Boni Pueri, Czech it out.

There is a very famous choir called Boni Pueri, from the Czech Republic.
The CD that I have is also titled Boni Pueri and the cover shows sixteen boys in gold and white, full length robes standing around a piano with their pianist and their organist.

The album is divided into three main parts, first some traditional religious songs like Halleulujah (Handel), a haunting Pueri Hebraeorum, and Kyrie and Gloria. They do a nice version of Panis Angelicus with the organ throbbing out those deep, deep notes that I like.

Then there is a song that I have only heard Libera do, Going Home, by Dvorak with words by William Arms Fischer. That’s followed by a couple of folk songs and the chorus from the opera The Bartered Bride by Smetana.

In the third part they lighten things up with a jaunty rendition of Waltzing Matilda, from Australia; Sakura, from Japan and Siyahamba, that beautiful Zulu spiritual that has the line, “We are marching in the light of God, we are marching in the light of God“.

The best part is when they do a Broadway medley of Hello, Dolly, Over the Rainbow, I Got Rhythm, Somewhere, and a really cute version of Chattanooga Choo-choo. That one made me smile but perhaps the most charming bit is when these little Eastern European boys sing America, from West Side Story, in English with Puerto Rican accents.

Boni Pueri was founded in 1982 and has become one of Europe's most notable musical bodies. The choir is a part of the newly opened Boni Pueri choir school under the patronage of the Czech Ministry of Education. It has 350 members and has given more than 2500 concerts all over Europe, America and Asia.Also, Boni Pueri is a cultural ambassador of the "European Federation of Choirs of the Union".