boys choirVIENNA
Photo Credit: Lukas Beck
THEATRE STAFF
Founder & Executive Director Jason Goedken
Founder & Artistic Consultant Whitney Morse
Artistic Director Angel Creeks
Director of Operations Jon Cronin
Director of Business Sean Graham
Director of People, Projects & Culture ....................... Leslie Becker
Development Director .......... Yasmeen Stogden
Marketing Director ........Monica Berdecio, MA
Booking & Contracts Manager ......Sierra Weiss
Senior Manager of Technical Operations Clay Becker
Technical Production Manager Andrea Huneycutt
Assistant Production Manager Madi Carr
Deck & Facilities Coordinator Tony Fairchild
Lighting Supervisor Ally Southgate
Associate Lighting Supervisor Dio Raquel Jr.
Production Swing Nichole Pollack Manager of Patron Services Alec Speers
Assistant Manager of Patron Services .............................. Tina Carroll
Assistant Manager of Patron Services ...........................Lonnie Goertz
Assistant Manager of Patron Services Savannah Rose Parker
Marketing & Social Media Coordinator ...........................Natalie Bollinger
Marketing Account Manager ........ Erika Nelson
Graphic Designer ......................... Krissi Kugler
Lead Housekeeper ....................... Victoria Doss Ad Sales ... marketing@significantproductions.org
SIGNIFICANT PRODUCTIONS BOARD
President .................................................................................................. Elliot Sussman, MD, MBA
Vice President ..................................................................................................... Marcus Bridgewater
Treasurer
Secretary
Donna Taylor
Elizabeth Constant
Board Member ............................................................................................................ Jason Goedken
The Sharon®L. Morse
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Dear Patron of the Arts,
Welcome to The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center!
This year marks a very special milestone—10 years since The Sharon first opened its doors. What began in 2015 as a bold dream has grown into a vibrant home for live performance, rooted in the adventurous and artistic spirit of my grandmother, Sharon L. Morse.
Over the past decade, we’ve been honored to earn your trust, show by show, standing ovation by standing ovation. Whether you’re here tonight to experience a beloved Broadway tour, a favorite artist, or something entirely new, know that every performance has been thoughtfully curated by our passionate team of artists and arts administrators.
As we celebrate our first ten years, we’re also stepping into an exciting new chapter: The Sharon is now proudly powered by Significant Productions, a registered nonprofit dedicated to creating meaningful, memorable arts experiences in our community. With this new foundation, we’re not only preserving what makes The Sharon special, we’re building toward a future filled with bold ideas, diverse stories, and even more opportunities to surprise and delight you.
Thank you for being part of this journey. We’re so glad you’re here. Enjoy the show, and here’s to the next ten years of discovery, connection, and applause.
See You at The Sharon,
Whitney Morse
Founder & Artistic Consultant
Significant Productions
ART. ARTISTS. AUDIENCE. SIGNIFICANT PRODUCTIONS (SIGPRO) is a Non-Profit arts organization that operates The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center (The Sharon) & The Studio Theatre Tierra del Sol (The Studio).
OUR MISSION; SigPro cultivates a diverse collaborative community with a focus on artists' well-being that strives to provoke thought and spark conversation through high quality performing arts.
OUR TEAM MEMBERS
We believe that fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace is essential for the creation of exceptional art. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion extends to our employees. This ensures every individual who contributes to our productions feels valued and empowered. We actively promote a workplace culture that embraces differences and encourages collaboration among our diverse team of artists, technicians, administrators, and volunteers.
Thank
You FOR SUPPORTING SIGNIFICANT PRODUCTIONS
STANDING OVATION
$2,022 A YEAR
Robert & Joan Jalbert
Jim & Dee Judd
Andy Pawlowski
Elliot Sussman
John Swartz
ENCORE ENTHUSIASTS
$60 A MONTH
Celeste Hankins
John Hilt
April Linscott
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Jim Ward
ARTS AMBASSADORS
$30 A MONTH
Marie Connolly
Mary Homko
Russell Jones
Bob & Diane Kendi
Honey & David Kirk
Edward & Gayle Labuda
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Holly Nicholson
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Bonnie Park
Karen & Clarence Russell Jr.
Patricia Schlemmer
Donna Silver
Donna Taylor
Jan & Dave Thomas
Bob & Iris Trinh
Barbara & John Van Dyke
Melissa Warner
DEDICATIONS
Ursula Becker
Derek Mumford
Peg Fiore
Alice Stogden
Jackson L. Straub III, M.D.
