Specialised Travel Concert Touring

Specialised Travel & ACFEA

Dan Porterfield — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 12:27:53 +0000

We are very pleased to announce that with effect from 20 Feb 2023, ACFEA’s UK and European tours will be operated under the name of Specialised Travel Concert Touring.

Why the change?

Specialised Travel and ACFEA were founded together in 1955, ACFEA as an educational subsidiary. Many of our clients use the services of both and we believe it makes sense to simplify all our operations under just one name – Specialised Travel – a name known worldwide throughout the music industry.

Structure

There are two divisions of Specialised Travel. Concert Touring operating complete tours including concerts worldwide, previously operated under the ACFEA name.

Production Touring providing travel services to professional choirs, orchestras, opera & ballet companies, festivals and concert management companies worldwide.

Quality

Tours will be planned and operated exactly as before with the same emphasis on detailed planning, value for money and well attended concerts. We remain a cornerstone member of the ACFEA Global Network with expert representatives based in most European countries, and our own offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong, South Africa, South America and the USA.

Financial Security

All tours operated by Specialised Travel Concert Touring safeguard client prepayments in a Trust Fund (provided by Protected Trust Services), and tours travelling by air are ATOL protected.

Contact

All emails, office address, contact numbers and web addresses remain the same.

We hope you like our new look and simplified structure. We would love to hear from you if you have any questions or would like to learn more about how we can help you plan your next concert tour.

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Portugal with Saraswati

Dan Porterfield — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 23:00:43 +0000

Say Olá to Saraswati! Saraswati is part of our worldwide network of concert representatives and looks after all of our arrangements in Portugal including Madeira and the Azores.

What have you been up to this summer?

Taking an enforced holiday! That said, I have just finished harvesting our figs and I’m about to deal with our olive crop!

What do you do when you’re not organising concerts for your next group to Portugal?

Whilst I’m not working for Specialised Travel, I direct and manage the running of the Coral Sinfónico de Portugal

What is your favourite region of Portugal?

The more striking north, the historic central region, the ever sunny south : all picturesque in their own distinctive way, and populated by pathologicaly friendly people! Take your pick!

What’s your top travel advice?

Take a Sudoku and a Kindle!

Name the one thing you never travel without?

Pencil and rubber!

What is your most memorable performance you’ve organised?

Oh gosh! So many. Last year, I really enjoyed the Tiffin Boys’ Choir performance in the beautiful Igreja de Lapa in Porto where they could adjourn to the fabulous Portrait Room to do their secular repertoire, plus their informal concert in the Livraria Lello, also in Porto.

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Meet your Courier: Kate

Dan Porterfield — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 21:46:09 +0000

Say cześć to Kate! You’ve probably met her if you’ve been on a tour to Poland — or any one of a number of European countries where she couriers.

What have you been up to this summer?
I have used the quarantine and quieter summer to take care of myself, cook at home, and eat clean. I’ve been doing the 10,000 steps a day challenge for 90 days already – and am still going! This time has been wonderful to think about what is really important in life, make new decisions, and to explore my beautiful country — Poland — which has still so much to offer.

What do you normally do when you’re not leading a tour?
I’m a full-time jazz manager so I organise the life and concerts of jazz Artists in Poland and abroad. It is not easy to be at full speed 24/7 so whenever I have a chance, I like to travel and tick off the next destination on my bucket list (which seems to be endless!). Travelling and exploring new places makes me happy.

What is the one thing you never travel without?
Phone charger!

Where’s your favourite destination to lead a group?
I should say Poland since I’m Polish but I love to go with groups to other places, especially to Spain in winter, where the temperatures are much more pleasant than in my hometown.

What’s your best travel advice?
Always respect the culture you are exploring. And try not to think about how much your spending in your own currency, it spoils the fun!

What’s your favourite thing about being a courier?
I get to see new beautiful places or go again to those I love! I love that there is always something new to experience with every group and there is nothing better than working whilst travelling.

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2023: The ‘New Normal’!

