Tölzer Knabenchor in Altötting

Tölzer Knabenchor is a German boys’ choir founded by conductor and music educator Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden in Bad Tölz in 1956. Its repertoire covers Bavarian folk song, Renaissance polyphony, Baroque sacred music and Classical works, with a particular emphasis on Bach’s passions and cantatas and Mozart’s operas and church music. The ensemble is also known for assigning soprano and alto parts to trained boy soloists in historically informed performances. The choir has appeared at the Salzburg Festival and in productions at the Bavarian State Opera, where its singers have taken children’s and boy-soprano roles, including the Three Boys in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Its concert and recording work has also brought it under conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado.