Vienna Boys' Choir seeds city with friendship and joy

“This is the best show I’ve ever seen,” said 7-year-old Zixuan to his mom as they followed a mesmerized crowd out of Shenzhen Concert Hall on Saturday night.

The Joseph Haydn ensemble of the Vienna Boys’ Choir had just concluded their performance at the venue, with some audience members still humming Johann Strauss Sr.’s familiar “Radetzky March,” an encore piece from the show. Many families brought their children to the concert, where the little ones joyfully joined in singing a birthday song and clapping along with the rhythm near the end of the show, as it marked the 17th anniversary of Shenzhen Concert Hall and coincided with one choir member’s birthday.

The Vienna Boys’ Choir and Shenzhen’s Chanson de Montagne Multiethnic Children’s Choir during their rehearsal with pianist and conductor Jimmy Chiang at Shenzhen Concert Hall on Saturday afternoon. Photos courtesy of Vienna Boys’ Choir

Shenzhen’s Chanson de Montagne Multiethnic Children’s Choir collaborated on two songs with the Vienna guests — a folk piece with yodeling and the catchy Chinese song “Jasmine Flower.”

Throughout the nearly two-hour performance, the Vienna boys showcased various pieces, including pop songs like "Hail, Holy Queen" from the movie “Sister Act” and "The Prayer" from the animated film “Quest for Camelot,” as well as witty folk songs like “Túrót Eszik a Cigány” (“The Gypsy is Eating Cottage Cheese”) by Hungarian musician Zoltán Kodály. They also presented classical vocal pieces, such as Schubert’s “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”).

The boys exhibited excellent vocal skills honed through rigorous training, delivering pitch-perfect interpretations, particularly impressive in their renditions of art songs and opera excerpts. The audience, however, was most enthusiastic during the performance of Chinese songs like “A Flowing Creek” and “Song of the Yangtze River.”

Pianist and conductor Jimmy Chiang, who led Saturday’s concert, shared with the Shenzhen Daily before the show that his choice of repertoire was inspired by the Danube and Yangtze Rivers, symbolizing the cultural exchanges between Europeans and Chinese. “The rivers represent the interconnectedness and mutual influences of diverse cultures,” he said.

Members of the Vienna Boys’ Choir and Shenzhen’s Chanson de Montagne Multiethnic Children’s Choir chat during the interval of their rehearsal at Shenzhen Concert Hall on Saturday afternoon.

Chiang, born in Hong Kong, educated in the United States, and currently based in Vienna, has been integrating Chinese music into their programs since leading the Vienna Boys’ Choir on a China tour in 2015.

In 2019, commemorating both the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and the 20th anniversary of the choir’s debut in China, Chiang featured “I Love You, China” as a prominent song in their program. Despite most boys not speaking Mandarin, Chiang found ways to convey the emotions behind the Chinese songs, because “deep-rooted sentiments for one’s homeland are universally understood.”

“The challenges of training a group of boys between 10 and 14 lie in the sometimes instability of their performances; they may need some pep talk on certain days,” Chiang said. “I also need to continuously train soloists, as boy sopranos and altos may have different voices once they hit puberty,” he added, noting that these changes may open up opportunities for spotting new talent and can be exciting.

Apart from the Chanson de Montagne Multiethnic Children’s Choir, the Vienna ensemble engaged with another local boys’ choir, the charmingly named Beluga.

Tian Wei, the touring manager and an official with the Friends of the Vienna Boys’ Choir Club, met with representatives from the Beluga Boys’ Choir and local music industry insiders Saturday afternoon. “I am pleased to learn that Shenzhen also hosts a boys’ choir and am eager to share our resources with them, aiding in their improvement and global presence,” she said.

Sammi Li, the head of operations at Shenzhen-based C Music Center and a co-founder of the Beluga Boys’ Choir, expressed her intention to draw from the Vienna ensemble’s experience.

“Music is a universal language, and I hope that the Beluga boys will help forge stronger ties with Shenzhen’s sister cities,” said Huang Xiaoshu, secretary general of Shenzhen Revitalization Symphony Development Foundation, an NGO sponsoring music events, ensembles, and musicians in the city.