The Ambassadors of Music program is an exciting opportunity for talented young musicians to showcase their skills on an international stage. Participants embark on a 15-day European tour packed with music, history, and culture, visiting the very cradle of classical music along the way. For over half a century, this program has served as the launching pad for student performers from all over the U.S., enabling them to showcase their skills and also soak in stunning European sights. The journey from getting nominated to delivering that final, show-stopping performance is intense. This involves rigorous rehearsals and offers a peek into what makes these young artists truly stand out. And the impact? It’s huge—transformative for the performers and unforgettable for the audiences. This is where the magic of music meets the wonder of travel.

photo by @ambassadorsofmusicbrt

Could you walk us through the statewide nomination process used to select students for The Ambassadors of Music program? It sounds like a very competitive procedure. I’m curious to know, what specific qualities or achievements do you look for in a candidate that really make them stand out from the rest? 

We start with the music teachers from our states – state coordinators reach out to all the high school music teachers across their state to nominate students for the tour. We often make a specific approach to programs that are consistently successful.  We target programs where ensemble performances are consistently high quality as well as where students set themselves apart through individual performance, such as students who place well in competitive auditions for all-regional and all-state honors. 

We emphasize that directors should consider character and maturity equally with students’ musical ability in that we are serious about their roles as “ambassadors” for their school, community and state. Since their teachers know their personality and skill set far better than we could determine through a brief interview and audition, once a student has secured that nomination from their school music teacher, they are automatically accepted into the Ambassadors of Music program.

With groups coming from so many different states, each with their own unique style and needs, it must be quite a task to keep everything running smoothly! Could you share a bit about how you prepare each group for their performances? How do you make sure they’re all set and ready to meet the high standards expected at each of the iconic venues?

Performers generally get their music four to eight weeks before the tour to do their individual preparations, then most of our groups have a three- to four-day preparation period just prior to departure. This is an intense time often encompassing twelve-hour days of rehearsals to not only prepare the diverse programs we present, but also develop the interpersonal relationships so vital to traveling with teenagers for two weeks! 

The conductors of all the ensembles are charged with selecting programming that showcases their state’s culture and will be engaging and entertaining for our international audiences.  We not only set a high standard of musicianship, but also of comportment, and in this, communication is key. It’s vital that everyone in the traveling party understands the significance of these performances and the way all our travelers present themselves both during performances as well as when we are touring.

This program serves as both a musical tour and a cultural exchange. Given the unique opportunity to immerse yourself in a different culture, could you share some of the most valuable insights or lessons about UK culture that you’ve gained during your time with The Ambassadors of Music? What aspects of the local lifestyle or traditions have made a significant impact on you?

In all the countries we visit the one most notable thing is the way history pervades everything. That’s especially true in the UK.  Everywhere we turn is an opportunity for a history lesson! Since our country is not quite 250 years in existence yet, it is always amazing to see how the timeline in the UK affects our travelers, as does the pomp and pageantry of events like the Changing of the Guard and Trooping the Colours. There is so much to see and do in Windsor and London we know we can’t approach but a miniscule fraction, but we have met many outstanding guides on our travels in the UK and are just astonished at how knowledgeable they are and how much information they can impart in a very short time.

Most of our students on the tour are experiencing their first taste of international travel; in fact, for many this trip is the first time they have been out of their home state.  We have two goals outside of performing for the great audiences we meet everywhere we go.  One, we want to ignite in our students the spark of a developing passion for travel in the hope they will return later in life for a more in-depth visit than our three days can provide. And two, we want this experience to help them become better citizens of the world with a viewpoint that has become much broader in the time we have been abroad. 

Performing in iconic venues like the Victoria Embankment Gardens Bandstand and St. Matthew’s Bayswater Church must be thrilling. Could you share your most memorable moment from these performances?

Watching the faces of the students entering St. Matthew’s Bayswater Church is something impossible to forget, as is their expression when they hear the fabulous acoustics with that first note they sing. It was so exciting to have many local audience members who specifically came just to hear us perform and were so very appreciative  of our performance.

At the VEG bandstand, the audience is always enthusiastic and, of course, the beautiful surroundings make for an ideal venue for a “concert in the park.” The warmth with which they welcomed us and expressed their appreciation for our performances with their applause is something our students never forget. Seeing many “friends” in the audience that attend our concerts each time we tour is a treasured memory.

photo by @ambassadorsofmusicbrt

What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced while touring internationally, and how have you overcome them?

