St.Florian Boys Choir

The success of the St. Florian Boys’ Choir rests on a foundation of almost a thousand years. Boy singers have been documented at the Augustinian monastery of St. Florian since 1071. Many distinguished musicians have emerged from the choir, the most famous of them Anton Bruckner, himself a St. Florian chorister from 1837 to 1839.

Today the St. Florian Boys’ Choir is an internationally active ensemble with a wide repertoire and a clear aim: to pass on its own joy in music to the audience. Franz Farnberger has been in overall artistic charge since 1983, and Markus Stumpner, a former member of the choir himself, has been choirmaster since 2018.

The sound of a boys’ choir, cultivated by only a handful of institutions worldwide, remains in demand at major festivals and in opera productions. The choir has travelled to every continent, has appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the Wiener Festwochen and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and has worked with orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. The honorary president of the association Freunde der St. Florianer Sängerknaben is Franz Welser-Möst.

Soloists of the choir regularly sing the parts written for boys, among them the Three Boys in Mozart’s “Magic Flute”, at opera houses in Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Verona, Barcelona and Aix-en-Provence. In 2026 this work takes them to Budapest, to the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and to the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

The Men’s Choir of the St. Florian Boys’ Choir was founded in 1989 to widen the repertoire. It consists largely of former choristers who have continued their vocal training, several of them singing in other renowned ensembles. Small ensembles formed from its ranks appear within the choir’s concerts or on their own.

Recent tours have taken the choir to China (2024) and South Africa (2025). For the Bruckner anniversary year 2024 Solo Musica released the CD “Erinnerung – Bruckner in St. Florian”, recorded at the monastery on the Bruckner organ and on the restored 1846 Bösendorfer.

The extensive discography covers traditional Austrian music, folk and Christmas songs as well as early music recorded with specialist ensembles on historical instruments, among them Ars Antiqua Austria under Gunar Letzbor.