This was in the paper yesterday. I am shocked, because now it is not special for boys they won't bother. That is what happened in the UK. Girls are allowed in and the boys go off to football instead because singing becomes a thing anyone can do. If someone says "oh singing is girly" then the boys give up. If a boys choir is only boys then it can't be girly - its a boys thing. The Vienna Boys' Choir school let girls in in 1997 I think, but said they would only be in the school NEVER the choir. I wonder what they will be called now.....
Anyway here is the press article
ONE of the last bastions of male domination in the west may be about to disappear forever. The world-famous Vienna Boys Choir has admitted it can no longer get enough male recruits. And so, after 400 years, the choir is finally set to open its doors to female singers.
The boys in the choir live at the imposing Palais Augarten boarding school and are all individually interviewed before being accepted for a place. Many famous composers have worked with the choral group, including Mozart, Hofhaimer and Bruckner, and the choir perform nearly 300 concerts each year in front of a staggering 500,000 people. But the pressure of not having enough regular recruits has finally told.
It comes just months after the Austrian Times reported that Vienna’s Spanish Riding School has also lifted its 436-year-old men-only tradition.
RIP Vienna Boys' Choir
The German homepage of the Choir www.wsk.at tells at the moment they have 100 active boys singing in 4 concert choirs. The pics they show are just pics of boys. They tell about different schools linked to the Vienna Boys choir but they do not tell anything about girls
ReplyDeleteTherefore I doubt that that press article is correct.
That is bloody stupid!!!!! I know there is suppose to be equality of the sexes but some things are just taken too far !!!!!
ReplyDeletemidnight
I hope that you are right Anonymous. It hasn't happened yet at least (it was only announced this week) and I'm sure people will protest but for what it is worth here is the link to the Newspaper article:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/135598/World-famous-boys-choir-to-admit-girls-after-400-years-
The initial story is apparently false. A subsequent article in the Austrian Times (10/23/09). I tried to copy the url but was unable to do so. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI found today a German article http://www.welt.de/die-welt/vermischtes/article4919312/Den-Saengerknaben-fehlt-der-Nachwuchs.html
ReplyDeleteThe Welt is a very good German newspaper.
It states too that they have difficulties to get enough boys. This article says girls are allowed to join their kindergarten and their primary school but not allowed to join the choirs.
They quote also Gerald Wirth the conductor. He says he can not think that girls will ever sing in the choirs.
Anonymous says...
ReplyDeleteI have heard a rumor that The Vienna Boy's Choir cuts off the testicles of the boys to keep them from going through puberty to keep the voices higher. Is that true?
Don't worry, The Vienna boys chor wil be forever a boys chor.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and the boys in the choir will forever stay boys too, without balls, eh?
ReplyDeletewww.newser.com/story/142261/dutch-catholics-castrated-at-least-10-teens-in-1950s.html
Wicked!..