Thursday 17 September 2026
from 5:00pm to 6:15pmVenue: Zoom
Venue: Zoom
In this new webinar series, we’ve partnered with our corporate member Rayburn Tours to talk about how to organise a tour with your choir.
We’re looking forward to welcoming three speakers to share their advice for organising your choir tour, and to share their experiences of how touring benefitted their choir.
The speakers for this event are:
- Fiona Ross – Serenata Female Voices. Serenata Female Voices is an all-female choir bringing together singers from across the East of England to perform a wide-ranging repertoire spanning secular and sacred music from the 12th century to the present day. Alongside regular concerts and fundraising performances, the choir recently toured Spain, performing in sacred venues including Girona Cathedral and the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. An experienced music administrator, Fiona has spent more than 25 years planning music tours for schools and adult groups. Drawing on her extensive experience organising both domestic and international trips, she understands the many challenges involved in coordinating group travel. From managing logistics and finances to ensuring the wellbeing of travellers, she knows that a successful tour depends on much more than simply booking flights and accommodation. In this webinar, Fiona will share her insights into the benefits of taking a choir abroad. She will also discuss the practical advantages of working with a specialist tour operator, offering tips for choir leaders and organisers on planning an enjoyable and stress-free tour experience.
- Jane Hobson – Coro Amici Jane Hobson is Musical Director of Coro Amici, a project-based choir that brings together singers of all abilities to take part in ambitious and rewarding musical experiences. Open to anyone regardless of previous experience, the choir performs a diverse repertoire ranging from classical and sacred works to jazz, Latin and contemporary music, and has undertaken concert tours to destinations including Normandy, the Netherlands, and Malta. Over the years, Jane has organised everything from residential singing weekends to international concert tours, leading groups ranging from small ensembles to more than 100 performers. Through this experience, she has developed a strong understanding of the opportunities and challenges that come with planning tours for project-based groups, where participant numbers, expectations and needs can evolve throughout the planning process. In this webinar, Jane will share how touring can enrich the experience of a project-based choir. She will also discuss the practical realities of organising tours for flexible membership groups, offering advice on managing uncertainty, communicating effectively and working with the right partners to deliver an unforgettable tour.
- David Halford – The Kitchen Chorus Community Choir David Halford is Musical Director of The Kitchen Chorus Community Choir, a thriving non-auditioned community choir that has grown from five friends singing together in a kitchen to a group of more than 60 members. Many of the choir’s singers had never sung in a choir before joining, and under David’s direction the ensemble has evolved from performing pop songs and show tunes at local fundraising events to tackling works by composers such as Mozart and Vivaldi. Having led the choir in performances ranging from local community events to the internationally renowned Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres, a memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives in the First World War, David has seen first-hand how shared musical experiences can strengthen a choir and bring members together. In this webinar, David will share his experience of leading The Kitchen Chorus on its first international concert tour and explore the role touring can play in building choir culture. He will discuss how shared experiences help foster friendships, improve member retention and create lasting memories.
Cost: FREE
As the first webinar in this new Nuts and Bolts series, we’re delighted to offer this webinar to non-members, as well as abcd members. Sign up for the event here and you’ll be sent an email the week of the event with a link to join the Zoom meeting.
Recording information:
This event will be recorded and will be available for abcd members to view after the event.
Inclusivity statement:
We aim to make abcd events as inclusive as possible. Automated closed captions (subtitles) will be available at this event. If you have any particular accessibility requirements or if there is anything else we can do to help make the event a better experience for you, please contact Elisabeth Brierley (Training Manager).