How does the Vienna Boys Choir stay relevant? Pop, a girls choir and more
The Vienna Boys Choir, returning to Hong Kong as part of a world tour to mark its 525th anniversary, has been through many changes since its early days, including the setting up of the Vienna Girls Choir. The Vienna Boys Choir is returning to Hong Kong as part of a world tour to mark its 525th anniversary. The choir is divided into four touring choirs, named after famous Austrian composers, and they perform in around 300 concerts every year. It has a history of working with composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert and Anton Bruckner, and in 2017 it was added to the list of Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage due to the importance of its “education and choral tradition” The past looms large for the evergreen Austrian choir, which consists of some 100 choristers aged 10 to 14. The highlights of the coming Hong Kong concert will include Mozart’s A Little Night Music, Josef Strauss’ “Debonair Mood” and “Village Swallows from Austria”, and folk songs from countries such as Ukraine, Turkey and New Zealand.
Published : 2 years ago by Kwak Yeon-soo in Lifestyle
The choir is divided into four touring choirs, named after famous Austrian composers – Bruckner, Joseph Haydn, Mozart and Schubert – and they perform in around 300 concerts every year.
The Vienna Boys Choir sees this year’s anniversary as a challenge, president Erich Arthold tells the Post as he discusses how the private, non-profit organisation plans to remain relevant.
It has a history of working with composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert and Anton Bruckner, and in 2017 it was added to the list of Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage because of the importance of its “education and choral tradition”.
The past looms large for the evergreen Austrian choir, which consists of some 100 choristers aged 10 to 14. Its roots go back to 1498 and a decree of the Holy Roman Empire under Frederick III.
After a four-year hiatus, the Vienna Boys Choir is returning to Hong Kong as part of a world tour to mark its 525th anniversary.
It is the 21 “Bruckner” boys, led by choirmaster Manolo Cagnin, who will be giving a trio of concerts at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall from October 27-29.
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According to Arthold, the Vienna Boys Choir first toured abroad in 1926. Since then, it has staged more than 1,000 tours to over 100 countries involving more than 28,000 concerts.
The choir, known for its sailor suit uniforms, has been through many changes since its early days as a dedicated group at the Imperial Chapel in Vienna, including the setting up in 2004 of the Vienna Girls Choir to give girls access to the same musical education.
But Arthold stresses that its main mission has remained constant. “Our mission is to unite people by singing music and teach the boys and the girls the respect, tolerance and understanding for different cultures. We believe we are cultural ambassadors,” he says.
The choir’s repertoire includes everything from classical to contemporary music. The highlights of the coming Hong Kong concert will include Mozart’s A Little Night Music, Josef Strauss’ “Debonair Mood” and “Village Swallows from Austria”, and folk songs from countries such as Ukraine, Turkey and New Zealand.
Arthold was once a member of the choir himself and he recalls the warm welcome he received on his first tour to Asia.
“I was in Hong Kong twice in 1975. The audience was very enthusiastic about the boys and the performance. It was a unique and unforgettable experience,” he says.
Arthold says the choir’s repertoire has developed over time, and that they feel the need to fulfil certain expectations.
“Nowadays the audience is very interested, attentive and curious to hear new things. They want to listen to certain pieces over and over again. Nevertheless, they are also open to new forms or new kinds of music,” he adds.
Tina Breckwoldt, the in-house historian of the Vienna Boys Choir, says the choir has become more diverse and inclusive over the years.
“The Vienna Boys Choir currently consists of boys from 39 different nationalities. Back in the 1970s, there were only Austrian boys – mostly from Vienna – but over the last 10 years, we have become really diverse,” she says.
“We used to have one Hong Kong boy in the touring choir, but he’s currently attending senior high school.”
The choir, which earlier this year performed in Korea, Japan and mainland China, has a special link to Hong Kong – the city is home to the choir’s only overseas music academy.
The school, founded in 2011, saw attendance hit a low of 250 during the Covid-19 pandemic but is slowly recovering, Breckwoldt says. Normally, it has around 600 students every year and has classes designed for children as young as three.
“Many plans have been postponed because of Covid-19 and the interaction was very difficult. We could only communicate through online meetings,” he says. “Now we are restarting and going back to normal. We will see what will happen in the future.”
The pandemic forced the choir to put its touring on hold, which gave the organisation time to think about how to adapt going forward – such as building up the girls’ choir.
As such, the Vienna Girls Choir joined the Vienna Boys Choir to sing at the traditional New Year’s Concert in the Austrian capital for the first time at the start of 2023.
“The Vienna Girls Choir will be treated as equally as the Vienna Boys Choir. They will have their own team, their own choirmasters and educators. We are thinking about the girls’ repertoire, as we would like to distinguish it from the boys’ repertoire,” says Arthold.
“We have received a number of invitations for the Vienna Girls Choir from other European countries like Germany and Switzerland. We will try to make the choir popular in Austria and neighbouring countries. Then, maybe in spring of 2026, the girls can go on bigger tours.
“We are sure that they will develop very quickly because the girls are very ambitious.”