Music

Vienna Boys Choir brings Austria to Wildwood

Vienna Boys Choir
Vienna Boys Choir

It's one of the most famous, and fascinating, choirs in the world.

Its members sing age-old pieces composed by such noted composers as Mozart and Schubert, classic show tunes and even contemporary pop and rock hits. They've cut best-selling albums.

Vienna Boys Choir

7 p.m. today, Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock

Tickets:$35 reserved seating; $75 VIP

wildwoodpark.org

(501) 821-7275

They're all preteen and young teenage boys clad in sailor suits.

The world-renowned Vienna Boys Choir is back in Arkansas for the first time in three years. Performing today at Wildwood Park for the Arts, the choir will be the first to perform in the newly rededicated Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre. A pre-concert reception will celebrate the contributions the Cabe family has made to Wildwood, including The Cabe Foundation and family members' grant of $358,000 this year for upgrades to the 625-seat auditorium named in Cabe's honor.

The concert also coincides with Wildwood's annual Lanterns! Festival, which begins Friday. Held during the first full moon of the lunar new year, Lanterns! celebrates various cultures from around the world through food, music, arts and children's activities. Austria will be a featured vista during the festival. Concertgoers will have a preview taste of the festival's Austrian fare.

The Vienna Boys Choir -- Die Wiener Sangerknaben in German -- is billed on its website (wienersaengerknaben.at) as being among the oldest boys' choirs not attached to a church or a college. Its history goes back to the 13th century, but it was in the late 15th century that the choir was part of the court music of Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor, whose move of the court from Innsbruck to Vienna credits him with the foundation of the Imperial Chapel.

Nowadays, the choir is a private, nonprofit organization, but the boys are still responsible for Sunday services in the Imperial Chapel, appearances at official state occasions, concerts in Vienna and other countries, and appearances in the Vienna State Opera and Volksoper.

The choir is divided into four touring subgroups, each made up of 24 boys ages 10 to 14: Bruckner, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. Tonight's concert is by Haydnchor, conducted by Jimmy Chiang. Although the organization includes Austrians, boys from 33 nations have sung with the choir in the past decade, says Tina Breckwoldt, the choir's historian and dramaturge. Members of the Haydnchor include boys from Afghanistan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Poland and Taiwan as well as Austria. There are also members with Chinese and Romanian backgrounds. (No boys from the United States are currently members.)

So just what is the appeal of boys' choirs in general, and, especially after all these centuries, the Vienna Boys Choir in particular?

"There is something about children singing, the brightness, the innocence, the directness and honesty, that touches people," Breckwoldt says. "Children will give it their all; there is no holding back. And even more so if the children are boys -- if this is combined with musical skill, it can be incredibly moving."

The choir's first visits to the United States took place in 1932. Since then, there have been more than 90 tours, Breckwoldt says; March 2012 included performances in Little Rock and El Dorado.

The Vienna Boys Choir doesn't really have a signature song, Breckwoldt adds.

"There are some settings of the Mass ordinary by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert, which we perform every year in chapel," she says. When touring, the choir sings repertoire for high voices, as well as classic boys'-choir works including Schubert's "Standchen" (Serenade) and "Widerspruch" (Contradiction). Today's concertgoers can expect to hear a motet by choir alumnus Jacobus Gallus, who wrote the piece for the choir in the 1570s; Giuseppe Verdi's "Laudi alla vergine Maria"; and a new piece by Gerald Wirth, the choir's overall artistic director.

Popular audience-request songs include "Amazing Grace" and songs from The Sound of Music; both will be included in today's program. "Many people also ask for polkas and waltzes by the Strauss family -- and of course, the choir will sing a selection of those," Breckwoldt says.

As for why the young choristers still wear sailor suits, their uniform since the 1920s, Breckwoldt says, "It is easily recognizable, and the boys actually like wearing it." For centuries, the choir wore a court uniform, but when the Habsburg rule ended, a new uniform was needed. "Practically every boy had a sailor suit" in the '20s, she says.

Although the choir is steeped in tradition, it has kept up with the times. On YouTube.com, they can be seen singing Pharrell Williams' 2014 hit "Happy." And at the choir's website is a video of them performing Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll."

In 1998, the choir appeared on the Late Show With David Letterman. In addition, Breckwoldt says, mention of the choir "keeps cropping up in very odd contexts," including the TV game show Jeopardy! and New York Times crossword puzzles.

Each of the four Vienna Boys Choir subgroups spends about 11 weeks of the academic year on tour, which means about 80 performances a year for each member. To become one of the Vienna choirboys, Breckwoldt says, a lad has to love singing, want to be part of a team and have a desire for travel.

Weekend on 03/05/2015

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