Vienna Boys Choir
Friday, February 23 @ 8:00 pm
Event Details
Another gem returning to Newberry Opera House from our first ever year, Vienna Boys Choir is a season highlight. For over 500 years, the Vienna Boys Choir has been enchanting audiences around the world. This group of young singers, ranging from 10 to 14 years old, has a rich and storied history that spans centuries and continents, delighting audiences of all ages. Come be a part of this incredible musical tradition and witness the beauty and majesty of Vienna Boys Choir.
Description
Vienne Boys Choir have been singing at Vienna’s Imperial Chapel since 1296. In 1498, Emperor Maximilian I (HRR) moved his court to Vienna, thus founding the “Hofmusikkapelle” (Chapel Imperial), and the Vienna Boys Choir. Throughout history, such noted composers as Heinrich Isaac, Philippe de Monte, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Johann Joseph Fux, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Anton Bruckner have worked with the choir. Jacobus Gallus and Franz Schubert were themselves choristers, and brothers Franz Joseph and Michael Haydn were members of the choir of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, but frequently sang with the imperial boys choir as well. Until 1918, the boys sang exclusively for the imperial court. In 1924, the Choir was reestablished as a private organization.
Today, there are 100 choristers between the ages of 10 and 14, divided into four touring groups. Each spends 11 weeks of the year on tour. Between them, the choirs give around 300 concerts each year, attended by almost half a million spectators around the world. Since 1924, thousands of boys have experienced the joy of making choral music, on over 1000 tours, to 98 different countries. The boys’ first tour of the USA took place in 1931, their first world tour in 1934-35.
Since their first recording in 1907, the boys have recorded 376 shellacks, singles, LPs, and CDs. In 2015, the choir signed a deal with Deutsche Grammophon whose latest release, “Strauss For Ever,” is composed of music by multiple members of the Strauss family. Numerous films and TV documentaries attest to the Choir’s international appeal. New York filmmaker Curt Faudon has produced three major films about the boys (“Silk Road,” “Bridging the Gap,” “Songs for Mary”), with a fourth, “Good Shepherds,” currently in production.