The Minnesota Boychoir, founded in 1962, is the oldest boychoir in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metropolitan area.  The Boychoir’s reputation for excellence has brought invitations from local and national music conventions, as well as sporting events and touring Broadway companies.  The Boychoir has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Baltimore Symphony, the Prague Philharmonic, Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio, and Katie McMahon, Celtic recording sensation.  Last season, our choirboys were featured in performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, VocalEssence, the University of Minnesota and Robert Robinson and the Twin Cities Gospel Choir.  The choir’s schedule also includes national and international tours.  Past tours have thrilled audiences in ten states and on five continents.  In 2007, in celebration of our 45th Anniversary Season, our boys were headliners at the World Voices Australia International Choral Festival at Sydney’s famed Opera House.

The Minnesota Boychoir trains young men to be outstanding musicians and strives to help them develop a sense of poise and self-confidence through education and performance.  A choirboy is challenged to sing well, stand tall, stay on schedule, take pride in his appearance, respect those in charge and tap into the best part of who he is and what he can accomplish.  The Minnesota Boychoir challenges boys and young men from many backgrounds to the highest standards of choral music, nurtures the development of exceptional character, and inspires and benefits the community.

Boychoir is comprised of boys and young men, ages 7 to 18. The singers come from many communities throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area and sing in three different ensembles:

Mark S. Johnson, Artistic Director and Todd E. Price, Accompanist

CANTABILE  Participation in Cantabile is reserved for those choirboys ages nine to fourteen who have demonstrated high levels of musicianship, leadership, responsibility, discipline and commitment.  Our most visible choir, Cantabile rehearses twice a week and performs at well over thirty events a season, singing music in a wide variety of styles and languages.

CANTAR  Comprised of our younger and newer singers, ages seven to twelve, Cantar functions as a training choir. These developing singers rehearse once a week with emphasis placed on the basics of singing: posture, breathing, tone production, and reading music. As Cantar members grow older, they continue to hone their singing and musical skills.

TOUR CHOIR  The Tour Choir is comprised of our two most select ensembles, Allegro and Cantabile.  While touring is not mandatory for these boys, most of them travel on summer tour to enhance their Boychoir experience by bringing their music not only to different cities and states, but also to different countries and continents.  Their repertoire consists of the best of the best from our most recent concert season.

ADULT CHOIR  Parents of choirboys, members of our board of directors, and friends of the organization come together in the spring to form the Adult Choir.  While partly social in nature, the choir also serves as testing ground for future repertoire for our top choirs.  All of the tuition collected from the singers benefits our scholarship fund.

AlumSing  Each year, alumni of the organization are invited to join Allegro at our spring concerts to form AlumSing.  This gives old members a chance to re-connect with the organization, not to mention getting a chance to sing some great music.  We are honored to host Paul Pfeiffer, music director emeritus, as co-conductor of this group.