Prague, Czech Republic

Photographer: Hynek Glos

Year of Submission: 2016 (Educators Edition) 

Šimon Ornest is the founder of The Tap Tap, a group of musicians and performers drawn from Prague’s Jedličkův Institute, an institution set up in 1913 to look after children with physical disabilities. Šimon, 42, formed The Tap Tap in 1998, soon after he joined Jedličkův as an educator. What began as a way of using music as a form of therapy has since grown into a major force in Czech show-business, playing at venues such as the Czech National Theatre and touring to international events in cities across Europe, from London to Moscow. The group plays both its own compositions and famous songs by others. It has made videos, put on plays and rappelled in wheelchairs from Prague’s Nusle Bridge.