Slovakia: Members of the Czech Philharmonic to perform in Romani settlements

The following is a press release from the Czech Philharmonic:

Members of the Czech Philharmonic will accompany Ida Kelarova and the Čhavorenge children’s choir during three concerts in eastern Slovakia next week. The performances will take place in the Romani settlements of Lenartov and Raslavice, with the final performance at the synagogue in Liptovský Mikuláš.

The musicians are joining Ms Kelarova’s long-term efforts to support children and young people at risk of social exclusion. The Czech Philharmonic will also collaborate with this original choir mistress and singer in the Czech Republic on its educational programs during the upcoming 119th concert season.  

Members of the Czech Philharmonic will participate in the "Romano drom" summer school regularly organized for Romani children from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia by Ms Kelarova’s MIRET civic association. During the gathering, members of the Philharmonic will lead music workshops.  

A music program will be rehearsed together with Čhavorenge and Ms Kelarova, augmented by talented children selected from the Romani settlements of Lenartov and Raslavice in eastern Slovakia. The program will be jointly performed during the three evening concerts on 6-8 August.  

The project is the beginning of a collaboration between the Czech Philharmonic and Ida Kelarova. The musicians are planning to hold music workshops together next spring in the Czech Republic as well, in the North Bohemian town of Trmice.

The Čhavorenge children’s choir, led by Ms Kelarova, will also perform under the auspices of the Czech Philharmonic in the Dvořák Hall in Prague on 17 November during a concert commemorating International Students’ Day. A new cycle of workshops for pupils in the first through fifth grades, "Can we pick up the notes?! – or, Czech musicians from near and far", will include Ms Kelarova and her team in a section dedicated to Romani music.    

Ida Kelarova has dedicated herself to Romani children at risk of social exclusion for 20 years. She endeavors to familiarize young Romani people with their own culture and motivates them not to abandon their dreams and to get involved with the majority society.

Ms Kelarova chooses talented children from Romani settlements for her annual "Romano drom" summer school, and the results of her efforts to date have been appreciated by audiences in the Czech Republic, where the Čhavorenge choir has performed accompanied by the Hradec Králové Philharmonic, the Zlín Philharmonic, and most recently, in December 2013, by the Brno Philharmonic. The "Romano drom" project is based on the many years of experience of the MIRET civic association, which works with Romani people at risk of social exclusion.