launch our very first Festival in 2019, to promote high quality amateur music making by British musicians on tour.

‘Music On Stage’ or ‘Musique en scène’ has been created in partnership with venues and arts & cultural associations in the Loire to showcase music in venues ranging from concert halls and churches to outdoor stages. There are venues to suit all types of ensembles. Here are a few reasons why you should consider touring the Loire and participating in Music On Stage, Loire 2019:

• Perform in some exclusive and unique venues in the region
• Receive a warm welcome from our partners, including a reception at your last concert
• Professional photos to be taken at one of your venues
• The Loire is within a day’s journey for much of the UK, and we can shorten your journey by using Eurostar trains from London to Paris
• To participate in local festivals
• We are open to receiving ALL kinds of ensembles

Discover The Loire and find out more about what we can offer in the region. This is only a small sample of what we can arrange, and we can arrange tours spanning the whole area across from Blois & Romorantin-Lanthenay to Nantes.

Enquire now to find out more!

Is your ensemble too small to fill a coach? 

Does the thought of sitting on a coach for a day fill you with dread? 

Do you like the comfort and freedom of train travel?

Then a tour using a Eurostar direct route might be just the ticket for you!

Finding the right kind of tour for your ensemble is a challenge. Some groups insist on flying, whereas others prefer to keep everyone together on a coach. If you would like to travel a little bit further, be able to stretch your legs whilst travelling and really get to know the ins and outs of a city, then a music tour by rail could be the best option for you.

Hop on a train in London at 7am and you can be in Brussels or Paris before lunch, or as far as Lyon, Avignon or Marseille by 3pm. For independent groups, touring by train can be a fun and liberating experience. Once you arrive at your destination we can select a centrally located hotel from where you can walk to attractions, restaurants and bars and arrange local transport to take you to your concert venues. Take a look at these ideas:

Eurostar to Belgium

Eurostar to France

Eurostar to The Netherlands

Contact us for more information.

The countdown to OneStage’s 20th anniversary on 1st February 2020 is about to begin. There will be some exciting projects and familiarisation trips (in the planning stages) in the run up to the event. We hope to keep you in tune with our projects.

We are also building a new website, which will be mobile-friendly and hope to guide you to destinations suited to your ensemble. In the meantime, in addition to our successful European concert tour portfolio, we invite you to view this post as our ‘temporary space’ to look at some of the long-haul destinations across the globe, which might work well for any ensembles who are:

• celebrating a special anniversary
• interested in visiting partner / sister schools in Asia, South America or anywhere else in the world
• looking for something more exotic
• interested in exploring cultures and music outside the Western music world

Click on the links below to find out other long-haul places you can visit on a music tour:

Mandarin Hotel Skyline

The USA –

Be Inspired: Discover New York, Philadelphia & Washington DC

Be Inspired: Discover California, West Coast USA

CANADA –

Be Inspired: Discover Ontario

ASIA –

Be Inspired: Discover Hong KongHong Kong

Be Inspired: Discover Malaysia & Singapore

Be Inspired: Discover Vietnam

AUSTRALASIA –

Be Inspired: Discover New Zealand

Be Inspired: Discover Australia

Please contact us for more information, such as prices based on your intended dates of travel and more advice about touring these destinations with your ensemble.

Costa Rica, located in Central America, is bordered by Nicaragua, Panama, Ecuador, the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It embraces all of the components of an IDEAL place to visit, with a unique cultural identity, breathtaking scenery and a wide array of wildlife, eco-tourism and adventures for everyone.  The rainforests are teeming with wildlife, including insects, birds, sloths and monkeys. The coastlines offer breathtaking beaches with rainforest backdrops. 

Costa Rica has a strong folk music tradition, which you will have the opportunity to experience throughout your stay. Dance and music go hand in hand in Costa Rica and salsa, samba, merengue and cumbia are popular styles of dance music. The marimba features strongly alongside Latin style rhythms.  Book a Music Tour to Costa Rica

Sample Itinerary

Day 1: Flight to San José. Arrive and check in, 3 nights.

Day 2 / 3: City tour, sightseeing, rehearsal and concert

Days 4 – 6: Travel to Arenal National Park. Hotel in La Fortuna, 3 nights.

Sightseeing to include jungle trek, coffee plantation, sky walk. Rehearsal and concert.

Days 7 / 8: Travel to Punta Leona, a stunning beach location. Rehearsal and concert. Hotel, 2 nights.

Day 9: Check out, and travel to San José. Overnight hotel, 1 night.

