DOWAGIAC — The Dowagiac Dogwood Fine Arts Festival will be hosting the Vienna Boys Choir in concert at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 11, 2019. The performance will take place in the Dowagiac Performing Arts Center in the Dowagiac Middle School.  This is the only concert to be performed in the Michiana region during their spring tour.

The Vienna Boys Choir, renowned as one of the finest vocal ensembles in the world for more than five centuries, is a frequent visitor to North America, performing throughout the country in everything from houses of worship to concert venues like New York’s Carnegie Hall and Chicago’s Symphony Hall.

The popular chorus is actually comprised of four separate ensembles of boys between the ages of 10 and 14, totaling 100 choristers at the Vienna Boys Choir school at any given time. The four choirs are of equal standing, and the group’s tours, concerts in Vienna and audio and video recording projects are shared among them. Each choir has a choirmaster and two tutors who travel with the boys. Approximately 11 weeks of the school year are devoted to touring, and each choir member sings about 80 concerts a year. Many of the boys have siblings, fathers, uncles and even grandfathers who have also been members of the choir.

The Vienna Boys Choir can trace its history as far back as the 13th Century but it was formally established at Vienna’s Imperial Chapel in 1498 by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. The many incarnations of the group have been performing continuously ever since. The modern Vienna Boys Choir represents quite a departure from the composition of the original medieval choir of six boys.

Today’s Vienna Boys Choir is comprised of talented young singers from all over the world who are admitted by audition. The choir visiting the Dowagiac in the spring, led by its conductor Jimmy Chiang, includes boys hailing from Austria, Cambodia, China, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the Philippines. The group is featured in a brand-new recording, Strauss For Ever, released in October 2018.

Tickets are now available at dogwoodfinearts.org with prices ranging from $35 to $62 or call the festival office at (269) 782-1115 for further information.

The Vienna Boys Choir is sponsored by St. Denys Foundation, Wolverine Mutual Insurance Company and Hotel Residenz Palais Coburg.  They are represented by Opus 3 Artists.