Slovakia, Hungary and Austria

On July 28, the St. Martin’s Choir Boys Biberach once again embarked on their annual 16-day concert and leisure trip. For the singers aged 9-27, the trip took them to Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. First stop was Bratislava, capital of Slovakia which lies on the Danube. There the choir boys sang a concert in the oldest church in the city, St. Francis Church, and visited the old town at an unbelievable 41 degrees air temperature. After a visit to the German school in Bratislava, which served as quarters, the choir set off for Levoca and Stropkov; there the young singers were also very hospitably received and sang their way into the hearts of the audience with works by Palestrina, Mozart and Franck. A specially rehearsed piece in Slovakian was particularly well received by the locals. Afterwards, the tour went to Hungary. In Budapest, the choirboys explored the city during another heat wave and sang a church service and a concert. The last stop in Hungary for the time being was Feked, which is a very small village founded by German emigrants in the 18th century and still German-speaking today. Five years ago the choir visited Feked and was very warmly welcomed. From Feked the young singers made an excursion to Pecs (Fünfkirchen), near the Croatian border. Here the choirboys sang in the Sebastian Church, right in the center. The third country of the concert tour was Austria, in the small town of Maissau. There they sang a concert and a church service. In addition, the amethyst world in Maissau was visited, because one of the rarest amethyst veins in the world is located in Maissau. At the end of this year’s trip, the group went camping for 6 days near the Attersee lake. There all singers could recover from the exertions of a tour by playing soccer, cross-country games, volleyball, night hikes and campfires. On August 12, the choir boys arrived back in Biberach healthy, refreshed and with many new impressions and experiences.