The Cathedral Boys' Choir
The oldest choir at any cathedral, and the one with the richest traditions, is usually its boys' choir.
However, due to wartime damage written evidence for the boys' choir at Hildesheim Cathedral is sadly difficult to find, yet the renown of the Hildesheim Cathedral School (today the Bischöfliches Gymnasium Josephinum) goes back a thousand years, allowing us to be sure that a boys school always existed to provide liturgical music for the Cathedral.
In August 2010 directorship of the Boys' Choir passed from the cantor Stefan Mahr to the Cathedral’s musical director Thomas Viezens. The current size of the Boys' Choir is such that it cannot perform polyphonic works by itself and, therefore, in addition to their Schola singing, the boys sing periodically alongside the main Cathedral Choir in services. Apart from their part in the services of the Cathedral chapter, it is primarily in concerts (such as the final concert before the closure of the Cathedral, in which they performed in Widor’s Mass for Two Choirs, Rheinberger’s oratorio “The Star of Bethlehem” and their part in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in December 2011) and tours together with the Cathedral Choir that the involvement of the Cathedral Boys' Choir is particularly appealing.
In previous years the Boys' Choir was especially involved in children’s musicals, which they created together with the two sections of the Girls’ Choir and the Children’s and Young People's Choirs of the parishes of St. Lamberti and Paul-Gerhardt.
In 2014 it is planned to hold an Advent concert together with the Girls’ Choir and the Children’s and Young People's Choirs of St. Lamberti, while in summer 2015 a work commissioned, “Jesus! A Life in Eight Scenes” from Wolfgang Teichman, will be a shared ecumenical project as usual.
The task of training the boys’ voices is undertaken by Stephan Freiberger. Once a boy’s voice breaks, he continues to receive individual training so that he can join the men’s voices in the Hildesheim Cathedral Choir once the voice transition is complete.
Anybody interested in joining the Cathedral Boys’ Choir is warmly invited to drop in to one of the regular rehearsals.
Boys’ Choir Rehearsals
From School Year 1
Wednesdays, 4 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. (except during school holidays)