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23. 10. 09. - 13:00

Vienna Boys Choir admits recruiting troubles

By Thomas Hochwarter

Bosses at the world famous Vienna Boys Choir have dismissed speculation that they could be forced to accept girls as the search for new boy recruits becomes more difficult.

Gerald Wirth, creative director of the choir, refused to reveal figures but would not deny troubles casting boys interested joining the traditional institution.

"Many parents do not want their children to focus on just one matter so intensively," he said in today’s (Fri) edition of the German Die Welt newspaper.

Wirth admitted there were negative sides to studying at the Vienna Boys Choir. He said the boys perform around 300 times a year and tour for more than three months.

This means only around six months per year are left for normal schooling, Wirth explained, adding every singer practices at least two hours a day and also learns an instrument.

In recent years choir bosses have held an annual open day for both the young and old to get to know daily life in the institution.

Creative director Wirth said one of the biggest problems was the fact that all choir boys need to visit the institution’s boarding school.

"Boarding schools do not have the best image with Central European parents. We live in an individualistic society in which everybody is of the opinion that raising children at home is the best option," he said.

But despite difficulties and the prospect of its choirs shrinking over the next few years, Vienna Choir chiefs have ruled out accepting girls.

Wirth said girls’ voices sound "less clear" when they reach the "decisive age" and claimed girls could force boys out in the long run as they were more self-confident than their male contemporaries. "We do not want to risk becoming a boys choir without boys," he said.

Wirth sees other possibilities of leading the choir to new heights. He said he could imagine cooperating with the State Opera Ballet and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra over a TV casting format for interested boys.

"Why shouldn’t we dare to step on that territory?" Wirth asked, adding: "Our boys perform at Carnegie Hall and at the Sydney Opera, they work with (conductors) Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Zubin Mehta."

Wirth said he was optimistic about the prospect of a talent show for choir and classical singers. "Sooner or later, there’ll be a format which would be called ‘Austria seeks a Classical Star’," he said.

It may look unlikely that the Vienna Boys Choir will change its boys-only policy at any point, but if the move does become reality, it would come just months after the Spanish Riding School – another tourism flagship brand of Vienna tourism – lifted its 436-year-old men-only tradition.

British teenager Sojourner Morrell was one of the first two girls to be accepted by the Riding School since it was founded more than 400 years ago, but the 19-year-old recently decided to quit after sailing through a month-long probation period.

Morrell left at the start of a ten-year training programme. It was reported she had become frustrated that she could not take part in shows and performances earlier.

Barbara Sommersacher, a spokesman for the institution, said bosses were sorry to hear of Morrell’s decision, adding "Sojourner was one of the most talented young riders we have ever seen."

Sommersacher said another female student, 21-year-old Austrian Hannah Zeitlhofer, is still part of the programme to master the school's white Lipizzaner stallions.

Austrian Times

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