On Thursday, October 17, a historic meeting of two cultures representing five centuries of glorious music-making, will take place in the Great Hall of The City College of New York at 8 p.m. when the Vienna Choir Boys (whose 504-year history is closely intertwined with such master composers of the ages as Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, and Bruckner) and the Boys Choir of Harlem (who combine the tradition of the European boy choir with the African-American church choir) perform together for the first time in the U.S..  The concert, Songs in the Key of Harmony, will benefit both choirs and the School of Education at the City College of New York.  Each choir will sing a selection of works for which they are best known, and then will join together for a beautiful merging of their European and American cultures and traditions.  Preceding the concert will be a cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m. for benefit ticket holders.

Concert tickets are $50 and $100.  Benefit tickets are $250.  All tickets can be purchased by calling 212/843-1755.  

The Vienna Choir Boys and the Boys Choir of Harlem have sung together just once before: at the 1999 New Year’s Eve Strauss-Gershwin gala at the Musikverein in Vienna.  In a review ot the DVD released of the gala, Amazon.com wr-ote: “The American-Austrian partnership [is illustrated] superbly [when] the Boys Choir of Harlem joins the Vienna Choir Boys in The Blue Danube. The sense of joy is pervasive and infectious.”

Though separated by five centuries, the Vienna Choir Boys and the Boys Choir of Harlem have much in common.  Both groups are known worldwide for the pure quality of their voices; both have a repertoire that ranges from classical to pop music; and both choirs succeed because of the hard work and discipline of their members.

The Vienna Choir Boys was established more than half a millennium ago in 1498 by Emperor Maximilian I of Austria to sing sacred music for Sunday services in the Imperial Chapel, a tradition that continues to this day.  From its inception, the Imperial Music Chapel has always attracted Europe’s foremost composers to write music specifically for the special talents of the Vienna Choir Boys, and their ever-expanding repertoire includes everything from sacred and classical music, waltzes and polkas to pop, jazz and experimental music.  The Vienna Choir Boys, comprising four choirs of 24 members aged 10 to 14, tour widely on six continents and have visited the United States more than 80 times since their first tour here in 1932.  While touring, the Vienna Choir Boys have also learned folk songs from many lands, which are now incorporated into their standard repertoire.  All of Vienna’s schoolchildren aged six to 14 are now benefiting from the musical training provided to the Vienna Choir Boys in a special after-school music program recently introduced by the Choir School.

Following the October 17 benefit, the Vienna Choir Boys, conducted by choirmaster Robert Rieder, will embark on a tour that will take them to more than 40 cities in the U.S. and Canada.  They will return to New York for their annual Carnegie Hall Christmas concert in December.

The Boys Choir of Harlem, founded in 1968, is a beloved academy serving over 500 boys and girls.  This celebrated artistic institution has captured the spirit of a vibrant community and used it to create a potent and powerful vision.  The Boys Choir of Harlem has an artistic repertoire ranging from classical music to jazz, contemporary songs, gospel, spirituals, and specially commissioned works by leading African-American composers.

The Boys Choir of Harlem program evolves directly from a vision of consistent, compassionate, communal strength in raising children.  It builds

on the African philosophy of “it takes a whole village to raise a child,” combined with a commitment to classical or character education, which instills basic values and stresses discipline, hard work, cooperation, and goal-oriented behavior that affect all aspects of children’s lives.

With music as the motivator and catalyst, The Boys Choir of Harlem engages students in the educational process, opens them up to learning, and provides the vehicle through which they are able to transfer the skills they learn through the arts.#