Vienna Boys Choir: Together
Generously Supported by Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation

Vienna Boys Choir: Together

The illustrious group of child musicians has been delighting music lovers across the globe for six centuries with their purity of tone, distinctive charm, and diverse repertoire.

Event Details

Full Biography

The Vienna Boys Choir is one of the most famous choirs in the world and one of its oldest: Boys have been singing at Vienna's Imperial Chapel at least since 1296. In 1498, Emperor Maximilian I. moved his court to Vienna to establish the Chapel Imperial there and the Vienna Boys Choir. Over the centuries, the court attracted musicians like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Anton Bruckner; Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn, and Franz Schubert were themselves, choirboys. Until 1918, the boys sang exclusively for the court.  

In 1924, the Choir was reestablished as a private, non-profit organization. 

Today, the Vienna Boys Choir maintains its own campus, with a primary school, a middle school, and a senior high school program. The middle school is attended by 100 boy choristers between the ages of nine and fourteen. The boys are divided into four choirs. Each group spends ten weeks of the school year on tour. Between them, the choirs give around 300 concerts each year, attended by almost half a million spectators around the world. Since 1924, 2750 choristers have sung over 1000 tours in 100 different countries. 

On Sundays, one of the Choirs performs with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the State Opera Chorus in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel, as it has done for the past 524 years. 

The Choir performs with major orchestras, conducted by the likes of Joana Mallwitz, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, and Simone Young. A highlight is appearances at the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year’s Concert and at the Salzburg Festival. 

Since their first recording in 1907, the boys have recorded 377 shellacks, LPs, and CDs. Numerous films and documentaries attest to the Choir’s international appeal.  

In 2004, the Vienna Girls Choir was founded to give girls the same musical education and the same musical experiences. 30 girls are enrolled in this program today. 

In 2009, the Choir teamed up with Vienna Konzerthaus and Caritas Vienna to find “Superar” to provide children in and around the city with access to music; since then, the Choir regularly join Superar in concerts.

300 boys and girls attend the Choir's Schools. A third of the students go on to become music professionals. The Vienna Boys Choir is a registered charity; its singing tradition is listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage in Austria.  

Professor Gerald Wirth, himself a former choirboy, is the President and Artistic Director.  

www.viennaboyschoir.net 

About Choirmaster, Oliver Stech

Oliver Stech_2_Schubertchor.jpgOliver Stech became choirmaster of the Vienna Boys Choir in 2011. He has led the choir in numerous concerts and on tours of Europe, Asia, South America, and the USA.  

Oliver is responsible for the boys' repertoire; he 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, or Simone Young. Appearances on radio and television, sound recordings, and film shoots are part of the choir’s routine. Oliver conducted the boys on the set of Curt Faudon's films “Songs for Mary” (2013) and “Good Shepherds” (2017) – in Palestine, Italy, and Austria. 

Oliver Stech was born in Waidhofen/Ybbs, Lower Austria. As a child, he received piano and singing lessons. He went on to study romance languages at the University of Vienna and piano, voice, conducting, and music pedagogy at the University of Music, focussing on choral and ensemble conducting. He has founded and led a number of choirs and has himself appeared publicly, both as a tenor soloist and as a choir member. In 2009, Oliver Stech was appointed assistant to Heinz Ferlesch, the artistic director of the Vienna Singakademie – the resident choir of Vienna's Konzerthaus. In 2010, he became a lecturer at the University of Music in Vienna. As of 2019, he has also been working with Chorus Juventus, the youth chorus of the Vienna Boys Choir. 

Directors' Society Supporters

Matt and Kathleen Davis

Upcoming Events

Saturday | Apr 29, 2023

Terra Nostra (Our Earth)

Celebrate the beauty of our earth and the Great Lakes with this concert dedicated to the natural wonders of our world. *Not part of the 23 Summer/Fall Season

Event Starts 7:00 PM
Sunday | May 7, 2023

Northern Michigan Brass Band Concert

The all-volunteer Northern Michigan Brass Band has attracted enthusiastic adult and youth brass players from across Northern Michigan. *Not part of the 23 Summer/Fall Season

Event Starts 3:00 PM
Sunday | May 28, 2023

The Midtown Men

Stars from the Original Broadway Cast of Jersey Boys sing the 60s

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Saturday | June 10, 2023

Magic of Bill Blagg Live!

This action-packed spectacular is filled with mind-blowing magic & jaw-dropping illusions that will have you rubbing your eyes in disbelief!

Event Starts 7:00 PM
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Sunday | June 18, 2023

Randy Houser

An inimitable voice the New York Times describes as “wholly different, thicker and more throbbing, a caldron bubbling over.”

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Saturday | June 24, 2023

Michigander

Michigander delivers elevated and eloquent songcraft, uplifting instrumentation, and plainspoken heartland storytelling punctuated by alternative flare.

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Wednesday | June 28, 2023

An Evening with Dwight Chapin

Dwight Chapin witnessed it all, from the “You-won’t-have-Nixon-to-kick-around-anymore” 1962 Gubernatorial campaign through his world-changing trips to China and the Soviet Union and Nixon’s epic downfall

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Saturday | July 1, 2023

C.S. Lewis Onstage - Further Up & Further In

A mesmerizing, one-of-a-kind stage experience that promises to take you further up and further in the heart and mind of C.S. Lewis.

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Saturday | July 8, 2023

2023 Gala: A Night with Chicago

A taste of the Windy City is heading this way!

Event Starts 8:30 PM
July 14 - 15, 2023

Music of the Night

In this musical revue created for the Center, hear favorites from Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sunset Boulevard, and more.

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Tuesday | July 18, 2023

Conrad Tao and Caleb Teicher: Counterpoint

One's a tap prodigy. The other's a piano virtuoso. Together, they create magic onstage.

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Saturday | July 22, 2023

Arturo Sandoval

10-time Grammy Award-Winner and one of the most dynamic and vivacious live performers of our time.

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Tuesday | July 25, 2023

Detroit Symphony Orchestra Quartet

Known for trailblazing performances, collaborations, and connecting with patrons through unsurpassed musical experiences.

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Friday | July 28, 2023

Brian Regan

The perfect balance of sophisticated writing and physicality, Brian fills theaters nationwide with fervent fans that span generations.

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Aug 2 - 3, 2023

Gianni Schicchi

Giacomo Puccini's comedic one-act masterpiece

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Sunday | Aug 6, 2023

Get Happy!

Michael Feinstein celebrates the Judy Garland Centennial

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Wednesday | Aug 9, 2023

The Verve Pipe

The Verve Pipe has spent the better part of three decades in evolution, creating a sound that transcends genre and generation.  

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Saturday | Aug 12, 2023

NEEDTOBREATHE

A dynamic force in rock music, topping the charts, selling out historic venues, and generating hundreds of millions of streams to date.

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Saturday | Aug 19, 2023

The Manhattan Transfer

50th Anniversary & Final World Tour

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Saturday | Aug 26, 2023

Sam Bush Band

Music's ultimate inside outsider. Or is it outside insider? There is only one Sam Bush.

Event Starts 8:00 PM
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Mar 2023