Dan Porterfield — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 11:07:32 +0000

2022: report on our first ‘post-plague’ tours

Our first full season during and after the lifting of pandemic restrictions was always going to be challenging, and many ensembles committed relatively late. Here are our “take-aways”:

Numbers. We operated 56 tours to 18 countries (including Israel and Jordan). A total of 2,790 performers appeared in 251 successful concerts
Audiences were understandably smaller earlier in the year but, by summer, we had exceptionally good attendances everywhere, largely thanks to the hard work of our local network of exclusive representatives.
Some suppliers were having staff shortage problems; this was certainly not confined to the UK. Fortunately our good relationships with suppliers mitigated the effect of this but we cannot yet expect service levels everywhere to be as they were pre-pandemic
Red tape and bureaucracy issues for British groups that were a major headache immediately post-Brexit are easing, fortunately. Groups touring by bus only suffered minimal delays at channel ports.

2023: planning tours in the ‘new normal’!

Currency. The current widely publicised weakness of the UK pound sterling means that even more thought and care has to go into tour planning. Some destination countries, and some cities within them, offer far better value for money at the moment than others.
Flight costs. With higher fuel costs and reduced capacity, obtaining competitive airfare quotes is becoming more challenging, especially for departures at the start of school holidays. The earlier one starts booking, the better! Airlines generally start quoting 11 months prior to departure. Waiting until autumn for a spring tour the following year can cause fare quotes to rise substantially. Having our own group flights department makes such negotiations much easier, and can help lower prices.
Long haul. We are beginning to see the restart of requests for tours to long haul destinations. South Africa, India and Australia offer exceptional touring opportunities, and we are very keen to restart our outreach work in the first two of those countries – we have exceptional memories of sharing music-making with underprivileged children in Mumbai, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
What our clients say about us. Rather than blow our own trumpet, below are some comments from our 2022 postbag. Please contact any of our clients for their “take” on touring with us.

2023 planning is now well underway for many of our clients to short haul destinations and further afield. Spain, Germany, France and Slovenia are all proving particularly popular. We look forward to hearing from you very soon!

What our clients say

I have been so impressed at the level of professionalism, communication, and detail in which ACFEA conduct their business and would happily recommend to any group planning an overseas concert tour.

After experiencing many others, I can safely say that ACFEA are the Rolls-Royce of tour companies and will most certainly be working with them for all future Gloucestershire tours.

We were delighted once again to be traveling with ACFEA and as ever, from the very first enquiring phone call through to the post-tour questionnaire, the service offered was exemplary. Nothing is too much trouble and the quality of the trip, from the hotels, catering, concert management, to the appreciative concert audiences and carefully researched excursions, all reflect the very high standards ACFEA aspire to and reach.

Having travelled to four continents with ACFEA, there is simply no one else I would even think about travelling with.

The tour was set-up very well by ACFEA, who were on hand promptly to any questions we had. Our requests were always referred back to the organisers/hotels/venues and dealt with efficiently. This made us feel very comfortable in making preparations at our end and then relaying tour information to staff, parents and students.

It makes a huge difference to know that ACFEA takes on board every comment and question and discuss things in detail with us, it is very reassuring

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the ACFEA team for another superb tour. Once again you have looked after us from beginning to end and we are so grateful for the high quality of the tours.

The concerts in particular were amazing – the audiences gave us a wonderful reception.

Thank you for a fantastic first tour. We are really proud that we have been able to achieve this especially with all the challenges of Covid, flight cancellations etc. A highlight was certainly our connection with the Granada International Guitar Festival which has a significant social media profile of its own that could bring us to the attention of the guitar community in the local area.

We know that we made the best decision in choosing ACFEA and we are already thinking about our next tour. Thank you for everything you have done to make this possible for us.

Considering we had to change destinations 3(!) times due to COVID-19 implications and restrictions, the team remained professional and helpful at all points. They made my job as Trip Leader very easy, such a wonderful company to work with!

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Zurich YSO’s 2021 tour to Austria!

