Wiener Sängerknaben

It is not a matter of course to bring such a sought-after choir outside of Vienna or the major German cities to Bad Ischl. Hundreds of inquiries at the management office of the Vienna Boys' Choir attest to this fact. And they are happy to come. On Saturday, November 30th, starting at 7:30 PM, the Vienna Boys' Choir will take the stage at the Stadtsaal, bringing unique Christmas choral sounds to Kufstein. The Vienna Boys' Choir is one of the most famous choirs in the world, and one of the oldest: the first mention of choir boys in the Vienna Hof dates back to 1296. Two hundred years later, on July 7, 1498, the future Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I founded a chapel in Vienna where boys were to sing alongside adult singers. This laid the foundation for the Vienna Boys' Choir. Like their modern successors, the boys were often "on the road" with their imperial patron, singing at imperial diets, coronations, weddings, and court festivities. Over the centuries, the Viennese court attracted genius musicians such as Heinrich Isaac, Johann Josef Fux, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Joseph and Michael Haydn and Franz Schubert sang as boys in the choir; Anton Bruckner was their singing and piano teacher. Today, the imperial ensemble has evolved into a whole campus with four boys' choirs, a girls' choir (Wiener Chormädchen), a children's choir (Chorus Primus), and a youth choir (Chorus Juventus). The Vienna Boys' Choir is a private, non-profit association that mainly finances itself through concert and tour revenues and is also reliant on donations and sponsorships. The association operates a music primary school and a secondary school with a focus on vocal music. 330 boys and girls aged six to nineteen attend the campus in Vienna's Augarten. All receive singing lessons and sing in one of the choirs. The training, recognized by UNESCO as a cultural heritage, is accessible to all, regardless of origin, gender, nationality, or religion. The 90 currently active choir boys are divided among four boys' choirs: the Bruckner Choir (conductor Manolo Cagnin), the Haydn Choir (conductor Jimmy Chiang), the Mozart Choir (conductor Manuel Huber), and the Schubert Choir (conductor Oliver Stech). Together, they perform nearly 300 concerts each year in front of almost half a million spectators worldwide. Since 1924, they have sung around 29,000 concerts on more than 1,000 tours in 100 countries. Doors open at 6:30 PM, concert starts at 7:30 PM – free seating. Tickets are available at www.my-ticket.shop, all Raiffeisen banks, TVB Kufstein, Libro, Trafikplus, and all Oeticket outlets. For more information, visit www.mema.tv. Photos © Lukas Beck available at https://www.picdrop.com/mediacon/ixqvV1njfg