We were very pleased to have joined the Smetana-Slovanka Male Voice Choir Kladno near Prague  for their 100-year celebration. 

[button url=http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=cs&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smetana-slovanka.ic.cz%2Fhome.html]The Smetana-Slovanka Male Voice Choir [/button]

The choir arrived in Prague on the Wednesday, to be greeted by a short musical welcome from the Male Voice Choir. We were treated to a tour of Kladno, their local town, during the day, and back to the hotel to prepare for the evening. We then went to meet the Prague Lady Teachers choir for a concert in the beautiful Sand Gate in Prague.

[button url=http://www.pspu.cz/en]Prague Lady Teachers Choir[/button]

Following a day’s sightseeing in Prague, the final day culminated in a concert in Kladno with both the Male Voice and the Ladies choirs. The concert came to a rousing finale where all choirs sang together on “World in Union” to the tune “Thaxted” – an excerpt from Holst’s Jupiter. This was so well received that it was repeated as an encore! The evening was brought to a close with a celebratory party and barbecue with more singing and laughter.

Sunday was a more sober occasion. We were fortunate to be in the Kladno area for this day, the 70th anniversary of the destruction of the village of Lidice on 10th June 1942, in reprisal for the assassination of Hitler’s commander in this area by Czech fighters trained in England and parachuted in. Follow the link for more details.

[button url=http://www.lidice-memorial.cz/default_en.aspx]Lidice Memorial[/button]