Boys and men's choir PUERI GAUDENTES
is a separate division of the children's choir RADOST - PRAHA which works at the music school in Prague 7 and associates now more than 500 children and adult singers in 9 divisions.
The name of the choir PUERI GAUDENTES is derived from the name of the basic choir RADOST ("Radost" means English "Joy"). Its members sing with joy and joy is what they want to bring with their songs to their audience.
The PUERI GAUDENTES Choir was founded in September 1990 by Zdena Souckova, the choirmaster, as response to the increasing interest of boys and their parents for choral singing.
The PUERI GAUDENTES choir has now about 45 boys in the age from 11 to 17 and about 30 young men from 15 to 19 in the concert department, while about 60 boys 7 - 12 years old sing in the preparatory department.
In compliance with old traditions in the choir remain even the boys with breaking voice, although they can't appear in the concerts and their singing ability is for some time considerably limited. During this critical period is very important for the boys not to lose contact with the choir, to remain in the cultural milieu of the choir, to attend the rehearals in order to listen, study and increase their professional knowledge. After getting over their voice changing difficulties they become a useful support of the choir's men part. Almost all young men in the choir went through its boys part.
Six years of hard work on musical and singing education of the boys has brought fruits. During this period the choir has attained high artistic level which it has confirmed on many concerts in Czech Republic as well as during the tours in Italy, Austria, France, Germany, Belgium and Netherlands.
The boys want during their tours not only show their singing artistry, but also deepen the friendly and cultural bonds with their hosts and see as much as possible from the natural beauties, monuments and culture of the host country. During the tours young boys are divided into small groups by two or three. For each group cares one man.
The choir has taken part in international music festivals and competitions for children's choirs in Nantes (1995), Neerpelt (1996) and Lecco (1997) which testifies that the boys are ambitious and want to win recognition even far from their home stages. Regular participation of the choir in State Opera Prague can be considered an appreciation of their qualities: They sing in performances of Bizet's Carmen, Puccini's Turandot and Musorgski's Boris Godunov. In summer 1997 they joined other performers in Bernstein's Mass. The choir is often recorded and filmed for Czech Radio and Television, and records its own CDs.