Viola da Gamba Player Raises Awareness of the Environmental Impact of Touring

Sarah Small 's 2500-mile bike tour asks whether flying should continue to be the de facto mode of transport for traveling musicians

British viola da gamba player Sarah Small is embarking on a tour that will see her cycle 2,500 miles, in an effort to raise public awareness of the carbon miles produced by touring in classical music. Between May 7 and July 10, 2025, Small will present concerts in 26 different locations across the UK.

The tour is titled "Good Again?" in a nod to a work of the same name by the 17th-century English viola da gamba specialist Captain Tobias Hume. The concerts will also include works by Marin Marais, Antoine Forqueray, and Sainte-Colombe, among others, and they all interrogate themes of grief, contemplation, and hope.

Funding from the Francis Routh Trust and the Vaughan Williams Foundation has also allowed Small to commission a new piece for the tour. Lillie Harris's new work Good Again? for solo viol reflects on the themes of the tour and will receive its world premiere at the first concert.

Small studied with Reiko Ichise at the Royal College of Music and Hille Perl at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. She regularly appears with ensembles including Fretwork, Musica Antica Rotherhithe, Charivari Agreable, and her own group, Hex.

Concert dates and venues for the tour can be found here.

"My aim is to demonstrate a new and sustainable way for musicians to tour, massively reducing the environmental impact of the traditional zipping between distant cities with no thought for the environmental consequences," Small said.

"This works for audiences, too, as they have shorter distances to travel as I visit numerous smaller venues along the way. Unfortunately, because of things like the cost of air fares vs. train fares, along with the sense of pressure to reach certain well-established places in a short space of time, flying continues to be the norm. This urgently needs to change."

"I’m cycling between venues to show that the journey can be as meaningful as the destination. This tour is about slowing down, reflecting, and sharing music that resonates with our shared experiences. By cycling and playing, I aim to inspire broader thinking and encourage discussion about how and why we travel and tour the way we do – and how to make it considerably more sustainable and viable."