NEW LEAD AT THE VIENNA BOYS' CHOIR © 2002
As of last year the Vienna Boys‘ Choir now have a new artistic director: Gerald Wirth! Every day it falls to him to make many decisions affecting the well-being of the children and of their musical director. He also has to handle the business side wisely, as the Vienna Boys‘ Choir is a private organisation which has to pay for itself with the proceeds from concerts and record sales. That is no easy task. But Gerald knows what he is doing. For someone who has known this institution since his childhood days, it is not so difficult. With diplomacy, humour and understanding, as well as loving firmness, he endeavours to motivate the children and to stimulate their love for music. Under his influence, the Vienna Boys‘ Choir’s repertoire has increased greatly and now stretches from Gregorian, through classical music to contemporary and experimental music. Pop music, hip hop and world music are also no longer unknown entities for the choirboys. There is a great deal to rehearse and it is often necessary for Gerald to help the choir masters out, by helping to choose the music for the concerts or sometimes even by taking a rehearsal or conducting himself..
In between he also holds workshops in choirmaster skills, voice training and performance practice both at home and abroad, directs orchestras and composes musical pieces and operas such as "The Little Prince", "Mahalakshmi" or his most recent work "Die Schicksalstafel" (The Fate’s Scoreboard), an opera which takes the audience to a mystical, exciting world based on the thousands-of-years-old Babylonian myth of Anzu. The opera is about fate, of course, but also about predestination, responsibility for one’s own actions and, finally, self-awareness. "Do not worship the vanity of this world; truth lies within yourselves," sing the Babylonian gods at the end.
In
April "Die Schicksalstafel" went on tour in
always advise the choir master to try
out new pieces or to organise more activities for the children. That keeps them all busy and leaves no time for melancholy thoughts
of home."
Gerald’s easy way with children probably stems from his own family. He and his wife Elke have three
boys and three
girls to call their own. How does such a busy man manage to look after a family of seven on top of everything else? "Well," says Gerald,
smiling, "since Shriranga, my eldest son, started at the school, I see him a bit more often. Now we always travel home together at
the weekends." Monday to Friday, in fact, the choral singing master lives in Vienna, spending the weekends with his family in Tradigist,
south of St. Poelten, in the stunningly beautiful Pielach Valley.
His wife Elke is quite relaxed about it. "Of course it would be nice if Gerald were home more often; the children really enjoy it, too, when he’s there. But I would never ask him to make any sacrifices in his profession, because I knew even before I married him that his work is very important to him, and an essential part of his life. He is so talented that it would be unfair to hinder his artistic career in any way. At the same time, though, he’s a family man through and through, and it’s the most natural thing in the world for him to spend time with his children whenever he’s free. So, all things considered we really don’t feel in the least bit "neglected" by him." The Wirth children also have no complaints that their father has too little time for them. The only one with any complaints sometimes is the old farm in which they live, as there is never any time left over for any repair work.