Munich - Salzburg - Vienna

Budapest - Bratislava

April 2025

Tour Info ​Meeting

Tue 20 Feb 2024

6:30pm

Orchestral Room

2025 European Music Tour

Itinerary

2025

Sat 5 Apr Depart Melbourne

Sun 6 Apr Arr Munich

Mon 7 Apr Daytrip to Neuschwanstein Castle ℗

Tue 8 Apr Transfer to Salzburg ℗

Wed 9 Apr Daytrip to Hallstatt ℗

Thu 10 Apr Transfer to St. Pölten via Melk℗

Fri 11 Apr Daytrip to Vienna ℗

Sat 12 Apr St Pölten ℗

Sun 13 Apr Transfer to Budapest via Győr

Mon 14 Apr Budapest International Choir Festival Day 1℗

Tue 15 Apr Budapest - Festival Day 2 ℗

Wed 16 Apr Budapest - Festival Day 3 ℗

Thu 17 Apr Transfer to Bratislava ℗

Fri 18 Apr (Good Friday): Depart Vienna

Sat 19 Apr Arrive Melbourne

℗ Denotes a performance (in addition to sightseeing)

2025 European Music Tour

Timeline

2025 European Music Tour

OUTLINE

Building On Success - Continuing the Musical Adventures

By any measure, the 2023 European Music Tour was an outstanding success. It provided the participating students an extremely motivating and unforgettable experience, and enhanced the reputation locally and globally of Huntingtower’s heritage of excellence in music. The tour provided multiple performance opportunities in amazing settings to very appreciative audiences. The rehearsal phase of the tour developed the students’ musicality, collegiality and sense of belonging through the common purpose of the ensemble improvement.

The 2025 edition of the music tour is centred around participating in the biannual Budapest International Choir Festival & Competition, held in the week prior to Easter. Whilst this is essentially a choral event, the inclusion of instrumental music is encouraged in the festival and associated performance opportunities. As well as performing in front of a jury, the festival includes attending concerts at which our students will witness amazing performances from all over the world.

The preceding events in Germany and Austria provide the optimal opportunity to present and refine the competition repertoire. Destinations have been chosen for their architectural and cultural significance, and for their connection to the history of music.

Eligibility

Students in Year 8 through to Year 12 in 2025 who are regular members of at least one Huntingtower ensemble can nominate themselves for the tour. If more applicants than available positions are received then ‘first round offers’ will be made with the selection criteria that includes seniority, musical experience, and balance of instrumentation/voices. ‘Second round offers’ will take place on an individual basis if and when a first round offer is rejected.

Year 11 and 12 students are encouraged to nominate themselves for the tour. The 2023 tour included Year 12 students, and they reported that they didn’t feel it negatively impacted on their academic studies, and even felt it enhanced their Year 12 through the experiences they enjoyed. The timing of April (instead of June) should also provide adequate comfort in deciding to participate as a senior student.

Ensembles

As it was for the 2023 tour, we hope to be able to present a balanced choir and orchestra, with offshoot ensembles being formed if required or possible. However, this will of course depend on the make up of the skills and instruments/voices of the students who nominate for the 2025 tour. Once the nominations have been received we will be in the position to be able to identify the optimal ensemble types that we will take on tour.

2025 European Music Tour

Travel Information

Travel Agent

Angas Travel provided an excellent service and European connections for the 2023 European Music Tour, which was critical to it’s success. They are the most experienced agency who understand the specific and unique logistical requirements of performance music group travel. It is therefore recommended that we again engage Angas Travel to facilitate the 2025 European Music Tour.

Estimated Costings

With the fluctuation of currency rates and airfares it is quite problematic to be able to predict with any certainty the precise total cost per student for the tour. The intention is that an ‘all-inclusive’ target of $8,500 be set (with a potential of +/-5% variation depending on costings closer to the time). This includes all airfares, accommodation, ground transport, all meals, entries to attractions, concerts and instrument transportation (with van crew). An onboard local tour guide also travels with touring party to provide historical and cultural commentary as well as logistical and language support. Expenses not covered include travel insurance, tour uniform costs and personal spending.

Registering Interest

If you would like to register your interest in participating in the tour, please visit this LINK. A formal tour presentation meeting will take place in late February 2024, followed by the submissions of student nominations. Once the permutations of the nominations have been processed to identify the optimal touring ensembles, first round offers will be made which are confirmed by the payment of the deposit. Any first round offers that are not confirmed by the cutoff date will subsequently open a position to a suitable 2nd round offer student.

Tour Ensemble Rehearsals and Concert Planning

The makeup of the touring group will inform the ensembles and standard of the repertoire to be selected. A site inspection tour of the proposed performance venues by David Mowat in the July 2024 holidays will affirm the acoustics and staging logistics required for each of the performances. Monthly rehearsals will take place on Sunday afternoons / evenings commencing in September 2024 (after the School Production has transpired). Weekly rehearsals will commence late January 2025 and continue throughout Term 1.

A ‘shakedown’ concert will be held at an external venue to assist with the training of the students with setting up and packing up concerts.

19th Budapest International

Choir Festival & Competition

The Budapest International Choral Festival and Competition is a prestigious and highly successful International Choral Celebration. This event is a noble contest with the main objective of getting to know other cultures, learning from one another and enjoy singing together, rather than winning over others.

Singing together in an international setting is a crucial activity to gain a sense of global community and it plays a seminal role in generating a sensitivity and openness to arts, which is of particular importance in the lives of younger generations. The opening and closing concerts are excellent examples of this; In 2019 the competition participants joined together in the performance of Bach’s St John Passion and Orff’s Carmina Burana.

The festival organises performances for each choir over the three days, as well as opportunities to be audience members for the other choirs. Each choir enters a specific category and performs to a jury who assess the choir against a ranking system to ascertain the appropriate prize to be awarded. There will also be opportunities for our instrumental ensembles to perform alongside the competition.

Tour Information Meeting RSVP

LINK