VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
Wiener Sängerknaben

Christmas in Vienna
Manuel Huber, conductor

INTERMISSION

PROGRAM IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

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VIENNA BOYS CHOIR

The Vienna Boys Choir is one of the most famous choirs in the world, and one of its oldest. In 1498, Emperor Maximilian I moved his court to Vienna to establish the Chapel Imperial there, along with the Vienna Boys Choir. Over the centuries, the court attracted musicians like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Anton Bruckner. Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn, and Franz Schubert were themselves choirboys.

Today the Vienna Boys Choir is a private, non-profit organization, which relies on sponsorship and donations. The Choir maintains a primary school, a junior, and a senior high school. 300 boys and girls between the ages of six and 19 attend the Choir's Schools in Vienna's Augarten park. All receive individual voice lessons and sing in one of the choirs. The Choir's education is open to all, regardless of their origin, nationality, or religion. About third of the students go on to become music professionals.

The 100 boy choristers between the ages of nine and 14 are divided into four choirs. Between them, the choirs give around 300 concerts each year, attended by almost half a million spectators around the world. Since 1924, the boys have sung over 1000 tours in 100 different countries, which has resulted in a staggering 29,000 performances. At the Sunday services in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel, they perform with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the State Opera Chorus. The Choir frequently appears with major orchestras, conducted by the likes of Joana Mallwitz, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, and Simone Young. Recent highlights include appearances at the Salzburg Festival and at the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year’s Concert.

The Vienna Boys Choir's singing tradition is listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in Austria. Professor Gerald Wirth, himself a former choirboy, is the Artistic Director of the entire Campus.

MANUEL HUBER, Conductor

Manuel Huber is one of the Vienna Boys Choir's conductors and he also arranges music and lectures on choral conducting and voice training.

Huber was born in Brixen-Bressanone, South Tyrol. He started playing the piano and singing at a young age. For eight years, he sang with the Vinzentinum Boys' Choir in Brixen. At 15, Manuel Huber started conducting the choirs in his native village of Weitental and began studying piano at Claudio Monteverdi Conservatory in Bolzano. He went on to study choral and orchestral conducting, music education, and psychology in Salzburg, finishing his courses with distinction.

He has conducted the Chamber Orchestra Budweis, the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mozarteum Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, he headed the youth project at an opera festival in Immling, Bavaria. For two years, he was choirmaster and voice coach of the Tölz Boys Choir in Munich.

In 2019, Manuel Huber became choirmaster of the Vienna Boys Choir's Mozart Choir. He selects and rehearses the boys' concert repertoire, as well as the masses for the sung services at Vienna's Imperial Chapel. In addition, he prepares the choristers for sound recordings and film projects, and for special concerts conducted by the likes of Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Muti, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Asked about his work with his choir, Manuel Huber said, “I love our work together, the boys' enthusiasm for music. My goal is to teach them the tools of the trade, to understand and feel music. It is wonderful to see them grow up and come into their own.”