ZUŠ Open

On Sunday, October 3, the chateau complex in Liteň hosted for the third time a parade of art schools of the Central Bohemian, Prague, Plzeň and Pardubice regions as part of the national ZUŠ Open festival, which was established under the patronage of the opera singer Magdalena Kožená. The rich program across all artistic disciplines attracted more than 500 visitors. This year, more than ever, the attention was drawn to the benefits and importance of art education, which has been significantly affected by the pandemic lasting more than a year.

The program was opened by choirs, instrumental ensembles including harps and guitars from Central Bohemian ZUŠ schools and the popular band ODDechovka from ZUŠ Beroun, which did not disappoint this year either. A different kind was a show of an ensemble of historical music and dance from the Prague ZUŠ “U půjčovny“, dancers from the Beroun ZUŠ performed interesting author choreographies.

The original MAFI singing duo from Hořovice and the talented scholarship holders of the MenART Academy, who together with other instrumentalists prepared a „tea at five“ as a form of a concert in the Čechovna hall, stood out among the performers. The art section of ZUŠ Beroun and ZUŠ Kouřim was also particularly successful this year, and the landscape paintings and other works of the pupils literally merged with the picturesque environment of the chateau park. The exhibition of art works was traditionally located in the orangery.

As in the previous year, a voluntary entrance fee was collected. Its´ proceeds amounted to CZK 6,391 and our organization matched it to a total of CZK 10,000. This amount was donated to support the repair of a historic chapel niche of St. Jan Nepomucký in Liteň, which is located in close proximity to the chateau grounds and the church and thus supported the development of the region.