Celebrate the holiday season with sacred and secular works performed in soulful harmonic perfection by these ambassadors, ages 10-14, who carry on the rich traditions of one of Austria’s oldest musical institutions.

Background:
In 1498, Emperor Maximilian I of Austria moved his court and his court musicians from Innsbruck to Vienna. He gave specific instructions that there were to be six boys among his musicians. For want of a foundation charter, historians have settled on 1498 as the official foundation date of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and - in consequence - the Vienna Choir Boys..

Today, there are about 100 choristers between the ages of 10 and 14, divided into four touring choirs. The four choirs give about 300 concerts and performances each year in front of almost half a million people. Each group spends nine to 11 weeks of the school year on tour. They visit virtually all European countries, and they are frequent guests in Asia, Australia and the Americas. Together with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus, the Wiener Sängerknaben maintain the tradition of the imperial musicians: as Hofmusikkapelle they provide the music for the Sunday Mass in Vienna's Imperial Chapel, as they have done since 1498. Gerald Wirth succeeded Norbert Balatsch as the choir's artistic director in 2001.

The choir's repertoire includes everything from medieval to contemporary and experimental music. Motets and lieder for boys choir form the core of the touring repertoire, as do the choir's own arrangements of waltzes and polkas by Strauss. Both the choir and the Hofmusikkapelle have a long tradition of commissioning new works.