Over Spring break, the Brown University Orchestra conducted its first international tour in 13 years: a seven-day trip across Canada. The tour — which spanned Quebec City, Montreal and Ottawa — is the result of years of student-led planning, according to BUO President Eliana Alweis ’26.
Mark Seto, the director of BUO, described the trip as “a transformative musical and artistic experience,” where students can bond with their fellow musicians and the communities they visit.
The Orchestra has not traveled internationally since its 2013 trip to Ireland. The revival of touring abroad was the result of sustained student interest over several years.
Alweis noted that there had been “buzz” about members wanting to tour during “all four years” of her time with the group.
Alweis said she and BUO tour manager Tee Gotsch ’26 started considering locations for the tour in summer 2024 before putting together a formal proposal that fall. She added that the pair thought the tour would be “a really awesome, fun thing to do” as well as a chance for “community building” within the group.
While Music Celebrations International — a professional music-focused touring company — assisted the group with the logistical aspects of the trip, organizing the international tour still required extensive coordination from the board.
“A lot of the planning process was made easier because we were working with a professional tour company,” Gotsch explained. Even so, “there was still a lot that needed to happen on our end.”
During the planning process, Gotsch and other organizers prioritized ensuring the touring experience was accessible to all members of the orchestra.
“We wanted this to be a tour where cost would not be a barrier for anyone … the orchestra and the music department would provide as much funding as anyone needed,” Gotsch said.
The group intentionally chose to perform pieces during the trip that reflected both the orchestra’s identity and the tour’s location, Seto said. To do so, the orchestra performed works from a variety of francophone, Canadian and American composers.
Beyond the intentionality behind each piece, Seto said the tour itself also carried a broader sense of purpose. “We knew that we would be representing Brown as a university,” he added.
The group was met with enthusiastic audience support in each city where they performed, with “standing ovations at basically every concert,” according to Anne Chang ’27, vice president of the orchestra’s executive board. “I think those moments really highlighted the universal music experience for a lot of people, no matter where we come from,” she added.
For many students, the most meaningful moments of the tour occurred off-stage. “We definitely got a lot closer to one another,” Alweis said. “I myself got closer to a lot of the younger students who I hadn’t interacted with as much.”
Seto was also proud of the orchestra’s growth in their musical performance over the trip. “The orchestra did a fantastic job musically and played with real maturity and heart and commitment,” he said.
Gotsch said that the success of this tour was a culmination of the unique, student-driven nature of the ensemble. “The students of the orchestra wanted it to happen, and we worked towards it,” Gotsch said. “Now we’re able to hold on to these memories and this experience for the rest of our lives.”
Looking ahead, the orchestra is preparing for yet another milestone: a performance at Carnegie Hall in April. “Carnegie is arguably the preeminent classical music venue in this country and one of the preeminent venues in the world,” Seto said, adding that the opportunity will be “a really special way to cap off this season.”
Timothy Ro is a senior staff writer covering arts and culture.