Time is always our biggest challenge. There’s never enough of it!  We always must leave before we are ready.  We work hard to pack as much into each day of the tour as we possibly can.  For instance, the group from Tennessee that arrived on 7 June for three days visited Windsor after arriving at Heathrow, and then after dinner that night they took a walk through Hyde Park to take a group photo at the Albert Memorial.  Over the course of the next two days, along with concert performances, itinerary items included being along the Mall for the “parade” to the Colonel’s Review, guided touring, the opportunity to attend West End musicals Six, Wicked, Hamilton, Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. There were flights on the London Eye, cruises on the River Thames, a visit to the Tower of London, plus themed walking tours such as Harry Potter, Jack the Ripper, and the sinister side of London, along with visits to Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, and Trafalgar.  And still there is so much that remains to be seen on future visits!

Can you tell us about any lasting friendships or professional connections you’ve made through this program?

There are so many ways this program creates connections – with the guides we use year after year especially, along with audience members who return to our concerts every time we travel. But even more than that are the close personal relationships that develop between the tour members.  Years after the tour many of these students, now adults, will still be in contact with other tour members and the leadership from their Ambassadors of Music experience.  The music educators that travel with the tour as staff advisors for the students also develop connections that extend beyond the classrooms.  The bonding that occurs over these two weeks of travel has a strength that is difficult to explain, because this trip truly is an experience of a lifetime for almost everyone involved.

With your upcoming performance in London just around the corner, what are your expectations for the event?

Everyone always approaches the London performances with a combination of high anticipation and a little bit of trepidation. We don’t rehearse while on tour; there is far too much to do to use any of our precious time having a rehearsal. So, there is always that question about how much they might not remember, their last performance being four- or five-days past and thousands of miles away. Invariably, though, as expected, our performers rise to the occasion and present a wonderful performance for enthusiastic London audiences. 

Could you walk us through a typical day on the Ambassadors of Music, highlighting the activities and experiences offered to the participating musicians?

Most days on tour start early, whether it is a day that we will travel from one locale to the next, or a day of touring and performing.  For instance, in London, breakfast could be followed by a bus tour with a step-on guide that takes us through some of the must-see sights like Westminster, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, and Trafalgar Square, with some walking with the guide, ending up along the Mall for the Changing of the Guard. A brief break for lunch, then a performance at Victoria Embankment Garden or St. Matthew’s Bayswater would be followed by evening activities of the participants’ choosing that could include the London Eye, attending a musical at one of West End’s theaters, or custom walking tours with fantastic London guides.

While on tour it is rare that breakfast is much past 8:00 AM and retiring for the evening is before 11:00 PM

It’s incredible to hear about the extensive tour planned, encompassing Germany, France, and Switzerland, in addition to the United Kingdom. How did such a large-scale tour come about?

The Ambassadors of Music program has been in existence for over 50 years and in that time has gone through several itinerary changes and expansions, and many states in the US joined the program. Through all those years one feature that was uppermost in the design was “taking our music to the world.” The Ambassadors program has always been about finding the best locations for our students to perform for enthusiastic audiences in outstanding venues: truly inspiring opportunities that would serve as lifelong memories for all involved.  

Add to that the intent of providing the extramusical experiences that give our students an introduction to the wide variety of cultural influences available on this extensive European visit. We wish to not only enhance their experience as musicians but create the opportunity to broaden their horizons and become more of a world citizen. We ask our travelers to commit to take the time to understand the people they meet; to be interested, not critical about who they are and why they respond the way they do. We want them to have a deep respect for the traditions and ways of life of each place we visit and understand they may very well be quite different from ours, and that is OK. 

By traveling, we hope our students will return home with the understanding that regardless of where we live, we all have more in common that we have differences, and our commonalities with the people we have met connect us far more than our differences divide us. Currently we have five stops along the tour: London, then via Eurostar to Paris, then Crans-Montana, Switzerland with an excursion to Zermatt and the Matterhorn. From there to the medieval walled city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany, and finish in the Salzburg vicinity of Austria, staying in the spa town of Bad Hofgastein.

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*This interview was made possible by Quite Great PR