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| Sunday, 22 June 2003 |
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Heavenly voices sing Songs of joy Twenty five choristers of the world famous Vienna Boys Choir arrive in Sri Lanka on June 24 to delight audiences with three concerts in Colombo. On June 25 they perform at the Ceylon Continental Hotel, on June 26 they give a special schools' concert at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium and on June 27 they sing at St. Theresa's Church, Thimbirigasyaya. The programme at the Ceylon Continental Hotel will include works of Haydn, Brahms, Schubert, Cesar Franck (Panis Angelicus) and Gustav Holst (Two Eastern pictures - Spring and Summer). The second part of the programme is called "Songs of the Nations", with some light classics, and part three will include popular songs such as James Horn's "Wonderful day", Paul Simon's "Bridge over troubled waters", Roger Emerson's "La Bamba" and Oscar Peterson's "Hymn to Freedom". The programme will conclude waltzes and polkas by Johann Strauss Jr. Audiences who were thrilled to hear the boys singing the Sinhala song "Indunil Gangulal" last year can expect another surprise this time around. Proceeds of the concert will be in aid of the Sri Lanka Alzheimers Foundation, with the motto of this visit being "Songs of joy for the well-being of elders". The Vienna Boys Choir (Wiener Sangerknaben) has visited almost all European countries and performs in USA and Canada almost every year. The boys are also frequent guests in Asia and Australia. This is their fourth visit to Sri Lanka, with last year's visit taking place after break of some 20 years. The Vienna Boys Choir's concerts last year and this year have been thanks to the efforts of Paul Mueller of Classic Live Unlimited. Although the choir agreed to visit Sri Lanka, other scheduled concerts in India, Bangkok and Singapore were cancelled owing to the threat of SARS, Mr. Mueller Said. The Vienna Boys Choir consists of four choirs of around 100 boys aged between 10 and 14. The group visiting Sri Lanka is the Bruckner choir. With a history of over five centuries, originating in the court of Emperor Maximilian in 1498, the Choir counts among its past membership composers like Franz Schubert and the brothers Franz Joseph and Michael Haydn, and the conductors Hans Richter, Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss. The choir's repertoire spans five centuries of music including Renaissance and contemporary music, extending to cross-over and world music. The boys have contributed to film soundtracks such as Primal Fear (1966), The 13th Floor (1999), and they recorded the title for a Japanese animated movie featuring the cartoon character Doraemon (2000). On 31 December 1999, the BBC featured a pop music video as part of their worldwide millennium broadcast year 2000 today. The Vienna Boys Choir have their own school. Almost 250 children live, study and rehearse in the Augartenplais, a baroque palace in Vienna. Beginning with Kindergarten, the children are provided with a complete musical and general education throughout the elementary grades. At age 10, the most talented boys are selected to join the choir and enter the choir's grammar school. All boys are assigned to one of the touring choirs. Academic lessons are taught in small groups of no more than 15 children. The school offers extra curricular activities ranging from sports (baseball, judo, rollerblading, swimming) to attending (pop) concerts, operas, plays, musicals and movies. The school is proud of its alumni, many of whom go on to become professional musicians, conductors, singers or instrumentalists, in Vienna and throughout the world. Many others continue to sing: there are two voice ensembles made up entirely of former Vienna Boys Choir members, the Chorus Viennensis and the Imperial Chapel Schola Cantorum. All former students retain a lifelong commitment to the arts. The Vienna Boys Choir is a private, not-for-profit organisation, which finances itself solely through concerts and recordings. |
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