VIenna Boys Choir Sings in West Hartford CT April 2

WEST HARTFORD, CONN. (February 11, 2019) — Concerts at St James’s will present the only Connecticut appearance of the Vienna Boys Choir when the famed ensemble tours the United States in spring of 2019. The Choir will perform on Tuesday, April 2, 2019, at 7:00pm, at St James’s Episcopal Church, 1018 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford, CT. Tickets are on sale now.

“We are extremely fortunate that the Vienna Boys Choir has included West Hartford in their 2019 tour,” said Vaughn Mauren, Artistic Director of Concerts at St James’s. “The Choir gives about 300 concerts per year at locations all over the world, and is in very high demand. This concert is a rare opportunity for music lovers in the Greater Hartford region to hear one of the finest boys choirs in the world.”

Known the world over for their lively singing style and beautiful tone, the Vienna Boys Choir traces its history to 1498, when the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I moved his court—and his court musicians—to Vienna. From that time until 1918, the choir sang exclusively for the imperial court, at mass, concerts, private functions, and on state occasions. After the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, when most elements of the court music program came under the management of the new Austrian government, the boys choir moved to private management and became known as the Wiener Sängerknaben (Vienna Boys Choir). In 1926, the Choir gave its first public concerts in Vienna; within a year, the choir had performed in Berlin, Prague, and Zurich. Athens and Riga (1928) followed, then Spain, France, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (1929), the United States (1932), Australia (1934), and South America (1936). Since 1926, the choir has gone on more than 1000 tours in 100 different countries, giving 300 concerts and performances and singing for almost half a million people each year.

“The Vienna Boys Choir has become so popular that most of its concerts are now performed in civic auditoriums and performance centers that can accommodate very large audiences,” added Mauren. “When the boys perform at St James’s in West Hartford they will be heard in the natural acoustic of a church sanctuary, the type of space for which much of their music was composed. This acoustic is much more suited to their pure voices than a larger venue, where amplification is often necessary.”

Though the Vienna Boys Choir has not yet released the list of musical selections that will be performed on the 2019 tour, the Choir’s repertoire typically includes choral music from five centuries, polkas and waltzes by the Strauss dynasty, Viennese folk songs, and more folk, pop and world music.

Tickets for the Vienna Boys Choir’s concert on April 2, 2019 in West Hartford are priced from $20-$65 and are on sale now at Eventbrite and at http://stjameswh.org/about/music-choir/vienna-boys-choir. Concerts by the Vienna Choir Boys generally sell out; early ticket purchase is advised.

EVENT DETAILS:

What: Concert by the world-famous Vienna Boys Choir

When: Tuesday, April 2, 2019, 7:00pm

Where: St James’s Episcopal Church, 1018 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford

Accessible: Yes

Admission: Tickets $20-$65, on sale now at http://bit.ly/VBCinWH-TIX

Family Friendly: Yes

More Info: http://stjameswh.org/about/music-choir/vienna-boys-choir or concerts@stjameswh.org

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Interviews: For more information, or to schedule an interview with Vaughn Mauren, Artistic Director of Concerts at St James’s, please contact Sarah Hager Johnston at concerts@stjameswh.org or 860-676-2228.

About Concerts at St James’s – Concerts at St James’s presents musical performances of the highest caliber for the refreshment and enrichment of the West Hartford community. Highlights of recent seasons include performances by violinist Colin Jacobsen and concert organist Greg Zelek. The generous acoustic of the sanctuary, a Steinway A grand piano that has been called “the new best piano in town,” and a newly restored and revoiced three-manual 1962/2018 Austin Organ make St James’s an in-demand performance space for local ensembles, with recent and upcoming performances by CONCORA and the Solisti Orchestra of West Hartford. Annual concerts by the combined choirs of St James’s Episcopal Church have included the Requiems of Brahms, Duruflé, and Fauré, with musicians of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, Concerts at St James’s will present the Vienna Boys Choir.

About the Vienna Boys Choir – Boys have been singing at Vienna's Imperial Chapel since 1296. In 1498, Emperor Maximilian I moved his court to Vienna, thus founding the Chapel Imperial, and the Boys Choir. Over the centuries, the court attracted musicians like Christoph Willibald Gluck, Antonio Salieri, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Anton Bruckner; Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn, and Franz Schubert were themselves choir boys. Until 1918, the boys sang exclusively for the imperial court – at masses, celebrations, and on state occasions. Today, there are 100 choristers between the ages of nine and fourteen, divided into four groups. Between them, the choirs give around 300 concerts each year, attended by half a million spectators around the world. Since 1924, 2502 choristers have sung over 1000 tours in 98 different countries. On Sundays, the Choir performs with the Vienna Philharmonic and the State Opera Chorus in the Imperial Chapel, as it has done for the last 520 years. The Choir performs with major orchestras, conducted by the likes of Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Franz Welser-Möst, Simone Young. A highlight are appearances at the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year’s Concert, most recently in 2016 under the baton of Mariss Jansons. Since their first recording in 1907, the boys have recorded 377 shellacks, singles, LPs, and CDs – the latest, “Strauss For Ever”, to be released on Deutsche Grammophon in September 2018. Numerous films and documentaries attest to the choir’s international appeal. Filmmaker Curt Faudon has produced four major films about the boys. “Good Shepherds” (2017) has them singing with Maasai warriors, Sami reindeer herders, and primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. 300 boys and girls attend the Choir's schools. A quarter of the schools’ alumni become professional musicians. The Choir’s education and singing tradition is listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage in Austria. Professor Gerald Wirth is the choir's president and artistic director.

The Vienna Boys Choir appears by arrangement with Opus 3 Artists.