Vienna Boys Choir alums reflect

By Janelle Gelfand • jgelfand(a)enquirer.com • November 12,
2010

In December 2001, two West Chester Township boys, Ryan Slone,
then 11, and Donald Smith, then 13, became the second and third
U.S. citizens to join the world-renowned Vienna Boys Choir. Two
years later, Benjamin Kleykamp, then 11, of Mason joined. And the
Markowich family of Westwood had three sons in the famous choir:
Andrew, Jacob and Noah.

The Vienna Boys Choir, or “Wiener Sängerknaben,” under artistic
director Gerald Wirth, is an Austrian treasure known for its charm,
purity of sound and superior musicianship. Since 1498, it has sung
for Sunday Mass in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel. The 100 boys ages 10
to 14 live a “Harry Potter” life with prefects and classes in a
17th-century palace near the Danube River. Between lessons, they
have a busy schedule of tours and recordings.

We caught up with three choir alumni: Smith, 22, majoring in
musical arts and German at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.;
Slone, 20, a vocal performance major at the University of
Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music; and Kleykamp, 18, a
student at Miami University.

Question: How did your experience in the Vienna Boys Choir
affect your life?