Suburban
“The St Florians Boys’ choir performed in the St John’s College hall on Sunday evening and what an excellent performance it was! It was simply breathtaking and electrifying.
Suburban Reporter
The College students have had very few opportunities to experience live international music and learn about music history and singing. This concert created a perfect opportunity for them to learn and enjoy the show to the fullest. Well done to all students for attending the recital and displaying good concert etiquette.
Many thanks to all the people working behind the scenes to make such a performance successful,” St John’s College said in a statement on their Facebook Page.
The visiting choir’s next concert is on Friday October 28 at St John’s College.
The renowned St Florian Boys’ Choir from Austria are in Zimbabwe for a 10-day visit.
According to the St Florian Boys’ Choir website, the success of the choir lies in the strong foundation of its nigh 1,000-year history. Numerous superb musicians have emerged from its ranks since the founding of the choir, the most eminent one being Anton Bruckner.
The unique sound of a boys‘ choir, which only a few remaining institutions in the world still cultivate today, continues to be in great demand at well-known music festivals and in major opera productions.
Over the past decades, the choir has visited all corners of the world and has taken part in major music festivals (among them the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Festival, the Festival d’Aix en Provence) and it has performed with some of the most famous orchestras (Vienna Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra,…) and conductors time and again. Franz Welser-Möst, the general music director of the Vienna State Opera, is honorary president of the association “Friends of the St. Florian Boys’ Choir”.Soloists of the St. Florian Boys’ Choir sing roles composed for boys (for ex.
“Three Boys” in Mozart’s Magic Flute) in large opera houses (among them Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Verona, Barcelona, Aix en Provence, …) on a regular basis.
With an aim towards expanding the repertoire of the Boy s’ Choir, the Men’s Choir of the St. Florian Boys’ Choir was founded in 1989. Its ranks are made up for the most part of former Choir Boys who have continued to receive voice training and/or become professional singers, some of whom also perform in other renowned ensembles.
Soloists who are members of the Men’s Choir also form small ensembles, which perform mostly in concerts by the Boys’ Choir and sometimes also as groups in their own right. The extensive discography which the St. Florian Boys’ Choir has to show for itself includes traditional Austrian music, volkslieder and Christmas songs as well as recordings of early music in collaboration with renowned special ensembles performing on historic instruments.
Markus Stumpner became choir master in September 2018 and Franz Farnberger has been artistic director since 1983.