Dan Porterfield — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 11:03:53 +0000

Following a quieter than usual summer of 2021, we were delighted to put together a tour of Austria for the Zurich Youth Symphony Orchestra (Jugend Sinfonie Orchester Zürich). Under the baton of David Bruchez, the orchestra thrilled audiences in Vienna, Graz, St. Wolfgang and Salzburg whilst also raising thousands of euros for charity. Here’s a look at what they got up to:

Day 1 – The group arrived in the city of Vienna after an 8 hour crossing from Zurich. The following day was filled with free time and a rehearsal in the afternoon.

Day 2 – The group continued their rehearsals today in the Musikverein ahead of their performance that evening. The audience were treated to a Chamber music pre-concert in the Grand Foyer from ZYSO’s Horn Quartet. The main performance in the Glass Hall of the Musikverein (pictured below) was an enormous success and the orchestra performed to a full house.

Day 3 – Onwards from Vienna to city number 2 – Graz. The instrument van was loaded and the group set off on the 200km journey south.

Day 4 – Following some free time to explore Graz, the group rehearsed and performed at the Orpheum Concert Hall to over 200 people in the audience!

Day 6 – Following a full free day to explore Graz, the orchestra were on the move again! The next stop on the tour was the famous town of Salzburg, home of Mozart, 250 years ago.

The first concert in this region was at Das Pacher House in the town of St. Wolfgang, a pretty town that sits on the banks of Lake Wolfgangsee. This was a benefit concert to raise money for the Kiwanis Summer Academy, a charity that works with Children with special needs.

Day 7 – The final concert of the tour was in the Odeïon Kultur, a venue with striking concrete contemporary design in the university area of the city. This was also a benefit concert, which raised money for the Hospiz Bewegung in Salzburg. The concert was a great success and fabulous end to the tour.

And no tour is complete without tour selfies! Huge congrats to the Orchestra on their incredible performances and a massive thank you to our couriers Johan & Tassos for leading the way!

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Green light for school travel!

Dan Porterfield — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 09:30:00 +0000

We were very pleased to hear this week that international educational visits are permitted to take place from September 2021.

As we continue along the ‘roadmap out of lockdown’ the Department for Education has updated its schools COVID-19 operational guidance:

“From the start of the new school term you can go on international visits that have previously been deferred or postponed and organise new international visits for the future.”

Furthermore, Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden announced that all remaining restrictions on choirs will be removed at Stage 4 of the roadmap allowing thousands of choirs across England to return to live music-making again. Following these announcements, we are delighted to have received a flurry of new enquiries!

Our unique network of exclusive representatives who live in key destination countries continue to keep us updated on the local openings of concert venues, churches etc and the current protocols surrounding performances in their region.

Our tour planning team is fully operational and looking forward to hearing from you! Please call us on 020 8799 8360 or email: info@stct.co.uk

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Plan Your 2022 Tour Now!

Dan Porterfield — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 13:22:25 +0000

We were very pleased to see that, in addition to the return of International Travel this week, the School Travel Forum has issued a School Trip Planning Statement stating that schools may now proceed to book future trips, departing from 5 September 2021 onwards. Following this, we are delighted to have received a flurry of new enquiries!

Why do we believe that now is a good time to start thinking about your next tour?

1. Availability

With many travel plans from 2020 postponed to 2021 and 2022, we’re starting to see limited availability in some hotels and venues. We advise that you start planning sooner rather than later.

2. Lower costs

After a number of months of empty beds and seats, hotels and airlines are offering exceptionally good rates at the moment, and this may not last. Booking earlier ensures that you’re “locking in” to the best value

3. Motivation

Having things to look forward to has been essential for all of us in the recent dispiriting times, especially for performers facing the postponement of rehearsals and performances. Anticipating a tour has proved to be a source of motivation and consolation for many of our clients

4. More planning time

Perhaps you’re working with many new members this year, or rehearsing in smaller chamber groups? Having dates in the diary gives more planning time to focus on the artistic elements driving your group

Lockdown is of course easing at different rates in different countries. We are being kept constantly up to date by our unique network of locally based exclusive representatives on the re-openings of concert venues, churches etc and on the various protocols concerning performances and health and safety in their region. As you will know, rules can vary widely even within one country – e.g. between Germany’s “Laender” or States. We are delighted to be receiving new enquiries for 2022 as well as finalising arrangements for a youth orchestra tour to a low-risk area of central Europe in October 2021. We all know how much everyone is looking forward to the return of live music-making!

