The Land of Lakes Choirboys

Since 1976 the Land of Lakes Choirboys has participated in many programs and activities. Here are some accomplishments of the Choir:

1987
The Choir was the only American boy choir to be invited to an international competition in Wales. Of the thirty-six choirs participating, we were ranked 19th.

1999
The Choir received the honor of being the first non-German boy choir to ever be invited to open the Bach International Music Festival in Ratingen Germany.

2001
Hosted “A Boychoir Festival” as part of our 25th anniversary celebration. There were participants from the U.S. and Canada, and the guest conductor was Gerald Wirth, the Artistic Director of the Vienna Boy Choir.

2004
The boys sang the National Anthem and America the Beautiful before an audience of 25,000 people in at Target Center as the opening to a Presidential Rally.

2005
January: The Choir helped celebrate the 100th anniversary of Minnesota’s State Capital Building.
January: The Choir was hired to be the ‘Demonstration Choir’ at a music festival in Bethesda, Maryland at the famous Landon Boys School.
July: The Land of Lakes Choirboys Viking Choir won the International Trebby Award for “Best Boy Choir Album” for their 2004 production of the CD “Steal Away”. (This was truly an international competition as the other finalists for the award were the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir (South Africa), the Windsbacher Knabenchor (Germany), the Petits Chanteurs a la Croix de Bois (France) and the Boys of Kings College Choir, Cambridge (England).)

2006
January: Opened the Minnesota House of Representatives Legislative Sessions and helped them celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a spirited rendition of “Danny Boy”.
April: The Choir performed with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra.
June: The Choir hosted an International Boy Choir Festival as part of its ‘30th Anniversary’ celebration. The Florianer Saengerknaben (St. Florian Boys’ Choir) of Austria was the guest choir and the guest conductor was again Gerald Wirth, the Artistic Director of the Vienna Boy Choir.
July: The Viking Choir was named as Royal Caribbean Music Festival’s ‘Grand Champion’ for the 2005-06 season in the ‘Male Voice’ category.
December: The Choir performed with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Choral, The Twin Cities Bell Chorus and Doc Severensen at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.

2007
November-December: The Choir performed six concerts with noted musician, Mr. Tony Sandler of the group Sandler & Young throughout the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

2008
July: The Viking Choir competed at the 5th World Choir Games in Graz, Austria and earned two Silver Medals. One in each in the categories of Children's Choirs and Musica Sacred (Sacred Music).