The roots of the Vienna Boys' Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben ) go back to the 13th century. For centuries, the choir was attached to the royal Austrian court. In the late 15th century, the choir was part of the court music of Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor, who moved the court from Innsbruck to Vienna.
Among the choir's duties nowadays are the Sunday services in the Imperial Chapel, appearances at official state occasions, concerts in Vienna and abroad as well as appearances in the Vienna State Opera and Volksoper. The Vienna Boys' Choir is divided into four sub-groups or touring choirs. The choirs are of equal standing; the tours, appearances in Vienna and recording projects are shared among them. Each choir has a choirmaster, and two tutors or prefects who travel with the boys.Each choir spends about 11 weeks of the academic year on tour; each choir boy sings around 80 performances a year.
The choirs are named after famous Austrian composers associated with the choir's history: Bruckner, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert. The choir still performs much of their music. The “Brucknerchor” is the touring group of the Vienna Boys Choir that will be performing four concerts in Ireland, including one at The Royal Castlebar Theatre and Event Centre on Saturday November 15. This season, Brucknerchor has 23 members, nine of whom are new to the choir. This makes them the youngest of the four groups with an average age of 11. The boys come from Vienna, Lower Austria, Salzburg, the Tyrol, and from Germany, some have Chinese, Japanese, Indian or Congolese roots. Three choirboys are from the USA. The choirmaster is Manolo Cagnin.
The choir is currently preparing for an Asian tour; for the first time ever, the Vienna Boys' Choir will pay a visit to Vietnam. In late autumn, the group will travel to Germany and Switzerland, and they will be in Hasselt, Belgium, for one concert.
