Fere Angeli

Strakonice Art School children's choir

    Choir biography

    Fere Angeli, the children's choir of the Strakonice Art School, was founded in 2002. Marcela Miková, PhD, has been its music director since September 2004. In December 2006, the choir changed its name to Fere Angeli which literally means almost angels, a change that was inspired by the director's appeal to the children to sing like angels.

    The choir currently has 29 members (3 boys and 26 girls) aged 9 to 16 years. Membership in the choir is by audition and most children concurrently study a solo instrument at the Strakonice Art School. In September 2006, a preliminary section of the choir was opened for talented children aged 6 to 8. In this section, children acquire the skills required for singing in the concert choir.

    Fere Angeli choir performs in concerts organized by the Strakonice Art School, at traditional Christmas and Spring local choral concerts, at various events in the City of Strakonice and takes part in competitions.

    The repertoire consists mainly of Czech folk songs in arrangements for two or more parts, works of 20^th century composers as well as renaissance polyphonies and African gospels.

    Conductor bio-note

    Fere Angeli is directed by Marcela Miková, PhD - a math and physics teacher at the grammar school of Strakonice and a mother of two children. Marcela Miková sung in various choirs since early childhood (Czech Radio Children's Choir, various mixed choirs) and it was therefore with pleasure that she accepted the post of the music director of the grammar school choir in Strakonice, her first ever position of this kind. For three years now she has also been the director of Fere Angeli, the children's choir of the Strakonice Art School. In doing so, she follows a family tradition, because both her parents and her brother are musicians. In her hometown of Strakonice, she established the tradition of Christmas and Spring choral concerts and contributed to the revival of local choral culture. In 2004, she was one of four conductors of the Vocalissimo Central European Youth Choir (composed of members of four grammar school choirs from Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany), which represented Europe at the 3^rd Choirolympics. In 2006, she took part in the 9^th Alta Pusteria International Choirfestival with her grammar school choir.