This mystery man is putting orchestras back in the air
NewsAn interview with Hugh Davies, maestro of orchestral touring.
ACFEA serves as a full-service facilitator for domestic and international tours for orchestras, choral groups, and colleges. They are the tactical wizards that make the music happen.
The way (Hugh) Davies (whose office is based in San Rafael) explains it, “We do everything from arranging the simplest sightseeing tour to arranging an engagement at the Musikverein in Vienna. We do the publicity. We book the hotels, arrange the meals, the halls, the transportation. We do everything except hold their hand when they get on the plane.”
Read on here.
On the one hand, good to see that their business is on the up again, on the other had, ACFEA caters to amateur choirs and orchestras and is a musical travel agent.
As for the carefully worded “engagement at the Musikverein in Vienna”, this is in the context that the groups involved part with money to go on these tours and thus pay to perform.
Interesting link here:
https://acfea.co.uk/zurich-ysorchestra-tour-to-austria/
The Zurich Youth Orchestra in the Glass Hall (not the main concert hall) of the Musikverein in October 2021, where a full orchestra vastly outnumbers a tiny audience.
The only thing missing is a T-shirt with a list of European cities printed on the back.
The same is done with not-very-good high school orchestras here in the Seattle area — the kids say, “We’re going to play at Carnegie!” and it costs each player about $2000 for the weekend — and they don’t play in the main hall.
I suppose it looks good on the teacher’s C.V.
Quite. What started out many years ago as a legitimate way for, e.g., American high school and university choirs and bands to see Europe and give some fun concerts along the way, turned into cynical, exploitative big business.
At the outset, there was real interest along with paying audiences, but this soon waned, and the resulting model was e.g. six choirs in a church, five in the pews as an audience, and one singing in front of the altar.
Attempts to revive a flagging idea then led to a plethora meaningless competitions adjudicated by a jury of the same old (sic) faces, the vast majority being male movers and shakers.
In recent times, venues have become quite expensive and, in the case of Italy, tour operators like ACFEA often resorted to concerts outside on the steps of the church. Of late, it has become a question of whether the choir will complete its program before the Carabinieri arrive on the scene.
There’s not much info about Hugh in this article unfortunately. A full-length interview with him would be fascinating. He’s been successful in this field for about forty years, operating with a high degree of skill, charm and charisma. He is also the possessor of a beautiful baritone singing voice, which he is very modest about.
Agreed, Gareth.
As conductor of two of those ‘amateur’ groups referred to above (a University chamber choir and a symphonic chorus, I can attest to the absolute professionalism and care of detail Hugh’s company has provided on tours to various European venues. No, not the Musikverein, but many amazing cathedrals and churches. They are the real deal.
No idea why you put ‘amateur’ in inverted commas. Your groups might perform to an extremely high level, but they do not earn their living that way, this probably the best definition of what counts as not professional.
And if you and everyone else are happy with singing outside the St Thomas Church in Leipzig, in front of the statue erected to J.S. Bach, then that is fine.
To be fair, the better groups do sometimes get to perform at legitimate festivals in front of paying audiences in various European cities. But not every night of often lengthy tours.
The point is that ACFEA packages do not come cheap.