Day 10: Travel day. Fly to UK

Day 11: Arrival in UK

VENUE HIGHLIGHTS

Your performances can take place in churches, auditoriums and museums with audiences made up of locals, tourists and officials welcoming visiting musicians. We can hire instruments throughout the year . Venue highlights include:

The National Auditorium Theatre at the Children’s Museum * The Metropolitan Cathedral of San José * Iglesia Luz del Mundo * La Fortuna Church * Teatro Melico Salazar

EXCURSION HIGHLIGHTS

Mystico Arenal Hanging Bridges

El Silencio Trails lookout and observatory
El Castillo Butterfly Conservatory

Wildlife Jungle Cruise

Shopping for handicrafts and souvenirs at Galeria Namu, San José

Visit to a coffee plantation

EXTEND YOUR STAY IN COSTA RICA

Visit to Tortuguero: Accessible only by boat, the Leatherback Turtle National Park is 3 hours from San José.

Visit the Monteverdi Cloud Forest: Adventure activities in a stunning location with Skywalk hanging bridges and zip-lining, 4h from San José

What are you waiting for? Contact us for more details about when to travel, how to get there and how much to budget!

Developing and discovering new places to take groups on a concert tour and nurturing relationships around the globe, is something that we’re very good at. Let OneStage take you on a new adventure, out of Europe and across the Atlantic to Latin America. We are proud to present our new Latin American Portfolio, and begin by presenting our first destination, Argentina & Uruguay. Here is a flavour of what OneStage can offer: Music Tour to Argentina & Uruguay

Discover Argentina & Uruguay

Argentina is a nation built on centuries of immigration, where cultures have combined to form a unique language, cuisine, music and dance. The hub of Argentina is its capital, Buenos Aires, with its distinctive neighbourhoods (48 ‘barrios’ in all), where you can lounge in colourful cafes and people-watch. Buenos Aires has been dubbed the “Paris of South America” with its European nature and its myriad of cultural happenings. There are theatres in abundance in Buenos Aires and the Argentinian love of Tango encompasses their expressive and passionate natures. As well as Tango, Argentine Rock (a blend of Latin American Jazz, Mambo, and Tango) is extremely popular. Discover an exciting city with a great big cultural heart, willing to invite you to perform and share its musical beat.

Other main cities to explore are Salta (a 2h20 flight) and Rosario, birthplace of Che Guevara.  A short boat trip across the Rio de La Plata, lies Montevideo, capital of Uruguay. From here, 2h by road, you reach the city of Colonia del Sacramento, who’s historic quarter (Barrio Histórico) is full of gorgeous old stone houses, cobbled streets, antique cars and is a UNESCO world heritage site.

It’s the sheer size of Argentina, its abundance of wildlife and spectacular natural wonders which offers so much possibility. Here is our simple approach to discovering a very small area of South America:

Venue Highlights in Buenos Aires:

The Pope’s Cathedral
Basilica Santisimo Sacramento
Iglesia San Carlos
El Salon Dorada
Festival “La Noche de los Museos

Sample 10-day itinerary:

 Day 1: Flight to Buenos Aires (BA) – overnight flight

Days 2 & 3: Arrival. Check in to a hotel in Buenos Aires for 2 nights. City tour and Tango show. Rehearsal & concert

Day 4: Fast ferry to Montevideo, Uruguay & check in to a hotel in Montevideo, 2 nights

Day 5: City sightseeing, Rehearsal and concert

Day 6 & 7: Travel to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site & check in to hotel, 2 nights. City sightseeing in Colonia. Rehearsal and concert

Day 8: Check out, full day ranch visit en route to BA. Overnight Buenos Aires, 1 night

Day 9: Travel day. Fly to UK

Day 10: Arrival in UK

EXCURSION HIGHLIGHTS

Museo Evita
The Recoleta Cemetery & the tomb of Eva Peron
Teatro Colón (Opera house)
Argentinian cattle ranch day – have the full ‘Gaucho’ experience
Tigre Parana Delta
La Plata Cathedral (rooftop lift)

UNESCO historic quarter, Colonia

Extend your itinerary with some of these travel ideas:

Visit Rosario: with its fantastic waterfront city lined with neoclassical buildings & fabulous green spaces.
Visit Mar del Plato: a stunning seaside destination with spectacular beaches & a picturesque port.
Add an extra flight to visit the famous Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian border
Or explore more of South America and discover Chile: Buenos Aires to Santiago is only 2h20 by plane

Contact us to find out more about when you should travel and what to budget to plan your next tour, with OneStage, to South America

Photos courtesy of Buenos Aires City Tourist Board – buenosaires.gob.ar/turismo

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