Founded in 2011 in Asheville, North Carolina, by a former music teacher who had spent a decade taking student ensembles abroad and wanted to do it better.
We are owner-run and deliberately small. We work with school choirs, bands and orchestras, university ensembles, and alumni and adult study groups, and we plan between 8 and 15 Europe programs each year. That number is a choice: it keeps every itinerary personal, every venue booking checked twice, and every group in the hands of people who know its name.
We believe a performance tour should be a musical event first and a trip second. Concerts are placed where they will be heard, rehearsal time is protected, and instruments and risers are treated as seriously as hotel rooms. Around the music we build days that give students real contact with the places they visit, not just a coach window.
Most of all, we travel with every group. From arrival to the flight home, a member of our team is on the ground, working alongside your directors and chaperones. It is the part of the job we would never hand to a call center.
A concert in a 700-year-old church changes how a sixteen-year-old hears their own voice. That is the whole reason we do this.Founder, Hollis Ridge Tours
A selection of programs from the last two seasons. Group names are kept private; directors are happy to be put in touch on request.
| Season | Ensemble | Route | Travelers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2026 | High school concert choir | Paris, Lucerne, Salzburg, Vienna | 48 |
| Summer 2026 | University wind ensemble | Rome, Florence, Venice | 71 |
| March 2026 | Youth orchestra | London, Oxford, Edinburgh | 56 |
| Fall 2025 | Chamber choir | Cambridge, York, Edinburgh | 27 |
| June 2025 | Community chorus and alumni | Salzburg, Vienna, Prague | 39 |
| April 2025 | High school band and choir | Munich, Innsbruck, Venice | 84 |
Director of Operations
Jordan runs the day-to-day of every Hollis Ridge program: itineraries, venues, coach partners, hotels and the hundred details in between. Jordan is the person directors talk to from the first proposal to the last concert, and the one who meets your group at the airport in Europe.
The same standards on every tour, whether it is a 30-voice chamber choir or a 120-piece marching band.
The venues were exactly what we were promised, and confirmed in writing months before we signed. Our students sang to a full church in Salzburg on a Tuesday night.
Choral director, high school, North CarolinaInstrument logistics were handled before I asked. Timpani, a bass rig and 62 kids across three countries, and nothing went missing.
Director of bands, high school, GeorgiaHaving a Hollis Ridge tour manager on the coach every day meant I could actually direct. Chaperones said it was the calmest trip they had done.
Orchestra director, university, Virginia