Harlem Gospel Choir: God Bless The Children

God Bless The Children – World Tour 2007

The world-famous gospel choir and sought-after partner of some of the most illustrious stars of the world of music is coming back to the Czech Republic in a follow-up to its hugely successful first visit last year.

Tickets to the concert, priced between 250 and 890 CZK, are available at the box office of the Prague State Opera, and at the Ticketpro chain outlets.

The visit paid to the Czech Republic by the Harlem Gospel Choir last year was something of a “trial run”. Gospel music has never been a firmly established tradition on this country’s music scene, so there were not many of those who would have expected the choir to score a triumph with the local audience. What actually happened, though, was an upsurge of enthusiasm, even euphoria which became characteristic for the Czech stage of the choir’s tour, and which could not escape the attention of the Czech press and other media. On all of the tour’s stops the choir performed before capacity crowds, offering to Czech audiences an experience thus far unknown and unexpected. The tour was hosted by churches and synagogues, venues where this type of show has not been exactly commonplace. That notwithstanding, Czech music aficionados as well as those who were just plain curious were absolutely thrilled. Many even followed the tour along its subsequent stages, to feel the atmosphere again and again. Gospel singing as performed by this most widely renowned New York-based choir met with a truly immense success. Apart from a concert in the Plzeň synagogue, the world’s third largest, from November 2 – 8, 2006, the singers from Harlem appeared in various churches in Kladno, Prague, Osek, České Budějovice, and Brno. During their concert in Prague’s Church of SS Cyril and Methodius at Karlín, a live recording was made which was aired before Christmas, on December 22, 2006, by Czech Radio One – Radiožurnál station. The release of a CD with this recording is currently being prepared.

In 2007 the choir also made a successful tour of Russia, where it was greeted by tumultuous ovations during several concerts in Moscow, among other venues. Beyond that, the ensemble’s timetable for this year has so far brought members of the Harlem Gospel Choir another major success in the form of a three months-long completely sold-out indoor arena tour of Germany and France, with Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra, which will continue in the Netherlands and in Japan, in September. A live recording was made during the choir’s concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, which was released on a DVD entitled New York Memories, and has risen in the charts to become one of the history’s largest-selling DVD in its category.

It is no secret that the Harlem Gospel Choir are regarded as stars of the first magnitude even by some of the topmost protagonists of showbusiness. Thus they were joined in their concert appearance in Japan last February by Bono Vox of U2, who had taken a special flight for the purpose, just to “fire away” a couple of songs with the choir. While touring, the choir receives regular visits by other stars, including for instance Diana Ross, and another ardent fan, Joss Stone. In March 2007, Elton John, also an admirer, asked them to sing Happy Birthday for him as he was celebrating his sixtieth in New York. It was there too that their voices amazed Donatella Versace who has since reportedly been considering featuring the choir during one of the famously extravagant Versace fashion shows.

Beyond any doubt, the Harlem Gospel Choir are stars of the first magnitude.

This year’s Czech part of the choir’s world tour will take in several of this country’s prestigious cultural centres and halls. It will open on November 1, in the splendid home of the Prague State Opera, whence the ensemble will proceed to the National Theatre in Brno, and then on, to Olomouc, Osek, Hradec Králové, and the final stop in Karlovy Vary, where the Czech tour will close in the large hall of the Hotel Thermal. The Harlem Gospel Choir’s calendar is packed, so we are extremely happy that the Czech Republic will be included once again in the programme of their God Bless The Children – World Tour 2007.

The fascinating energy of gospel singing in the choir’s concert programme will be here again this year, ready for you to enjoy.

Harlem Gospel Choir

The world-famous Harlem Gospel Choir is one of the world’s pre-eminent gospel choral ensembles. It travels the globe, sharing its joy of faith through its music and raising funds for children’s charities. It was founded in 1986 by Allen Bailey who got the idea during a tribute to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. in the renowned Cotton Club in Harlem. The choir was formed from the finest singers and musicians coming from various churches catering for the African American community in Harlem.

The Harlem Gospel Choir has been sharing for a number of years now its message of love, peace and harmony with thousands of people of different nations, environments, and cultures. It has aspired to turn the world into a place endowed with greater love and freedom. It strives, through its music and through its dynamic performance, to promote a better understanding of the African American culture. This inspiring music has been known as gospel, and it is practiced most notably in America’s “black churches”. The songs and performances have invariably one common denominator: namely, the aim of bringing people and nations together, and bringing something back.

The pursuit of these goals has aligned the choir with prominent musicians and artists from other fields in common projects. The full list of their names would be too long, so to name but a few of the HGC’s most recent creative partners, one cannot omit Bono Vox of U2, Diana Ross, Avril Lavigne, and the British outfit, Gorillaz (an amazing joint performance during the annual Grammy Awards ceremony in February last year). Early this year the choir dazzled European audiences as well as that in New York’s Radio City Music Hall, in a series of triumphant concerts featuring André Rieu.

Last year the choir marked 20 years from its foundation, an occasion on which it was awarded the honorary title of Harlem’s Cultural Ambassadors.

The Harlem Gospel Choir is one of the most popular and at the same time one of the busiest choral ensembles of the present time. As its timetable is already now filled up by engagements up till the end of 2008, we are overjoyed at the chance the Czech Republic is being offered to host yet another visit by this brilliant ensemble, consisting of six unique concert appearances this coming autumn, as part of the God Bless The Children – World Tour 2007. The concerts will doubtless leave an indelible imprint of a very special experience in the memory of each member of the audience. Last year, tickets for the Czech part of the choir’s world tour were hopelessly sold out to the last seat.