Established by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in 1498, the Vienna Boys’ Choir is not just the world’s most famous youth choir, but also one of Europe’s longest-running cultural institutions. Consisting of twenty-four trebles and altos ages ten to fourteen, the ensemble brings their senza vibrato sound to a repertoire ranging from motets and Lieder to contemporary folk and new music.

“The mix of purity and lung power, childlike simplicity and mature command of breath control and phrasing, is what this ensemble is all about,” declares The Washington Post. The Vienna Boys’ Choir open the Vocal Ensemble Series at Duke Performances with a program that will be announced over the summer; it is certain to include ecclesiastical essentials from the likes of Monteverdi and Bach alongside familiar tunes from beyond the European canon.

ENGLAND

Henry Purcell: Come Ye Sons of Art, from Ode for the birthday of Queen Mary

Thomas Weelkes: The Nightingale, from Ayres for Three Voices

Benjamin Britten: Fishing Song, from Friday Afternoons, op. 7

FRANCE

Georges Bizet: Avec la Garde montante (With the Guard on Duty), from Carmen

Francis Poulenc: Ave Verum Corpus (Hail, True Body)

Gérard Lenorman: La Ballade des gens heureux (Ballad of Happy People)

ITALY

Claudio Monteverdi: Ave Maria (Hail Mary)

Giuseppe Verdi: Va’, pensiero, sull’ali dorate (Fly, Thought, on Golden Wings), from Nabucco

ARABIA – ANDALUSIA

Medieval Muwashshah: Lamma Bada Yatathanna (As She Began to Dance)

VIENNA

Johann Strauss II: Tausend und eine Nacht (A Thousand and One Nights), op. 346

Franz Schubert: Ständchen (Serenade), D 920

Johann Strauss II: Vergnügungszug (Pleasure Train), op. 281

Josef Strauss: Matrosenpolka (Sailors’ Polka), op. 52

INDIA – PUNJAB

Amir Khusro Dahlavi: Man kunto maula (Whose Master I May Be)

CHINA

Shouxin “Er” Nie (George Njai): Mai bao ge (Paper Boy)

JAPAN

Hokkaido Sea Shanty: Sōran bushi (When We Hear the Seagulls Squawking)

UNITED STATES

Traditional: Shenandoah

Traditional Arapaho: Kainawad Naad (Song of the Spirit Dance)

Traditional African American Spiritual/Moses Hogan: I Am His Child

Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman: Medley from the motion picture Mary Poppins

IRELAND

Irish folk song, ascribed to Rory Dall O’Cahan: Danny Boy/Londonderry Air

ENGLAND

Paul McCartney: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

BACK TO VIENNA

Johann Strauss II: An der schönen blauen Donau (Blue Danube) op. 314

Program subject to change