On October 4 and 5, our school hosted the Vienna Boys’ Choir. On October 4, they had a nice time in Ayb before the concert, and on October 5, they visited Ayb School and performed with Ayb girls’ choir.
At first Ayb Host Team organized a tour for them in the school and presented the robotics laboratory which excited the guests, then they had a master class of Armenian national dance Kochari. At the end of the visit, both Ayb girls’ choir and Vienna Boys’ Choir performed on the stage of the Hayastan hall. The event was closed with the song “Erebuni – Yerevan” performed by both choirs together.
During our talk with the children of the Vienna choir, they told us that they were very impressed by the environment of Ayb. The 11-year-old Hankie, who is the youngest boy in the choir, was highly impressed by the colorful walls and slides at school. Alexandre, who is 13 years old, liked the educational program of Ayb most of all: “It is a pleasure to be here. That is very cool for me. We cannot choose what to study or not study in our schools, while that is possible here in Ayb. Studying here is fun and interesting.”
The choirmaster of the boys’ choir Oliver Stech said that the talented boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries. They are of the ages of ten to fourteen and have been selected through a special listening test.
We should mention that the Vienna Boys’ Choir visited Yerevan in the beginning of October within the framework of the Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival.
They performed for Armenian audience in the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall.
The Vienna Boys’ Choir was founded in 1498 by the order of Maximilian I. The Haydn Brothers and Schubert were members of the choir.
Sergey Badalyan
12th grade