Our tour planning team is fully operational and looking forward to hearing from you! Please call us on 020 8799 8360 or email: info@stct.co.uk

With our best wishes for the continuing return towards “normal” during the Summer

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Christmas Carols and Markets

Dan Porterfield — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 22:50:29 +0000

Have you considered travelling in December? Perfect for either a short or a longer stay to experience the joy of Europe’s best Christmas Markets and perform to the crowds whilst you’re there. But which destination should you choose? Travel at the end of the winter term is becoming more and more popular with school groups as to avoid clashing with other tours planned in the summer term.

Poland

Our no.1 destination for a winter tour. Not only does Poland present great value, it’s also one of the most religious countries in Europe, meaning great organs and mass participations, filled to capacity. Cities we reccomend include: Kraków, Warsaw, Wrocław and Lublin.

Germany

The classic choice when thinking about a Christmas markets trip. While you can find a magical Christmas market in each German city, we reccomend heading east to Leipzig or Berlin where hotel rates stay low over the festive period meaning you can enjoy a good value tour whilst still experiencing everything Christmas in Germany has to offer.

Latvia

An ‘off the beaten track’ option for many, why not head to the largest of the Baltic states for your dose of festivities? Latvia has an outstanding choral tradition and this is evident with the wide number of venues available to you here. Just a 2.5hr flight from London will land you in Riga, Latvia’s capital where you’ll find the city’s medieval old town, brimming with Christmas market stalls and music. If you’re really lucky, you might be treated to a dusting of snow for that authetic winter experience!

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The Balkans with Dragana

Dan Porterfield — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 22:32:06 +0000

Say Zdravo to Dragana! Dragana is part of our worldwide network of concert representatives and looks after all of our arrangements in the Balkans, including: Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo. Dragana also enjoys couriering tours in this region so you may have spotted her on the road!

What did you do with your quieter-than-usual summer?

This summer was of course very quite as none of my touring groups were able to travel. Whilst I spent most of my time at home in Athens I did manage to visit friends and the nearby beach of Shinias. I also went to my favourite place, old Panteliemon at the slopes of Mount Olympus not far from the beach of Panteleimonas where we have our summer house. My son Savvas lives on the island of Tinos, so I spent some time visiting him too.

What do you do when you’re not organising concerts for us?

I’m the manager of our family business, where I also work with incoming tourists.

What is one thing you never travel without?

I always take a good book with me, my phone and my iPad.

Where’s your favourite destination?

How can I choose just one?! In Montenegro, it’s Kotor, Bosnia – Trebinje, Croatia – Zadar and Dubrovnik, Slovenia -Ljubljana. I like them all equally!

What’s your favourite thing to eat on tour?

I always make sure I eat a good breakfast to set me up for the day ahead!

What’s your best travel advice?

Always smile and solve any problems that might occur with patience

What’s your favourite thing about working for Specialised Travel?

I love meeting so many fabulous and enthusiastic music lovers from different countries. As well as enjoying their singing and playing, I love getting to know them and to learn all about the culture of their country too.

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Our first YO concert – under COVID-19 protocols

Dan Porterfield — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 22:30:14 +0000

ON 11 OCTOBER 2020, ZURICH YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMED TO THE SOCIALLY DISTANCED AUDIENCE OF THE INNSBRUCK HAUS DER MUSIK

Beginning with an impressive performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto by 14-year-old soloist Raphael Nussbaumer there followed a rousing rendition of Dvorak Symphony No.7; the audience support was palpable and the applause lasted for several minutes. This was a benefit concert raising money for Hospizhaus Tirol, a local organisation providing end of life care and support to people and their families and a substantial amount was donated to the charity. All in all, the concert was a triumph and everyone returned home happy and encouraged by the success. It was great to have a group on the road, sharing in their positive experience during these demanding times.

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