Lorraine Torgerson
Thank you to our Vibe Setters and anonymous donors.
PRIVATE BOX experience
ENJOY YOUR NEXT SHOW AT THE SHARON LIKE A VIP!
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• Private lounge for the evening, including home-like furnishings, restroom, and direct access to the auditorium box for comfortable viewing of your show.
• Upgrades available such as a private bartender or personalized celebratory furnishings.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO CREATING AN EXPERIENCE TO REMEMBER!
To explore accommodations and availability, please contact VIP@SignificantProductions.org
PROGRAM
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
Wiener Sängerknaben
Made In Austria
Manuel Huber, conductor
Jacobus Gallus (c. 1550–1591)
Confirma hoc Deus (Confirm this, oh God)
Words: Psalm 68(67):29
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Ave Maria (Hail Mary) in A (1865)
Solo to be announced from the stage
César Franck (1822–1890)
Panis angelicus (Bread of Angels), FWV 61 (1860)
Words: Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274); Arr. Atanas Atanassov
Rudolf Sieczyński (1879–1952)
Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume (Vienna, City of My Dreams), opus 1 (1912)
Arr. Gerald Wirth
Juchhe, Tiroler Bua (Hey, Tyrolean Lad)
Cattle driving song
Arr. Manuel Lanz
Ernst Thoma (*1955)
Mei Maadele, mei Tschurele (My girl, my curly-haired girl)
Words: Luis Stefan Stecher (*1937)
Arr. Manuel Lanz
Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
An der schönen blauen Donau, (Blue Danube), waltz opus 314 (1867)
Words: Franz von Gernerth (1821–1900); Arr. Gerald Wirth
Johann Strauss II
Tritsch-Tratsch Polka (Chit chat polka), fast polka opus 214 (1858)
Text: Tina Breckwoldt; Arr. Gerald Wirth
Johann Strauss II
Frühlingsstimmenwalzer (Voices of Spring) opus 410
Words: Richard Genée (1823–1895)
* * * INTERMISSION * * *
PROGRAM
Al maya (To the fountain)
Jordanian and Syrian traditional; Arr. Manuel Lanz
Waldemar Åhlén (1894–1982)
Sommarpsalm (Summer psalm) 1933
Words: Carl David af Wirsén (1842–1912)
BTS (방탄소년단)
Dynamite (2020)
Arr. Roger Emerson
Lee Hyun-chul (*1973)
San-Yu-Hwa
Words: Kim So-wol (1902–1934)
Carl Orff (1895–1982) and Gunild Keetman (1904–1990)
Six Dance Songs from Musica poetica I (1964)
Words from the Carmina burana
Tanz, Mädchen, tanz (Dance, Girl, Dance) | Jungfer in dem roten Rock (Maiden in the Red Skirt) | Rundadinella (Choral Round) | Tanzlied (Dance Song) | Der Wind weht (The Wind Blows) | Tanzlied (Dance Song)
Und wanns amal schen aper wird (And when it starts to thaw again)
Cattle driving song from Styria
Arr. Gerald Wirth
Die Jagd nach der Fliege (The Hunt for the Fly)
Austrian folk song
Johann Strauss II | Manuel Lanz
Blue Danube Blues
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Ode to Joy (Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee)
English words: Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933)
Arr. Mervyn Warren, from the film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Johann Strauss I (1804–1849) | Manuel Lanz
Radetzky Samba
Jorge Ben Jor (*1939)
Más, que nada! (No way)
Arr. Steve Zegree
Subject to change
BIOGRAPHIES
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
The Vienna Boys Choir is one of the most famous choirs in the world, and one of its oldest, boys have been singing at Vienna’s Imperial Chapel at least since 1296. Two hundred years later, on July 7, 1498, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. established a Court Chapel in Vienna. He gave specific instructions that there were to be boys among the singers, thus laying the foundation for the Vienna Boys Choir. Like their modern successors, the Early modern boys spent much time on the road, following their imperial employer to sing at the Holy Roman Empire’s parliamentary meetings, imperial coronations, weddings, state processions, and feasts.
Over the centuries, the Viennese court attracted musical geniuses like Heinrich Isaac, Johann Joseph Fux, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Composers Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn, and Franz Schubert sang as boys with the choir; Anton Bruckner gave them singing and piano lessons.
