The vienna boys’ choir travels to the Count Basie Theatre to celebrate the holiday season in song

by Jon Domenick •Photo by Lukas Beck

Leonardo da Vinci. Christopher Columbus. Vasco de Gama. These names are legends reserved for the history books, but when the Vienna Boys’ Choir comes to town, we have one that can be discussed as contemporaries. Founded the same year da Vinci’s “ The Last Supper” was completed, the Choir was, for all intents and purposes, established by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I on June 30, 1498, who ordered his court to employ a singing master, two basses, and six boys to provide music for Sunday Mass in the city of Hufburgkapelle’s Imperial Chapel. Fast forward 600-plus years, 423 CD releases, and the addition of its very own Vienna concert hall, MuTh, and one starts to wonder why The Beatles’ ten-year career is considered such a big deal. Composer legends who have worked with the Choir include Heinrich Isaac, Paul Hofhaimer, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Antonio Salieri, Mozart, Franz Schubert, and Anton Bruckner. Its current lineup—100 choristers between the ages of nine and 14, divided into four touring choirs, gives some 300 concerts each year. And while traveling the globe, the choir somehow managed new accomplishments in 2016. First, it performed in Indonesia for the first time at the Ciputra Artpreneur Theater in Kuningan, South Jakarta, as part of an October Asian tour, and featured the Choir’s first Filipino performer (12-year-old Lance Castro) on November 11 in a Manila concert. Fortunately for Garden State residents and visitors, this institution (“ The angelic voices of this vocal group are ageless,” described the Salt Lake Tribune) will bring its acclaimed Christmas in Vienna show to the Count Basie Theatre on December 12—showcasing sopranos and altos in a performance of Austrian folk songs, classical masterpieces, popular tunes, and, of course, holiday favorites.

Count Basie Theatre 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank / 732.224.8778 / countbasietheatre.org