Checklists · Updated 8 September 2026

Concert tour checklist: twelve months to departure

A concert tour starts with the venue, not with the coach. This checklist leads in eight steps from the first idea to the return, with deadlines drawn from organising travel for ensembles. It applies to choirs, orchestras and wind bands of 30 to 80 people with two or three concerts. All timings are experience values and vary by region and season.

1. 12 months ahead

   1. Fix occasion, destination and frame

   Reason for the tour (anniversary, major work, twin town, invitation), destination region, dates, number of concerts and a budget frame per person. First poll in the ensemble: who comes, what may it cost, which dates are out. With that figure behind you, venues and coach can be requested.

2. 9 to 12 months ahead

   2. Request venues

   Write to churches, concert series and cultural offices, two or three venues more than you need. Committees meet monthly; as a rule of thumb, replies take four to twelve weeks. Dates in Advent, Lent and summer are allocated a year in advance. Per request: line-up, size, programme, preferred date, preferred cost model.

3. 8 to 10 months ahead

   3. Fix the route, request coach and accommodation

   Only once two venues have confirmed does the route stand. Coach: as a rule of thumb no more than four to five hours of pure driving on a concert day; the driver’s hours set the limit. Accommodation for 30 and more: know deposit and cancellation rule before binding registration in the ensemble.

4. 6 months ahead

   4. Make it binding

   Binding registration with deposit in the ensemble, final numbers to coach and accommodation, fix the programme, order scores. From now on changes cost money.

5. 3 to 4 months ahead

   5. Short-notice performances and announcements

   Spa concerts, market stages and taking part in a service settle with three to four months’ notice, because the spa administration or parish office decides alone. Send hosts text, picture and programme for parish newsletter, notice board and event calendar.

6. 6 to 8 weeks ahead

   6. Confirm technical needs, instruments, rights

   A short confirmation per venue with time, programme length, set-up time, instruments and technical needs. Clarify who reports the concert to the collecting society of the host country (the promoter: parish or ensemble). Room list and dietary needs to the accommodation.

7. Last week

   7. Timetable and logistics

   Departure times per day, arrival at the venue at least 90 minutes before the concert for warm-up or tuning, coach parking near the church, plan for instrument transport, mobile numbers of the hosts, rehearsal times on site.

8. After the tour

   8. Thank and record

   Thank-you email to every host with two sentences about the evening, photos only with permission. Note which venue worked how: that is the start of the next tour.