Grazer Kapellknaben Austria

The Grazer Kapellknaben choir is a fairly recently formed boys choir in South East Austria in the Styria region (Steiermark in German). Despite being a new-ish choir they are pretty active. They enter competitions, perform loads of concerts and tour on a regular basis. They have recently been to Hungary and to the Ukraine.







They also often provide boys from the choir for opera performances and theatrical productions


These three below are appearing in a performance of the Magic Flute (there is another post on the Tolz Boys Choir with a video of the section that they are performing) Click here for a look The Graz boys are actually in costume (a bit odd for Mozart granted - and don't you just LOVE the mustaches!) whereas the Tolz Boys are just in a concert performance.



Here they are off on tour


In Greece


and the Ukraine



and one of the Host Families in the Ukraine


When they aren't busy rehearsing, giving concerts and touring they do get time off for good behaviour and have a bit of fun

Vienna Boys in a TV ad

I think this is a really good advert that the Vienna Boys Choir did for UEFA 2008 that was in Vienna. They are singing the beginning movement from Carmina Burana with drum beats provided by footballs. It shows you don't have to be serious the whole time. Enjoy

Bulgaria

The Choir Formation Plovdiv dates from 1999. It is a boys choir and also has the name (in English strangely) of Little Boys Choir Plovdiv. The have an active concert life in and around Plovdiv and also make recordings. They also join up with a music school choir and the academy for Music Dance and Arts.





They also have tours to places like Slovakia, Germany, Greece and Italy. Here they are in Rome and at St. Peter's in the Vatican.

This Month's Prize.....

.....for the nastiest choir uniform goes to The Australian Boys' Choir. I ask you, who designed those weird robes and white pointy collar things? Maybe they were sold off after a bad sci-fi movie in the 1970s. They could be the envoys of the dastardly ruler from the planet Spadone.


The Australian Boys' Choir is quite an old choir, founded in 1939 and is open to all boys with unbroken voices. I like this - you can sing as long as you have the soprano voice to do it. Looking at those pictures you can tell there are boys well in their teens. Keep up the good work Australian Boys' Choir. My only advice - get a new costume designer.

In the 1960s & 70s it wasn't much better either


I think they were trying to impress Maid Marion with this costume but were cut off at the pass by Friar Tuck who had run down the up escalator!

It's only when you go back to the 1950s and 1940s that they actually look normal

La Cage aux Rossignols

Since I posted a Youtube clip of Les Choristes I thought I had better do one of La Cage aux Rossignols too. Remember it is from 1944 so the singing style is pretty different. The choir is Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois and you can find some postings about them somewhere else in my blog.

La Nuit by Rameau

I meant to post this before but I forgot. This is a the most famous clip from Les Choristes and the soloist standing apart who joins in later is Jean-Baptiste Maunier. The Choir who actually acted and sang in the film was the Maîtrise de la Basilique de Fourvière in Lyon. Their other name is Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc. The choir was founded in 1986 and is actually a mixed choir of boys and girls. It's only the boys who perform in the film of course!



Here is another clip from the film where they sing Vois sur ton chemin. You get a good idea of the film in this clip. If you liked Dead Poets Society or The History Boys or even Mr. Holland's Opus you will love this. If you've not seen it GET IT.

Les Choristes

Les Choristes is a French film from 2004 (It's called The Chorus in some English speaking countries). Set in 1949, it tells the story of Clement Mathieu (played by comic actor Gerard Jugnot), a failed musician who finds himself working at Le Fond D'Etang - translated as The Rock Bottom - a school for unruly children.

The school is run on strict discipline. "Action - Reaction!" barks tyrannical headmaster Rachin (Francois Berleand) and this is the unthinking mantra for all staff at his Les Diaboliques-style institution. Mathieu's predecessor explains that the work is to provide the most perfunctory of education, while avoiding serious injury at the hands of the inmates. Pupils are beaten, bullied and isolated into obedience and suicides are common.

Of course, Mathieu doesn't accept this. On witnessing Rachin's brutal methods, he attempts to win over his class with kindness and understanding and when they mock him with song, he harnesses their enthusiasm by starting a choir. Of special interest to Mathieu is Pierre Morhange, a boy with the voice of an angel.





The film is actually a remake of the 1944 film called La Cage aux Rossignols (The Cage of Nightingales)


The film is practically identical but the ending and the beginning are different. Here are a few pics from La Cage aux Rossignols





Then there are a few pics which show the same scenes in both films




and the music stand.....



some more just general pics from Les Choristes



Next posting will be about the guys who actually sing in the film as well as some clips. Keep watching!