Vienna Boys Choir

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.

Today, the Vienna Boys Choir maintains its own campus, with a primary school, a middle school, and a senior high school programme. 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.