School year 1996/97 – establishing of the choir at our school was a sparkle of hope which, in God’s hands, became a tradition and a natural part of the school activities.
Choir singing is an elective subject in the school curriculum and it is very difficult to gain the interest of a young man and woman and to make them understand the importance of regular coming to the singing practices; to gain the interest in music which is so different from contemporary “hit” music.

Children at the choir range from 12 to 20 years of age. There exists also a small version of Chorus, called Chorusik, which serves as a preparation for perspective Chorus singers.   Building up the choirs had difficult beginnings; we only had 15 singers, out of which just 2 boys. Practices, such an important tool, cover hours and hours of concentration at the choir practice retreats and singing at school after the school schedule is over so that the performance may be constantly bettered.

We started with simple songs for two voices. The most usual method of our practice is vocal intonation, since half of singers do not know how to read notes and therefore learns only by hearing. It is also very complicated to discover a song which would be appealing both for the singers and listeners.

One of our first performances proved very successful, as one of our fans decided to donate a piano which has been used since then, in the last seven years. The more performances, the more members and for the last five years we have been cooperating with a piano player Zuzana Hrusovska who regularly joins us in her free time.

Certain regular activities of the city of Kosice became the pillars of our performances: Christmas concerts and Kosice Festival of Sacred Art. Last year we organized already the fifth Christmas concert, performed at the Lutheran Church, Mlynska st., which has became the climax of the year, giving us the option to present the core of our repertoire. We invite various guests to sing with us: Frantisek Balun – former director of the State Theatre Opera, Kosice; Andy Durica – former choir member, now a young and very perspective pop singer, the winner of author competition Kosicky Golden Treasure 2001; and former student and a soloist Jarmila Pleskova, whose voice enchants and fascinates; Jozko Bryndzak – a student of Prague College of Performing Arts (AMU). It is very nice to see former students returning to our performances to either encourage us as audience or sing with us.

Christmas means performance tours. It has been twice so far when the choir visited the city of Brno, Czech Republic (Christmas 2000 and 2001). Last year we were invited to sing in Presov and Bardejov.

The annual performances at the Kosice Festival of Sacred Art prove that the Choir retains its artistic credit. On May 7, 2001 it was awarded the Prize of City of Kosice for its supporting and enriching cultural heritage, strengthening the ecumenical life of the city and the country, leading young generation to recognizing and respecting traditional values.   As school we are proud of having been invited to Slovak Lutheran Festival in Zilina. Moreover, our great success is the option to perform in LUX IN TENEBRIS program (Light in the Darkness) in the Slovak National Radio on the Day of Reformation, with the presence of President of Slovakia and EU Ambassador in Slovakia Erik van Linden. It is so encouraging to see how the number of listeners and parents is growing year by year, those capable of creating the atmosphere of love, enthusiasm, closeness and God’s mercy.

We cannot name all of our performances. Yet they contain moments of concentration and anxiety before the singing and moments of relief when it is over. Moments of self-discipline when other students enjoy their weekend or vacation and the choir is having practice retreat or is performing. Moments of returning home late in the night, therefore we would like to thank parents for their patience, perseverance and financial help, as it is very difficult to support 80-member body.

We also thank for all donations which helped us to participate and perform at Cultural Summer at Makarska Riviera in Croatia, where the choir gained tremendous success.