Gerald Wirth

Austrian choral conductor Gerald Wirth, artistic director of the famed Vienna Boys' Choir since 2001, is a major shaping force of the choir, with which he has been associated since early life. Wirth is also a noted composer and music educator, in the latter capacity the creator of his own "Wirth Method." Wirth was born in 1965 in Linz, Austria. He was a Vienna Choir Boy as a child, and after his voice broke he attended the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, studying oboe and piano. After school he rejoined the Vienna Boys' Choir as Kapellmeister, essentially a choir director, in 1986, holding a similar position with the Landestheater Salzburg as well. Wirth moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1991 to take a post as conductor of the Calgary Boys' Choir, and while there he branched out into instrumental music, becoming music director of the Calgary Civic Symphony and associate conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic, as well as taking guest conducting posts in the U.S., Russia, and Australia. He returned to Austria in 1998 to become deputy artistic director of the Vienna Boys' Choir, and he was elevated to artistic director in 2001. In 2013 he added president to his résumé of positions within the organization. By that time he was a noted authority on vocal training, giving classes and workshops internationally. In 2003 he found his own Wirth Music Academy, teaching choir directors according to a Wirth Method that combined music theory and various practical ear training practices. In 2008 he founded the organization Superar, which has worked to support a greater incorporation of music and dance into schools across Europe. As a composer, Wirth has focused on vocal music but not exclusively on choral music. He has written several children's operas, two of which, Die Schicksalstafel (2002) and 1398 - Der Bettelknabe (2010), received their premieres at the Vienna Musikverein. The Vienna Boys' Choir has kept up a vigorous recording schedule under Wirth's leadership, often releasing four or five albums per year. In 2018 they issued Strauss For Ever on Deutsche Grammophon. ~ James Manheim