2015-2016 Season Summary
A look back at our very successful 2015-2016 Performance Tour Season!
This season included many outstanding choirs for across the country in Custom Designed Performance Tour featuring individual ensembles, as well as, festivals with a few of our trusted partners, Choirs of America, Music in the Parks, and Meeting Music Musica Eterna Roma Festival & Competition.
This season featured the following ensembles and destinations:
- Arkansas Northeastern College (AR), Keith Hearnsberger – Austria & Germany
- Potomac School (VA), Jerry Rich – Los Angeles
- Laguna Hills High School (CA), CJ Kimbel – New York City (Choirs of America)
- Santa Fe High School (NM), Marilyn Barnes & Daniel Allinder – Anaheim (Music in the Parks)
- Shady Side Academy (PA), Dan Brill – New York City
- Benedictine Catholic High School (OH), Joshua Chenoweth – England & Ireland
- Beaumont Catholic High School (OH), Lisa Litteral – England & Ireland
- Seton Catholic High School (WA), Janet Reiter– Anaheim (Music in the Parks)
- Highland Community College (IL), Allen Redford – Austria & Germany
- Skyline High School (WA), Nancy Ziebart – New York City
- Morehead State University (KY), Greg Detweiler – Italy (Music Eterna Roma Competition)
- Little Miami High School (OH), Sarah Baker – Italy, Austria, and Germany (Music Eterna Roma Competition)
Our Gotham SINGS! Collegiate Ensemble Showcase @ Carnegie Hall (New York City) featured:
- Iowa State University (IA), James Rodde
- New Mexico State University (NM), John Flannery
- Tarleton State University (TX), Troy Robertson
- University of Southern Mississippi (MS), Greg Fuller
Our Emerald City SINGS! Choral Festival with guest conductor, René Clausen, @ St. James Cathedral (Seattle, WA) featured:
- Bothell High School Madrigal Singers (Bothell, WA); Sheryl Erickson, conductor
- Heritage High School Concert Choir (Vancouver); Joel Karn, conductor
- Hermiston High School Chamber Choir (Hermiston, OR); Joshua Rist, conductor
- Hoquaim High School Chorale (Hoquaim, WA); Susan Peters, conductor
- Lake Washington High School Lyrica (Kirkland, WA); Heidi Menzenberg-Zvilna, conductor
- Liberty High School Singers (Renton, WA); Robin Wood, conductor
- Oasis Chamber Choir (Sacramento, CA); Angelika Dyadchenko, conductor
- Richland High School Chamber Choir (Richland, WA); Greg Fryhling, conductor
- Rock Creek Portland Community College Festival Choir (Portland, OR); Pollyanna Hancock Moody, conductor
- Vancouver School of the Arts and Academics Men’s Ensemble (Vancouver, WA); Margaret Green, conductor
We thank all of the ensembles, directors, and their travelers for allowing me, and Sechrist Travel, the privilege of being your chosen Tour Operator for your Performance Tour. It is truly our honor to have been a part of creating, preparing, and implementing your tours and offering you and your singers an experience with memories for a lifetime! THANK YOU!
As we approach the 2016-2017 Season, we are excited to be celebrating our 5th Anniversary Season at SECHRIST TRAVEL. We have many exciting tours and events scheduled for our Anniversary Season including hosting a British Choir from the London area in a performance tour of New York City in October which leads to our very special Christmas Spectacular @ CARNEGIE HALL. This event will help kick off the holiday season in true fashion with a Christmas themed concert with a festival chorus of 300 singers and the New York City Festival Orchestra featuring the music of beloved composer and conductor, John Leavitt. This concert will also celebrate John’s 60th Birthday!
The New Year takes us to Italy with the La Reina High School Women’s Chorus, with additional tours to England, Ireland, and Scotland; Austria, Germany, Hungary, and the Czech Republic; Belgium, France, and the Netherlands; Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Our International Tours are gaining attention and popularity due to attention and dedication to the quality performance opportunities along with our Executive Director, Sean Berg’s expertise and experience as a choral director and keen ear, for acoustical superiority and balance.
In addition to having a ‘native’ Tour Director on all of the International Tours, Sean also travels with you and takes care of all of the performance aspects including informing you of the acoustical nuances, uniqueness, and possible challenges for each venue, and well as taking care of the line-ups (entrances/exits), cues of when to sing when you are a part of a worship service in a foreign language, to having a pitch pipe and music stand in tow for those, or so frequent, time when the tools of the trade are needed. He’s even found in various tour squares passing out flyers and engaging with the public to help and promote YOU! Sechrist Travel, and Sean, are sensitive to the needs and specific requirements of a touring choir and their entourage of adoring parents, parents, and alumni. We pride ourselves on outstanding hospitality service while working within your varied budgets. Whatever your budget, you still get the same attention Sechrist/Berg and service!
We are excited to be continuing our SINGS! Festivals for the 2017 Season! We will feature our EXCLUSIVE Gotham SINGS! Choral Ensemble Showcase @ Carnegie Hall featuring 3-4 outstanding choral programs (by audition) in solo performances on April 1st, returning the very next week to feature a festival chorus performing the music of, and under the direction of, Stacey V. Gibbs in a program of peace and tolerance entitled ‘A Tie That Binds’ at Carnegie Hall on April 9th (Palm Sunday). We will again host our annual Emerald City SINGS! Choral Festival in Seattle with Rollo Dilworth. This festival is the only one of it’s kind in the Pacific Northwest and features a performance in the historic St. Mark’s Cathedral on May 20th!
There are several other custom performance tours to destinations like New York City, Boston, Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Wherever your ensemble wants to travel and perform, Sechrist Travel is your trusted partner. We can also provide services to compliment festival experiences with other providers as we have maintained healthy relationships and collaborate with many of the festival providers.
It’s also important to say that Sechrist Travel is built from of our own love and dedication to Music Education, Choral Music and Travel! It is our vision that we are here to stay and service you and your programs for a lifetime, not to grow as fast as we can to sell the company and database to another, even larger company. We enjoy the low overhead, helping to keep our pricing low, and we know that you appreciate the more intimate contact with you and your ensembles that we are able to provide.
Whether you have traveled with us several times, one time, or are thinking about giving us a try, we stand by the fact that we are a truly unique Tour Operator dedicating ourselves to offering experiences and performances that both touch and change the lives of the participants and the larger community with whom we interact.
It is with gratitude and extreme sincerity that we thank you for your patronage and support during the first 4 years and we are looking forward to our 5th Anniversary Season and to working with you in the coming months and years!
Yours in Song,
Sean Berg, Executive Director
Sechrist Travel