Philharmonic offers life chance to deprived Roma children
Some 60 Roma children from socially excluded localities in the Czech
Republic and Slovakia, along with members of the Czech Philharmonic, are
taking part in the ‘Romano Drom’ music and dance workshop in North
Bohemia. The aim of the summer school, organised annually by musician and
choir mistress Ida Kelarová, is to support children and youth at risk of
social exclusion. The two-week school will culminate with a series of
performances, starting on Tuesday night in Nový Bor.
I spoke to Petr Kadlec of the Czech Philharmonic and I first asked him why
the musicians decided to get involved:
“I think that simple answer we want to support children and youth in
socially excluded localities and we are trying to do it with the help of
music.
“As you know, in the socially excluded localities in the Czech Republic
and Slovakia there is no-one or almost no-one who takes care of talented
Roma children and youth, and that is something we are trying to change with
this project.
“So we are trying to support talented singers and dancers and to work
with them. We believe it might a kind of life-changing experience for them
because they experience themselves in a positive situation. We hope that
they can gain more self-confidence and more self-assuredness, so that is in
short the reason why we, as the Czech Philharmonic, are taking part.”
How do you find the cooperation and would you say that it also benefits
musicians of the Czech Philharmonic?
“The cooperation is in my opinion absolutely perfect because the
artistic team of the MIRET initiative, led by world-known singer and choir
master Ida Kelarová, is working at a fantastic level. They really know how
to work with the children, how to motivate them. They also know there must
be a strong discipline because it is also important for their future lives.
“And what does it give to our musicians? I think that when we started,
many of them thought that they were just going to help the children. But
after spending two or three days in the Roma villages in Slovakia they
realised they were learning from them. They were learning things like
spontaneity and an attitude that is very open and sincere.”
What have you been rehearsing? What will be on the programme this year?
“We have 20 pieces, mainly composed by a very famous Roma composer
Desiderius Dužda. For this year he composed eight new pieces. Some of them
are traditional czardas and we also have two pure instrumental pieces, a
drum part of from Hungarian Dance No. 5, a very famous composition, and
also an arrangement of one solo piece by Georges Boulanger.”
The first of a series of three concerts will take place on Tuesday night
in Nový Bor, followed performances in Rumburk on Wednesday and in Děčín
on Thursday.
| 
Related articles
Also in section "News"
Most popular articles