Today, the former imperial ensemble has grown into an entire campus; the modern Vienna Boys Choir is a private, non-profit organization which funds itself chiefly through income generated from concerts and touring, as well as donations and sponsorship deals. The Vienna Boys Choir maintains a primary school and a grammar school whose syllabuses focus on choral music and singing. 330 boys and girls between the ages of six and nineteen attend the schools on campus. All students have individual voice lessons, and all sing in one of the choirs. In addition to the four famous boys’ choirs, there is a female counterpart—the Vienna Girls Choir (Wiener Chormädchen) for girls aged 10 to 14, as well as the Chorus Primus, a mixed children’s chorus comprised of all boys and girls enrolled in the 4th grade of the choir’s primary school, and the Chorus Juventus, the mixed youth choir of the Senior High School. The Vienna Boys Choir’s education, listed by UNESCO as cultural heritage, is open to all, regardless of origin, gender, nationality, or religion.
There are currently 90 active boy choristers, divided into four boys’ choirs, which all perform as “Vienna Boys Choir”—Brucknerchor (Choirmaster Manolo Cagnin), Haydnchor (Choirmaster Jimmy Chiang), Mozartchor (Choirmaster Manuel Huber), and Schubertchor (Choirmaster Niccolò Morello). The four choirs share concerts, tours, sound recordings and filming equally. Between them, they perform almost 300 concerts per year, with almost half a million people attending. Since 1924, the choirs have completed more than 1000 tours in 100 different countries, clocking up a staggering 29,000 concerts.
On Sundays, the choirs take turns singing mass in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel, joining forces with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the men’s chorus of the Vienna State Opera. They frequently participate in large-scale symphonic concerts, performing under conductors like Joana Mallwitz, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, Simone Young, Franz Welser-Möst. Other highlights in the choirs’ calendars are appearances at the Salzburg Festival and at the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic.
The Vienna Boys Choir cooperates with several other charities, such as UNICEF, “Licht ins Dunkel” (Light into Darkness, an Austrian charity), and die moewe Child protection agency. Together with Caritas and the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Choir founded “superar”, an outreach program offering children access to free music education. In addition, the Vienna Boys Choir runs Chorus amabilis, a choir for adult singing enthusiasts, aimed particularly at pensioners.
In 2023, the Choir celebrated its 525th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Deutsche Grammophon released a live album of the anniversary concert in Vienna’s Musikverein, Decca Classics released a box set of 21 CDs featuring the Choir’s landmark recordings, and academic publishing house Böhlau released a book on the Choir’s rich history. In 2024, the Vienna Boys Choir and the Vienna Girls Choir jointly received the European Culture Award.
Erasmus Baumgartner was appointed Artistic Director of the Vienna Boys Choir in the fall of 2023.
www.ViennaBoysChoir.net
MANUEL HUBER, CONDUCTOR
Manuel Huber is one of the Vienna Boys Choir’s conductors and he also arranges music and lectures on choral conducting and voice training.
Huber was born in Brixen-Bressanone, South Tyrol. He started playing the piano and singing at a young age. For eight years, he sang with the Vinzentinum Boys’ Choir in Brixen. At 15, Manuel Huber started conducting the choirs in his native village of Weitental and began studying piano at Claudio Monteverdi Conservatory in Bolzano. He went on to study choral and orchestral conducting, music education, and psychology in Salzburg, finishing his courses with distinction.
He has conducted the Chamber Orchestra Budweis, the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mozarteum Symphony Orchestra. In 2017, he headed the youth project at an opera festival in Immling, Bavaria. For two years, he was choirmaster and voice coach of the Tölz Boys Choir in Munich.
In 2019, Manuel Huber became choirmaster of the Vienna Boys Choir’s Mozart Choir. He selects and rehearses the boys’ concert repertoire, as well as the masses for the sung services at Vienna’s Imperial Chapel. In addition, he prepares the choristers for sound recordings and film projects, and for special concerts conducted by the likes of Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Muti, and Franz Welser-Möst.
Asked about his work with his choir, Manuel Huber said, “I love our work together, the boys’ enthusiasm for music. My goal is to teach them the tools of the trade, to understand and feel music. It is wonderful to see them grow up and come into their own.”
ADMINISTRATION
Vienna Boys Choir Administration
Erich Arthold, President
Erasmus Baumgartner, Artistic Director
Tina Breckwoldt, Dramaturge
For Opus 3 Artists
Robert Berretta, Managing Director
Benjamin Maimin, Chief Operating Officer
Leonard Stein, Consulting Producer
Peter Katz, Manager, Touring Logistics
Sarah Vardigans, Company Manager
Leslie Beatrice, Director, Marketing & Creative
Exclusive Tour Management: Opus 3 Artists
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