Vienna Boys Choir Performs Holiday Classics & International Music at the Kimmel Center

For more than 500 years, the angelic voices of Austria's historic Vienna Boys Choir, ages 10 to 14, have captivated audiences around the world with performances of Austrian folk songs, waltzes, and classical works, along with holiday favorites and medieval chants. Their holiday program at the Kimmel Center on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 7pm in Verizon Hall includes classics such as "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Silver Bells" and "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," as well as French, Italian, and Russian carols.

Tickets for Vienna Boys Choir are $32 to $60 and are available by phone at 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or in person at the Kimmel Center box office (open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings). Additional fees may apply.

In 1498 the Vienna Boys Choir was founded as six boys included among Emperor Maximilian I court musicians. Now expanded to about 100 choristers, the Vienna Boys Choir is divided into four touring choirs that give approximately 300 concerts and performances each year in front of nearly half a million people. Over the centuries, illustrious composers have written masterpieces for the boys' choir, including Mozart, Bruckner, Gluck and Schubert. Together with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus, the choir maintains the tradition of providing the music for the Sunday Mass in Vienna's Imperial Chapel, as they have done since 1498.

More recently, filmmaker Curt Faudon's documentary Silk Road, released on November 17, 2009, follows the choristers' yearly travels throughout Korea, Japan, Canada, the United States, Germany and the Silk Road trade route in Asia. The soundtrack offers everything from medieval chansons and Renaissance music to masses and lieder by Schubert. In September 2009, the choir rereleased The Best of Vienna Boys Choir, featuring works by Handel, Brahms, Strauss and others. In 2002, they recorded their first ever pop album, featuring songs by Madonna, Celine Dion and Robbie Williams. The bestselling CD was nominated for the 2003 Amadeus, the Austrian music award.

"...Astonishing vocal range stretching from coloratura to mezzo and tenor territory...
totally disciplined voices tempered by a singular sense of ease and consistency, and a sound conveying ebullience, humor or solemnity as the music called for." - Washington Post

Kimmel Center, Inc., a charitable, not-for-profit organization, owns, manages, supports and maintains The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which includes Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, Innovation Studio and the Merck Arts Education Center. Kimmel Center, Inc. also manages the Academy of Music, owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and the University of the Arts' Merriam Theater. Our mission is to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience from throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. The 2010/2011 season is sponsored by Citi, and the Broadway 2010/2011 season is sponsored by Verizon, and American Airlines. For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org.

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