Benvenuto in Italia!
Enjoy a concert tour of Rome, Italy. We’ll customize a performance tour for your choir, band or orchestra that will surely create memories to last a lifetime.
Your journey will whisk you into a world of immense beauty, culture, history and most importantly, music. Music is traditionally one of the cultural symbols of Italian identity and holds an important position in both society and politics. The music of Italy ranges across a broad spectrum, from instrumental to vocal to theatrical. Italy’s contribution in such areas as musical scales, harmony, notation, and theater enabled the development of opera. Italy also influenced modern European classical music, such as the concerto and symphony. One can still hear the sounds of Claudio Monteverde and Giuseppe Verdi sounding through the narrow streets.
Be immersed in a culture rich in the spirit of the Renaissance. Famous for its architecture, delicious foods (including gelato), and dedicated to the preservation of its ancient culture, Italy continues to be a major contributor to the arts. Italy is a place where one can share an espresso among friends in the morning, visit world-famous museums in the afternoon and attend an opera of Romeo and Juliet in the evening. Rome will lure you in with all its amazing offerings and leave you hoping to return again. A concert tour of Rome, Italy is certainly a stimulating and enlightening experience for all of your senses.
Itinerary
Depart North America for Rome, Italy. Bon Voyage!
Welcome to Rome!
Enjoy an orientation walk and an introduction to a city that is home to the Vatican, Colosseum and nearly 3000 years of influential art, architecture and culture.
Conclude your orientation walk, and check in to your hotel and take time to relax and refresh.
Rehearsal can be arranged this afternoon.
Tonight, a welcome dinner of Italian specialties is served as your tour manager previews the week ahead.
Begin your first full day in Rome with a guided tour of Ancient Rome including entrance to the Colosseum, Rome’s greatest amphitheater, which offers a breathtaking example of classical architecture, using columns in the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian styles.
This afternoon, perform a community outreach concert at a local senior center, school, or another community venue.
Tonight, enjoy the wonders of Rome with your tour manager. Be sure to throw a coin into Trevi Fountain to ensure your return to the Eternal City.
Start the morning with a visit to Vatican City. This is the world’s smallest state and the only European State to be ruled by an absolute monarch (the Pope), where you will enjoy a guided tour to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica.
The tour also includes a visit to the Sistine Chapel to see Michelangelo’s incredible frescoes.
Early evening, sing mass at St. Peter’s Basilica or another Papal Basilica such as Santa Maria Maggiore.
This evening, dinner may be arranged for the group upon request.
This morning, the day is free to explore the many attractions of Rome, or to do some last minute shopping. Whatever your preference, your tour manager would be happy to provide suggestions.
Early evening, perform a friendship concert with a local choir in Rome or surrounding area, followed by time to mingle and exchange.
Tonight, enjoy a festive farewell dinner of delicious Italian comfort food.
Alternatively, a Dine with the Tenors Dinner with entertainment can be arranged as a perfect finale to your time in Italy.
Transfer to the Rome airport and depart on your flight to North America.
Concert Tour Highlights
FRIENDSHIP CONCERTS IN ROME
Our friendship concerts are a featured experience on our tours and are at the heart of our mission to foster cultural connections through music. We benefit from a vast international network in the choral world built over our thirty years' experience of helping choirs share their music both in the United States and abroad. Your choir will share a venue and a concert program with a host choir from the region. Your singers will have the chance to hear their host choir's repertoire (often showcasing local musical styles) and to share your own repertoire in turn. Fellowship time usually follows the friendship concert, giving both choirs the chance to mingle and enjoy the camaraderie of creating cross-cultural connections through a shared love of music.
ROME, ITALY
As Italy’s capital and largest city, Rome is extremely influential in politics, media, the arts and culture, and is often described as a “global city” as a result. Rome’s legacy cannot be denied. It has been in the forefront of all major movements in Italy– art, music, architecture, history, fashion and cuisine. With a history spanning over two and a half thousand years and with its significant role in Christianity as the home of the papacy, Rome has always been a leader of its times and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the European Union. Visitors come from around the world to see world-famous landmarks such as the Colosseum, and of course, the art that graces museums as well as every city street. Rome is also an important center for music, hosting the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia for which new concert halls have been built in the new Parco della Musica, one of the largest musical venues in the world.
ANCIENT ROME
The Roman Forum was formerly the religious, political, and commercial center of Rome and includes such sites as the House of the Vestal Virgins and the Basilica of Constantine. The site, left in ruins following the decline of the empire and the rise of Christianity, reveals much of ancient Rome through incredibly massive remains and recent excavations. Imagine you are following the footsteps of Caesar as you walk along the ancient stones. Next, visit the massive Colosseum, Rome’s greatest amphitheater, offering a breathtaking example of classical architecture. See the various levels of the massive structure, from the very top where a canopy would have been pulled over the crowd to shade them from the hot sun to the lowest levels where the Gladiators and animals would wait to enter the ring. Just past the Colosseum is the triumphal Arch of Constantine, which celebrates Constantine’s victory over Maxentius in 315 AD.
VATICAN CITY AND ST. PETER'S BASILICA
Vatican City is the world’s smallest state and the only European State to be ruled by an absolute monarch (the Pope). Set up in 1929 to include 109 acres, about 500 people live here, and as well as accommodations for staff and ecclesiastics, the city has its own post office, banks, currency, judicial system, radio stations, shops, and a daily newspaper. The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican or simply St. Peter's Basilica is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic shrines in the world. There has been a church on this site since the time of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great. St. Peter's is known for being a famous pilgrimage site and for its many liturgical functions throughout the year, where the Pope can draw audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people.