Phoenix Boys Choir
Biography
Founded in 1947, the Phoenix Boys Choir has programs featuring training in voice, music theory, and performance for boys age 7 to 14. The Phoenix Boys Choir, through educating boys in the art of singing and performing the finest music in the boy choir tradition, develops character, discipline, leadership, global awareness, and a strong commitment to excellence, thereby contributing to the greater Phoenix musical life and enhancing Arizona’s cultural reputation nationally and internationally. The Phoenix Boys Choir guarantees every member a world-class music education and one of the most significant experiences of his life. Currently, there are approximately 125 young boys and men participating.
Each year, the Phoenix Boys Choir offers a full season of concert performances offering a wide repertoire from classical to popular selections. In its sixty years of history, the choir has frequently collaborated with other cultural arts organizations such as the Arizona Opera, the Phoenix Symphony, the Bach Choir and Orpheus Male Chorus.
Beginning with the Training Choir, boys can progress to Cadet, Town and Tour choirs, and upon graduation, participate in the Master’s Choir. When the boys reach the performance levels of Town and Tour Choir, they have the opportunity to travel nationally and internationally.
They record CDs, participate in music festivals, sing with other professional groups and even host touring choirs. Members of the Phoenix Boys Choir have performed for four United States Presidents and with name entertainers such as Doc Severinsen, Stevie Wonder, and Keith Lockhart conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Accomplishments
One of the most prestigious awards bestowed upon the Phoenix Boys Choir was received in the summer of 2007 during the European concert tour in July. The Choir participated in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival at the renowned Musikverein concert hall in Vienna in which the Phoenix Boys Choir won first place.
The Choir won a 2000 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for its recording of Penderecki’s Credo with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Helmuth Rilling. Credo is one of eight compact discs featuring the Choir, the most recent being Joy To The World.
The Phoenix Boys Choir was invited by the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) to perform at their conference in New York City and sing at Carnegie Hall. Our boys have sung with the ACDA honor choirs in Chicago, Honolulu and Los Angeles in recent years. The Tour Choir was most recently invited to sing at the ACDA 2010 conference in Tucson, Arizona.
The Choir has sung in major venues in Europe, historical cathedrals around the world, and have been named Cultural Ambassadors to the European Union.
In December of 2002, we were named an Honorary Phoenix Point of Pride by the Honorable Skip Rimza, Mayor of Phoenix. The Phoenix Boys Choir shares this honor only with the Phoenix Suns and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Choir has performed with the Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, Phoenix Chorale, Orpheus Chorus, collaborated with St. Mary’s Food Bank, The Salvation Army, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Celebrity Fight Night, at Alice Cooper’s Christmas Pudding, at conventions, weddings and has sung the National Anthem for the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Coyotes, Arizona Rattlers and the Arizona Cardinals.
The Phoenix Boys Choir made a special appearance on the Tutenstein float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2006, performing an original work by a former choir boy and composer, Lance Horne, entitled “The Pharaoh Strut” alongside Diana DeGarmo.
The Tour Choir most recently toured to Japan in the summer of 2009, Canada in the summer of 2010 and to Eastern Europe and the Balkan States in the summer of 2011. The Tour Choir has also just returned from a West Coast Tour with Columbia Artists Management of “The Lord of the Rings In Concert: The Fellowship of the Ring” singing alongside the Pacific Chorale and the Munich Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Ludwig Wicki performing Howard Shore’s complete Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning score.
