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Queen Elizabeth’s School is a prestigious state high school with a tradition spanning more than 450 years, and has long been ranked among the top schools in England. The school’s music department is housed in a modern, purpose-built facility and fosters students’ performance skills, creativity, and a deeper understanding of music. Instruction includes voice, instrumental performance, composition, and active listening across a wide spectrum of musical styles.

The school’s musical life is exceptionally rich and includes regular concerts, competitions, festive church services, and international tours. Students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of ensembles and projects, and many of them go on to study music at prestigious universities, including Cambridge and the Royal Northern College of Music. The school’s chamber choir also performs regularly at prestigious venues, including Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, and King’s College in Cambridge.

Program with piano accompaniment:

Peter Jones – Glory to God
Frederick Keel – Three Sailor Ballads: II. The Trade Winds
John Rutter – Now Give Thanks (Nun Danket)
Johann Sebastian Bach – Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826: VI. Capriccio
Victor Johnson – Plaudite
Trad., arr. Andrew Parr – Shenandoah
Roger Quilter – Non Nobis Domine
Benjamin Britten – A New Year’s Carol
Bob Chilcott – Be My Vision
Claude Debussy – Arabesque No. 1
Claude-Michel Schönberg – Master of the House
John Ireland – Sea Fever
Christopher Tin – Baba Yetu
Sally Albrecht – Gloria – Fanfare

(Česky)

VSTUP ZDARMA.

Thomas’s Battersea Choristers brings together the school’s most talented young singers, aged 9–13, who are selected through a competitive audition process. The choir performs regularly at school services, major school events, and prestigious charity occasions across the United Kingdom, while also undertaking international concert tours.

Their concert at St Nicholas Church will feature a programme of sacred and classical choral music, including works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Rutter, César Franck, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, and Howard Goodall. The audience can also look forward to solo performances by several young choristers, accompanied by trumpet and violin.

The choir is directed by Sarah-Jayne Martin, Head of Music at Thomas’s Battersea and an experienced choral conductor with an international reputation. They are accompanied on the organ by William Vann, an acclaimed British organist, conductor, and Director of Music at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, widely recognised as one of the leading figures in British church music.

This special concert promises an inspiring evening of beautiful choral music performed by one of the United Kingdom’s outstanding youth choirs, renowned for its musical excellence, expressive singing, and joyful performances.

Thomas’s Battersea Choristers brings together the school’s best young singers, aged 9 to 13, who were selected for the ensemble through auditions. The choir regularly performs at church services, major school events, and prestigious charity events, including the annual Advent concert for the world-renowned Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. The choir also regularly embarks on concert tours abroad.

The young singers meet for rehearsals three times a week and tackle a demanding repertoire ranging from classical and sacred music to contemporary choral works. Thanks to systematic vocal training, musicality, and the joy of singing together, the choir has built a reputation as one of the finest school children’s choirs of its kind.

The choir’s artistic director is Sarah-Jayne Martin, the school’s music department director and an experienced choirmaster with international experience. The choir is accompanied on the organ by William Vann, an acclaimed British organist, conductor, and director of music at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, who is one of the leading figures in British church music.

The choir will perform in several historic churches in Prague. A particularly extraordinary experience will be the concert at the Church of Our Lady before Týn at 4:00 p.m. on July 15, where the majestic sound of the church organ, performed by William Vann, will also be heard.

The Northamptonshire County Youth Orchestra brings together exceptionally talented instrumentalists aged approximately 13 to 18 and has long been one of the most highly regarded youth orchestras in the United Kingdom.

On its tour of the Czech Republic, the orchestra is accompanied by its partner ensemble, the Northamptonshire County String Sinfonia, which specializes in chamber music for string instruments. Together, they will present a program that combines masterpieces of Romantic music, Czech classics, 20th-century music, and famous film scores.

You can look forward to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s dramatic and imaginative overture *Romeo and Juliet*, one of the most compelling musical adaptations of Shakespeare’s story. The program will also feature a popular selection from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra, including the famous Waltz No. 2, which has won popularity around the world. Czech music will be represented by the energetic Dance of the Comedians from Bedřich Smetana’s opera The Bartered Bride.

The highlight of the evening will be John Williams’ legendary *Star Wars Suite*. The audience can look forward to iconic melodies such as the *Star Wars* main theme, Princess Leia’s tender theme, the monumental *Imperial March*, and the triumphant closing march from the throne room.

The concert will be conducted by John Bickerdike and Richard Smith—respected British musicians and educators with extensive experience on concert stages and in music education.

You can look forward to an evening full of youthful energy, symphonic grandeur, and unforgettable film scores performed by an orchestra that represents the best of the British musical tradition.

The year 2026 is a special one for the Classical Chorus—the choir is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its founding. Part of the anniversary celebrations is a concert tour to Prague, during which the choir will present a special program titled *Written in the Stars*.

You can look forward to a musical journey spanning centuries and genres. The program will feature famous excerpts from Vivaldi’s Gloria, a stirring Kyrie based on motifs from Dvořák’s Largo from the New World Symphony, the operatic classic “Toreador Song” from Bizet’s Carmen, and an emotional selection from the legendary musical Les Misérables.

Classical Chorus performs regularly in major concert halls and historic venues throughout Europe. In recent years, the choir has performed in Tuscany, at the Church of La Madeleine in Paris, and at the famous Menin Gate in Bruges, Belgium. Among its achievements are sold-out concerts at London’s Royal Academy of Music and performances at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The musical production is led by Abigail Harris, an experienced conductor, soprano, and educator who is one of the most respected figures on the British choral scene. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, she has been working for more than twenty years as a conductor, vocal coach, and instructor. She has received several major awards for her contributions to music education and community music-making.

The Classical Chorus concert will offer a captivating combination of classical music, opera melodies, and musical theater hits performed by a large British choir that captivates audiences with its energy, musicality, and joy of singing together.

Admission is voluntary.

Voluntary admission will be donated to Cesta domů.

Cesta domů operates the Home Hospice in the Capital Region. Prague. It provides counseling services to anyone in the Czech Republic in the care of the terminally ill and dying.