Our ZUŠ Vysoké Mýto actively participated in the Erasmus+ / Notes of Europe program. After successful mobilities in Spain, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania, we faced a challenging task—selecting only six singers from Rubínek to represent our school in Estonia's capital, Tallinn. The selection had to meet specific criteria—knowledge of English, learning the repertoire, the ability to maintain melody in the appropriate choral voice, being communicative, and a bit easygoing. We must say that the children met all expectations.
The Estonian "mission" began on October 8 at 6:30 AM at the Choceň train station with the following participants: Rubínek – 1st soprano Nela Kouřímová, Anna Kubizňáková; 2nd soprano Kristýna Dvořáková; 1st alto Lucie Dejdarová; 2nd alto Adam Čuřík and Jan Vlach. The pedagogical accompaniment consisted of choir conductor Pavel Zerzán (accordion, piano), Monika Zerzánová (violin), Jana Hošková (cello), Jana Andrlová (vocal advisor), and Šárka Rozlivková (interpreter and travel guide). After landing at Tallinn Airport, the children were assigned to host families, and our 5-day demanding music and exploration program began.
The host was the Russian gymnasium Tallinna Kesklinna Vene Gümnaasium. Teachers and students made every effort to share as much of their culture, history, and everyday life with all delegations. Constant and heavy rain accompanied us during our tour of the historic part of the city, the theater visit, the opera, and the trip to the Estonian National Museum in Tartu. Despite this, everyone remained in great spirits, and our minds were focused on only one day. Thursday afternoon in the auditorium was filled with singing, piano, flute, violin, accordion… sounds. Our children, dressed in concert red dresses, performed a range of songs from old classical music to folk songs accompanied by accordion, violin, and cello, bringing the entire audience to their feet with melodies from the pop music genre.
