Moscow Boys Choir to perform Christmas concert December 13 in King Concert Hall

For more than 50 years now, the Moscow Boys Choir has been entertaining audiences around the world with its incredible sound. Rockefeller Arts Center at the State University of New York at Fredonia will present the choir in “Christmas Around the World” on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. in King Concert Hall.

Under the direction of Leonid Baklushin, the choir will offer renditions of holiday classics such as “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” “O Tannenbaum” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” This is a DFT Communications Pops Series event sponsored by the Dunkirk Observer as part of the Lake Shore Savings Season.

Founded in 1957, the Moscow Boys Choir is Russia’s most prestigious all-boys choir. In Moscow, members of the choir attend a special school called The Moscow Boys Capella that provides both general education and musical training. The touring company of The Moscow Boys Choir is hand-picked from the school’s more than 400 students.

In addition to talent, members of the choir must also have self-discipline. There is a level of honor for these boys to be members of the choir because they must work and study like everyone else. The boys traditionally begin their life in music as early as age five, but are not allowed to perform for audiences until age nine.

The choir made its U.S. debut in 1993 and has toured Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Scandinavia and South Korea. It has played such prestigious venues as the Bolshoi Theatre, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and the Kremlin. The choir also appeared in a Command Performance at The Royal Albert Hall in London for members of the British Royal Family.

During the 1996 U.S. Tour, the choir was invited to perform at the Crystal Cathedral in Southern California for the Rev. Robert Schuller’s “Hour of Power.” The performance was broadcast both nationally and internationally and was seen by a world-wide television audience. The choir was also featured in a recent CBS TV Christmas Eve Special and performed at the White House for President Clinton.

In 2004, the Moscow Boys Choir recorded a special performance on National Public Radio for airing on that network’s program, “Performance Today.” In 2005, they were invited by the City of Moscow to participate in a grand concert at Red Square for International Children’s Day where they performed their renditions of “Ave Maria” and “Evening Bells” with the famous tenor Andrea Bocelli.

The ensemble performs frequently in operatic productions and musical festivals for which they have won numerous awards.

Tickets are available through the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center, by phone at 716-673-3501 (1-866-441-4928) or online at www.fredonia.edu/tickets.