The Vienna Boys Choir

has visited this country under the Anglo-Austrian Music Society's auspices every year since 1950 and has given some 1200 concerts in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Isles. The Wiencr Saengerknaben have performed in every major concert hall and many a minor one, in all the great cathedrals and some fine old churches. They have remained a firm favourite with the British concert public and attract remarkably diverse audiences, young and old, school children, choral music enthusiasts, and those just out for an evening's entertainment.

Their ever popular concert programme was devised by Rektor Schnitt in the 1920s - a few motets, a contemporary item or two, a little opera in costume, a group oflieder by one of the classical Viennese composers, some Austrian folksongs and for the finale a polka and a waltz byJohann Strauss, followed by applause and encores... For their church concerts the fare is more solid.

Boys are boys, and choirs and choirmasters come and go, but the general standard remains high. Many fine works have been written for the voices of the Wiener Saengerknaben - pride of place amongst these must go to Benjamin Britten's Golden Vanity. The Choir has often appeared on radio and on television, and there can be few homes without a recording made by the Saengerknaben. They were invited to perform at the Eisteddfod and at a Royal Variety show. For the bi-ccntenary of Mozart's death the Choir performed the Coronation Mass - with the Chorus Viennensis (a male choir composed of former Saengerknaben) and the Academy of London chamber orchestra in St Paul's, Gloucester and Salisbury Cathedrals - recreating for British audiences the famous Sunday mornings at Vienna's Hofmusikkapelle.

The early British tours of the Choir were shared with other promoters, notably with Victor Hochhauser, who retained an interest in the London concerts until quite recently, but increasingly the Choir came under the sole management of the Anglo- Austrian Music Society and continues so today.

The Vienna Boys Choir in the first performance of Benjamin Britten's Golden Vanity at the Aldeburgh Festival on 3 June 1967