We are looking back on our 2025 season, full of fantastic concerts, exchanges, and unforgettable experiences for our groups. This recap celebrates another successful year of touring, with groups travelling across the globe in what was a special year for Specialised Travel – our 70th anniversary!
Here are some of the top stats of 2025:
79 Tours
A wide variety of groups travelled with us this year to destinations around the world. Our touring groups included choirs, orchestras, Suzuki ensembles, a wind orchestra and jazz band. A number of these ensembles travelled with their fabulous companion groups, and we also had a few study groups who soaked in the history of cities including Budapest and Brussels.
26 Tour Countries
Our tours travelled across Europe and beyond, as far as Japan, South Africa, and Australia. Continuing travel trends from 2024 saw Spain top our list of destinations, with 17 tours visiting cities across the country. Our groups from the USA favoured the UK this year, which saw 16 tours travelling across all 4 nations.
6 Touring Group Countries
Groups from 6 countries travelled this year:
UK – 32 touring groups
USA – 44 touring groups
Canada – 1 touring group
Ireland – 1 touring group
Switzerland – 1 touring group
Kenya – 1 touring group
244 Concerts
Our groups performed an amazing 244 concerts this year, including evening performances, lunchtime and informal recitals, joint events with local ensembles and school exchanges. A regular tour opportunity for many of our choirs is a service participation, which gives musicians the opportunity to sing in some of the most divine cathedral and historic churches across Europe. From Suzuki groups to Brass bands, a wide variety of musical talents entertained audiences across the globe this season!
200 venues
We worked with lots of fabulous venues this year, including many old favourites and some new gems that were very welcoming to our groups. These ranged from cathedrals and concert halls to village churches and town piazzas – always suited to individual programmes and ensembles. Some of our groups also took part in festivals, including the Llangollen International Eisteddfod (Wales), Esztergom Festival (Hungary), and the Alta Pusteria International Choir Festival (Italian Dolomites). Our local concert representatives are experts in finding amazing settings for concerts!
Season Highlights
There are thousands of memories made by our groups every year, and we would like to share just a few of our highlights from our 2025 season:
National Youth Choir of Great Britain in South Africa
NYCGB collaborated with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and Fezeke High School Choir for a sell-out performance of Belshazzar’s Feast in the Cape Town City Hall. Whilst in South Africa, they also explored Table Mountain, Cape Point, and Stellenbosch.
Bournemouth Symphony Chorus in Hiroshima
Bournemouth Symphony Chorus embarked on a journey across Japan, which included a very special performance of Britten’s Requiem with the Hisroshima Philharmonic, 80 years on from the A-Bomb. They also visited Kyoto and Tokyo, which included enjoying some time with the deer in Nara Park and an excursion to the Imperial Palace.
Bryn Mawr supporting Ukraine in Saint Maximin
Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church Choir performed a benefit concert in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, together with We Are Ukraine and Ensemble Avec Ukraine. The concert raised money for an ambulance, which was parked outside the cathedral and set off for Ukraine at the end of the performance!
Irish Doctors in Salamanca
The Irish Doctors choir raised EUR 1190 for the Medicos Sin Fronteras, in a sold-out benefit concert at the Catedral Vieja de Salamanca!
Los Angeles Children’s Chorus 4 July in Dublin
LACC sang at the US Embassy in Dublin at their 4th July celebrations. A wonderful way for young singers to celebrate US Independence Day whilst on tour!
Laulupidu 2025
3 of our groups were in Tallinn for Laulupidu Festival 2025 – one of the largest choral events in the world, which takes place every 5 years! It is held in purpose-built Song Festival Grounds and celebrates Estonian musical traditions and international music-making.
Piedmont Children’s Choir took part in the 30,000-strong massed choir, and Masterworks Chorale and Saddleback College attended the event to soak in the atmosphere as part of the 80,000 audience members!
Men in Blaque at Llangollen 2025
Men in Blaque, from California, participated in the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, where they won the Male Voice Choir category and participated in the prestigious ‘Choir of the World’ competition.
UNESCO Heritage Venue for Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra
Performing alongside the Bredeneyer Schulerorchester, the Santa Rosa Symphony Orchestra’s concert at the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein in Essen was an immense concert on multiple levels – 115 players together on stage, performing for a sold-out audience! They later finished their tour performing for 1000 people in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark Open-Air Theatre.
