St. Florian Boys' Choir

The convent St. Florian located in the heart of Austria (between the music metropolis’ Vienna and Salzburg) is not only one of Austria’s most magnificent baroque structures, but is also one of the most significant cultural centres. Founded in 1071 the St. Florian Boys’ Choir is one of the Boys’ Choirs with the most tradition in the world. The famous composer Anton Bruckner, who was buried under "his" organ in the convent cathedral, also emanated from the Boys' Choir, as did numerous other great musicians.

Production of sacred music is still one of the most important functions of the boys' choir. Apart from this, they are also musical ambassadors for Austria everywhere in the world. Throughout the past decade, the choir has travelled all over the world, participating in significant musical festivals (amongst others, the Salzburg Festival, Vienna Festival, Festival d’Aix en Provence) repeatedly cooperating with the famous orchestras (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Bruckner Orcherster …) and conductors. Franz Welser-Möst, director of the Cleveland Orchestra and former director of music of the Vienna State Opera, is the honorary president of the society "Friends of the St. Florian Boys' Choir".

Soloists of the St. Florian Boys' Choir regularly sing the parts composed for boys (e. g. the "Three Boys" in Mozart’s "Magic flute" in great opera houses (Vienna, Salzburg, Linz, Berlin, Verona, Barcelona, Aix en Provence, amongst others) and on CD (Rene Jacobs).

With an aim towards expanding the repertoire of the Boy s’ Choir, the Men’s Choir of the St. Florian Boys’ Choir was founded in 1989. Its ranks are made up for the most part of former Choir Boys who have continued to receive voice training and/or become professional singers, some of whom also perform in other renowned ensembles.

Soloists who are members of the Men’s Choir also form small ensembles, which perform mostly in concerts by the Boys’ Choir and sometimes also as groups in their own right. 

The wide range of discography of the St. Florian Boys' Choir does not only comprise traditional Austrian music, folk music and Christmas carols, but also recordings of old music in cooperation with renowned prestigious ensembles on historical instruments.

The director of music ever since 1983, has been Franz Farnberger, who, after completing his studies in Vienna, conducted the Vienna Boys' Choir for eight years and was also teaching at the Anton Bruckner University.

Conductor、Artistic Director: Franz Farnberger

"Singing is our musical mother tongue. If it is promoted during childhood, it remains a valuable asset for a person’s entire lifetime."

- Franz Farnberger

After completion of studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Franz Farnberger served as the conductor of the Vienna Boys’ Choir for seven years. In this function he conducted more than 800 concerts all over the globe.

Since 1983 he has been Artistic Director of the St. Florian Boys’ Choir, responsible for the musical formation of the boys, rehearsal of repertoire and concert conducting in Austria and abroad. Under his direction the choir has recorded numerous CDs and made television appearances.

He has been responsible for the rehearsal preparation of the chorus and soloists in well-known festivals (including Salzburg Festpiele, Vienna Festwochen) and in renowned opera houses (et al. Theater an der Wien, Berlin Comic Opera, Aix en Provence, Luxembourg, Vienna State Opera). In the field of early music he has worked in close collaboration with Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria.

Farnberger nearly always conducts the concerts from the piano. He is also active as a pianist (in recent years, primarily as an accompanist for Alois Mühlbacher) and teaches at the Anton Bruckner Private University in Linz.

He sees his most important goal as helping children engage with music on a high level, but with priority always being placed on taking joy in singing.

Junior Artistic Director: Markus Stumpner

Born 1991 in Upper Austria, he was a member of the St. Florian Boys Choir from 2000 to 2006, where he soon became one of the leading soprano soloists. As a member of the choir he toured in numerous concerts world-wide. As a soloist, he performed, among other roles, the second child spirit in Mozart's Magic Flute and the leading role, Miles, in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw in major opera houses (including Berlin, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence).

After graduating from  the Adalbert Stifter Gymnasium (secondary school) in 2010, he studied voice (Kurt Azesberger) and Choral Conducting (Georg Leopold) at the Anton Bruckner Private University, receiving his Bachelors with honours.

Since autumn 2017 he has served as  Assistant Artistic Director to Prof. Franz Farnberger with the St. Florian Boys Choir, with whom he had worked as a vocal instructor since 2013.

Soloist: Alois Mühlbacher

Alois Mühlbacher, born in 1995 in Hinterstoder, created excitement and garnered widespread attention even as a child soloist in the St. Florian Boys’ Choir with his spectacular CD recordings (including Queen of the Night, Zerbinetta, Lieder by Gustav Mahler). Franz Welser-Möst ("Never in my life have I heard such a boy’s voice") and Joan Holender engaged the fifteen-year-old for the Vienna Staatsoper (as the Young Shepherd in "Tannhäuser"), and later he sang the part of Oberto there in "Alcina" under the direction of Marc Minkowski, of which a live DVD was released by Arthouse. In the"Magic Flute" recording under Rene Jacobs, he sings the role of the "First Boy".

With the Boys’ Choir, to which he still feels bound today, he made concert tours around the world, and as soprano soloist he celebrated great triumphs on the stages of international concert halls (among others, he sang the soprano solo in Mahler’ s 4th Symphony in the Salzburg Festspielhaus, and in Tokyo, the role of Yniold in "Pelleas et Melisande"). He was a soloist in "Christmas in Vienna", and a 30-minute documentary about him was broadcast on ORF and ARTE.

Almost without interruption, his career continued as a countertenor: he sang at the Grand Opening gala for the new Vladivostok Opera House, at the New Years’ Eve Concert by the Mozarteum Orchestra in the Grosse Festspielhaus, in operas (Orlofsky in "Die Fledermaus", Apollo in "Apollo et Hyacinthus") and oratorios (Daniel in "Susanna" under Martin Haselböck in the Grosse Musikvereinssaal). He was the alto soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Munich, Herkulessaal), in the B minor Mass (Grosser Musikvereinssaal), Händel’s Messiah and took part in Christmas in Vienna (Konzerthaus Wien).

As a result of years of working with the Ensemble Ars Antiqua Austria (Gunar Letzbor), his solo voice is documented from Choir Boy age up to the present on numerous CD recordings of, primarily, Austrian baroque music. In addition, four solo CDs have been released to date of Alois with Franz Farnberger on piano (arias from operas and operettas, Lieder, duets).

His special passion, though, is singing lieder. Together with his partner, the pianist Franz Farnberger, he has already given numerous "Liederabend" concerts (among others, in the Kristallsaal in Waidhofen, at the Bruckner Days in St. Florian, and at the Bruckner House in Linz). In that tradition, his unmistakable, supple and versatile vocal timbre enables his repertoire, which is unusual and broad for a countertenor; it spans the gamut from Schubert to Richard Strauss. Parallel to his work as a singer, he took a degree in acting in Linz.