The Vienna Boys Choir
The Vienna Boys Choir, one of the best-known children’s choirs in the world, will continue Lee University’s 2022-23 Presidential Concert Series on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in Pangle Hall.
“The angelic voices of this most famous vocal group are ageless,” (Salt Lake Tribune). Founded in Austria almost 100 years ago, the Vienna Boys Choir, comprising young sopranos and altos, tours the world singing popular standards, as well as classical repertoire.
The choir gained fame as the subject of the Walt Disney film “Almost Angels” in 1961. Today there are around 100 choristers between the ages of 10 and 14, divided into four touring choirs. The four choirs give as many as 300 concerts and performances each year in front of almost half a million people. Each group spends nine to 11 weeks of the school year on tour, visiting virtually all European countries, along with frequent appearances in Asia, Australia, and the United States.
The concert, conducted by the choir’s director Oliver Stech, will include works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell, Hans Leo Hassler, Mozart, and Joseph Haydn.
Mr. Stech, responsible for the boys' repertoire, conducts choir and solo rehearsals and prepares the boys for the sung services in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel. In addition, he trains the boys for productions at Vienna's two opera houses and for performances with conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Franz Welser-Möst, and Simone Young. Appearances on radio and television, sound recordings, and film shoots are also part of the choir’s routine.
Mr. Stech conducted the boys on the set of Curt Faudon's films “Songs for Mary” and “Good Shepherds” in Palestine, Italy, and Austria.