Special Interest Performance Tours

Tracing the Steps of John and Charles Wesley (United Kingdom)

Methodism began as a religious movement, led by John and Charles Wesley in the early eighteenth century. John, the elder brother, traveled some 250,000 miles throughout Britain, mainly on horseback, preaching thousands of sermons in towns, villages, and the countryside. He and his followers created an organization of classes, societies, and circuits that became the Methodist Church. This tour, presented by Ambassador Tours, highlights the principal centers of English Methodist history.

Perform in the great cathedrals and churches in Britain, while you trace the life of John Wesley. Beginning in London, see the Wesley Chapel, the crypt with the Museum of World Methodism and Wesley's grave. Visit Epworth and tour the Old Rectory where Wesley was born in 1703. See Susanna's kitchen and enjoy tea and scones in the beautiful garden. Tour medieval York and perhaps perform at York Minster. Admire the view over Edinburgh from Carlton Hill, where Wesley preached. Join a Methodist congregation in the scenic Lake District, for a joint concert and tea party, and visit Oxford University where Wesley studied. In Bristol, there will be an opportunity to sing in "The New Room," the first Methodist Church in the world.

We also arrange tours for Presbyterian (United Reformed in England and Wales) churches with concerts in St. Giles (the High Kirk of Scotland) and with local U.R. congregations. Episcopalian groups sing at Canterbury Cathedral, and in York Minster.

Bell Ringing (United Kingdom)

Bell Ringing and Change Ringing originated in England and a tour focused on Bell Towers and Bells can be a fascinating experience. Visits to foundries and a bell foundry museum are combined with tours of bell towers as you tour England and Scotland. Your tour can focus on the history of bell ringing or on performance - or both!

Jazz Tours to Major European Festivals (Switzerland, The Netherlands, France)

Jazz was born in the United States, but it has a dedicated and enthusiastic audience in Europe, as can be attested by the large number of jazz festivals held every summer in European towns and cities. Ambassador Tours has been sending jazz ensembles, big bands and orchestras to the Montreux Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival, for over twenty years. We now collaborate with other major festivals - Jazz à Vienne, Nice Jazz Festival, and Paris La Villette Festival - to allow jazz groups to perform in as many as four festivals during a tour. These tours offered by Ambassador Tours travel through some of the most beautiful areas of France - the Alps, Province and the Riviera and offer amateur groups the opportunity to perform at big named festivals in Europe, to enthusiastic audiences.

Catholic Pilgrimage Tour to Santiago de Compostela (France, Spain, Portugal)

Santiago de Compostela Pilgrimage Tour - More than a thousand years ago, a spot called the Field of Stars was identified as the last resting place of the Apostle Saint James. It soon became a place of worship for millions of Medieval pilgrims coming from all parts of Europe. The church established official pilgrimage routes through France and Northern Spain, converging on the capital of Medieval Christiandom, Santiago de Compostela. Many beautiful cathedrals, churches and abbeys were built along the routes to welcome the pilgrims. This tour, offered by Ambassador Tours, follows the footsteps of the medieval pilgrims, with stops at the Basilica of Vézelay and Puy-en-Velay (two starting points of the pilgrimage), the Abbey of St. Foy in Conques, housing the most important collection of medieval and Renaissance gold work in western Europe, the Cathedral of Leòn, containing one of Sapin's finest collections of stained glass, and, of course, Saintiago de Compostela and its magnificent Cathedral. Choirs will perform concerts and participate in Mass at the major churches, cathedrals and basilicas. Options include housing in a monastery en route and walking the last miles to the pilgrimage. Your itinerary can also include a stop at the shrine of Lourdes.

Great Gothic Cathedrals of France

Great Gothic Cathedrals of France Tour - The Gothic style emerged in the 12th century at a time of growing prosperity and scholarship in France. Accompanying this secular revival was a simultaneous growth in religious fervor and donations to the cathedrals greatly increased. The first Gothic church, Saint Denis, was completed in 1144. By the time of Louis IX's death in 1270, France was the best governed and most prosperous country in Europe. In affluent mercantile towns, skilled masons constructed towering Gothic cathedrals of revolutionary design. With their improbable height and lightness, they were a testimony to both faith and prosperity. This tour will take your choir to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Sainte Chapelle Church in Paris, and to the Cathedrals of Amiens, Bourges, St. Denis, Chartres, Reims and Strasbourg. Performances will be arranged in several of the cathedrals (informal and formal concerts) and in other local venues.

Martin Luther and the Reformation (Germany)

See the towns and countryside so significant to the history of Martin Luther and the Reformation. Learn first hand about the effects the 95 Theses had on the people at that time and gain insight and tour the cities where the religious revolution was staged.

Special Interest Non-Performance Tours

Study Tours

We will work with your organization to develop a study tour which will include lectures by experts. Art and architecture, ancient Roman or Celtic history, economics and banking, agriculture, and social studies are just a few examples.

Literary Tour (The United Kingdom)

The United Kingdom has a vast wealth of famous authors and literary heritage. As you travel around the country you can explore the areas where many of these authors lived and visit the places where their stories were set and their characters came to life. Born in Edinburgh, Sir Walter Scott made his home in the border country. Scotland's best loved poet, Robert Burns was born in a tiny cottage in Alloway, where there is a museum and a visitors center. You may visit the Lake District of Northern England which was home to William Wordsworth, who lived at Dove Cottage in Grasmere, and Beatrix Potter whose home was in Near Sawrey and whose galleries were in Hawkshead and Bowness-on-Windermere. The Bronte sisters spent most of their lives in Haworth and based their novels and poems in the high, wild, surrounding moorlands. The Yorkshire Dales town of Thirsk was the backdrop of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small. The mining communities of Bath, Lyme Regis, and Chawton are Jane Austen's homes and settings of her many novels. Probably the most famous literary town in the world is Stratford-Upon-Avon, and no literary tour is complete without a visit to Shakespeare's birthplace.

Gardens and Manor Houses (The United Kingdom)

The temperate climate of the British Isles is exceptionally fine for flowers and shrubs, and English gardens are renowned throughout the world for their beauty. In London, a visit to the Museum of Garden History can be followed by a visit to Kew Gardens, Kensington Palace, and St. James Park - or come in May to the Chelsea Flower Show. With castles, manor houses and parks in every country, there will always be a garden to enjoy.