Buena Vista University to Host Vienna Boys' Choir
Buena Vista University will host the Vienna Boys' Choir on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Schaller Chapel on the BVU campus as part of its Academic and Cultural Event Series. The performance is free and open to the public to attend.
Buena Vista University will host the Vienna Boys’ Choir on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Schaller Memorial Chapel on the BVU campus, as part of its Academic and Cultural Event Series. The performance is free and open to the public to attend. Doors will open at 7 p.m., and no tickets are required.
The Vienna Boys’ Choir is one of the oldest boys’ choirs not associated with a church or a college and strives to create an environment in which boys can fully develop and realize their personal and musical potential. Its long-standing tradition can be traced back to the 13th century. In the late 15th century, the choir was part of the court music of Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor, who moved his court from Innsbruck to Vienna. In 1921, following the fall of the Habsburg Empire, the Vienna Boys’ Choir was established as a private institution and began to give concerts outside the chapel, performing motets, secular works and children’s operas in 1926.
Today, the Vienna Boys’ Choir is divided into four sub-groups, or touring choirs, named after famous Austrian composers associated with the choir’s history: Bruckner, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. All four choirs are of equal standing, as the tours, appearances in Vienna and recording projects are shared among them. Each is guided by a choirmaster and two tutors, or prefects, who travel with the boys.
This fall, the touring choir performing in the United States is the Schubert Choir, Schubertchor, led by Choirmaster Oliver Stech. It is composed of twenty-four members. The program features classical favorites by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert; European folksongs from the Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria and Austria; and pieces by Johann Strauss, Jr.