Blog: News and Views

Singing in the Czech Republic, 2004 and 2008

As a former member of the Amabile boys' and men's choirs from London, ON, I was part of the organizing team for the 2004 World Festival of Singing for Men and Boys in Hradec Kralové.  Both the festival and the area have changed quite a bit since then.

The festival itself was far more international in character this time around.  In 2004, there was only one other European boys' choir (other than the excellent Boni Pueri group that hosted the event).  This time, the three eastern European choirs that attended brought an welcome range of choral styles to the concerts.  In 2004, only twelve or so hours was spent in Prague, of which around eight were spent rehearsing for and performing the gala concert in Dvorak Hall.  This time, an afternoon and evening in Prague was organized by the festival, and Saturday was free for more sightseeing in Prague or to
visit other spots in the area.

Hradec Kralové and Eastern Bohemia have also changed over the past four years.  Most noticeable on the trip to Hradec Kralové is that a four-lane highway now runs from Prague almost all the way to H.K., and is still being extended.  In 2004, the buses to and from the festival were sharing two-lane roads with tractors and slow-moving (i.e. Soviet-era) cars that drove with one wheel well onto the shoulder of the road; faster vehicles (with sufficiently assertive drivers) would straddle the center line of the road and travel as fast as the flat, straight road would allow.  The highway makes travel significantly less terrifying, but it seems that the buses in fact travel slower than before, perhaps due to changes in speed enforcement.

The old areas of Hradec Kralové have undergone a significant sprucing-up since the last festival.  The old buildings that line the town square have mostly had their paint re-done to boost the appeal to tourists, and a theatre nearby has been renovated - this was the space in which Boni Pueri presented the anti-Nazi children's opera "Brundibar" that was once performed at Terezin.

As for myself, it was great to catch up with all of my friends in Amabile - Carol, Ken, Bonnie, Chris, Jeff and all the chaperones and younger singers.  It was also nice not to be part of the team running the festival; I didn't at all miss dealing with the unending crises that an event like this entails, nor did I mind sleeping past 6:00 am each morning.  However, my memories of 2004 helped me to appreciate the work that the Amabile and Boni Pueri guys did, and that made this festival such a success.

Posted by Rod Locke on July 8, 2008 at 1:54 PM
Filed in: Tour Diaries | Permanent Link

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