The American Boychoir
Columbus Boychoir (Boys’ Choir)

Founded: 1937 - Columbus, Ohio, USA, as Columbus Voychoir
Re-located: 1950 - Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Re-named: 1980, as American Boychoir
Ceased to operate: August 2017

History

The choir and school were founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1937, by Herbert Huffman who believed that "the experience of performing the great choral literature - and performing it at the highest professional levels - could have a profound effect on the academic, social and moral development of boys". Founded as the Columbus Boychoir, the group moved to Princeton, New Jersey in 1950. It changed its name to the American Boychoir in 1980.

Former choir directors at the choir school include Herbert Huffman (founder), Donald Bryant, Robert W. Haley, Howard Jewell, Donald G. Hanson, John Kuzma, Jim Litton, Craig Denison, Wallace Hornady and Nathan Wadley. The choir recorded for RCA Victor during Herbert Huffman's tenure before moving to the Decca Label during the Donald Bryant years, where the choir released multiple LP's including one with Bing Crosby. Later, the boychoir would release CD's on its own Albermarle Records label.

From 1985 to 2001, the boychoir was conducted by James Litton, an expert on children's choral techniques and vocal production. Regarded as one of America's prominent choral conductors, Litton led the boychoir in more than 2,000 concerts in 49 states and 12 nations. Litton also introduced the changing voice and established SATB[clarification needed] sections in the choir. He helped recognize that all boys should continue singing regardless of their voice change.

In 2012, the choir's longtime home, Albermarle in Princeton, was sold under the presidency of Robert Rund and the choir moved to the Princeton Center for the Arts & Education (formerly St. Joseph's Seminary) for the 2013 and 2014 school years.

On April 10, 2015, the school filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy stating it needed $350,000 to finish the school year and $3 million to come out of bankruptcy and open for the next academic year. On April 14, 2015 the school announced it would end the school year early, on May 17, instead of reaching the normal time for graduation, the second week of June.

The school re-opened on September 1, 2015, and operated during the 2015-2016 school year while working to satisfy its financial obligations and emerge from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy stable and able to move forward successfully. School operations were moved to the campus of Rambling Pines Summer Camp, site of the former Princeton Latin Academy. Rambling Pines provided classroom and office space, gymnasium space, and almost 200 acres of playing fields.

The American Boychoir School closed on August 15, 2017.

Activities

The American Boychoir’s (= ABC) rich sonorities, musical sophistication, expressive power and innovative programming have established its reputation as the USA’s premier concert boys’ choir.

Highlights of the 1999-2000 season included 13 performances with the New York Philharmonic (including 2 world premieres and a special performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on New Year’s Eve); tours to Japan, Taiwan, the Midwest and the South; the National Choral Conference with Dr. George Guest; and two recordings due out shortly.

The 2000-2001 season was rich with prestigious performances by The ABC. The ABC kicked off the season with the annual National Choral Conference, this year led by Drs. Anton Armstrong and André Thomas, featuring the ABC and the Newark Boys Chorus directed by Donald Morris. Following that, the ABC had its first engagement of the season with the New York Philharmonic singing Felix Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, followed shortly by F. Mendelssohn's St. Paul, conducted by Maestro Kurt Masur. The ABC also sang in Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem with the New York Philharmonic in January. Tours this year bring the ABC’s music to the West Coast, the Deep South, New England and America’s Heartland. The ABC appeared at the Bermuda Festival in January, with the Boston Symphony in February, and with the Vienna Philharmonic in March.

The ABC had an extensive “Arts in Education” outreach program which targets schools and communities nationwide. In Spring 2000, the Resident Training Choir of The ABC and the Training Choir of the Newark Boys Chorus teamed up to tour rural South Jersey schools. During February 1998, the ABC presented an educational residency in Mississippi. Locally, the ABC completed a two-year music education project involving students and teachers from New Brunswick, New Jersey, a traditionally under-served city in the central section of the state. The project was designed to revitalize the district’s middle school music program and culminated in joint concerts with the New Brunswick students and the Princeton Chamber Symphony at the State Theatre in New Brunswick.

The ABC appeared many times on television: Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee, CBS This Morning, NBC’s Today, and can be seen regularly on PBS in the award-winning documentary Journey of Butterfly, based on Cantor Charles Davidson’s 1968 memorial composition to the Holocaust survivors called I Never Saw Another Butterfly written specifically for The ABC. The ABC can also be recognized on many television commercial soundtracks including Monster.com, Salomon Smith-Barney and the Clio-winning “True Colors” campaign for Kodak.

Under Huffman the y had participated in such recordings as Beecham's La boheme and Toscanini's Boito Mefistofele prelude.

Recordings

Herbert Huffman directed the Columbus Boychoir's musical performances on several recordings made during the late 1940's and early 1950s. These included a 1947 production titled “Favorite Christmas Carols.” In 1950, he directed the choir in its performance on the RCA Victor recording of “The Lord’s Prayer; O Holy Night.” In 1954, the Columbus Boychoir teamed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on the RCA production “Arrigo Boito Mephistofele ‘Prologue.’”, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. In 1956, they participated in the studio recording of Puccini's La boheme with RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Beecham. The final recording in which Herbert Huffman acted as choir director was the Decca record, “Festival of Song” in 1955. Herbert Huffman was also responsible for directing performances in the 1951 NBC telecast of Amahl and the Night Visitors. His work was featured in the RKO motion picture liner America’s Singing Boys.

The ABC can be heard on many recordings, most recently Holy Innocents by J. Michael Haydn on Linn Records. The ABC can also be heard on the Angel label in Carol and Hymn. A live performance recording of B. Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem featuring The ABC with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur was released in May 1998. The ABC also appears on Jonathan Elias’s The Prayer Cycle featuring Alanis Morissette, James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, Jessye Norman’s In the Spirit, Kathleen Battle’s Grace, Michael W. Smith’s Christmastime and the soundtrack of Rosie O’Donnell’s 1998 movie Wide Awake.

Source: Chicago Choral Artists Website; Glenn S. Burke (June 2004); Wikipedia Website (May 2019); Columbus Boychor VirtuMuseum
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (August 2001, July 2004, May 2019); Jerome F. Weber (May 2019)

Herbert Huffman: Short Biography | Ensembles: Columbus Boychoir
Bach Discography: Recordings of Vocal Works

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Arthur Mendel

Choir

[C-4] (1964): Chorus BWV 205/15

Kurt Masur

Boy Choir

BWV 244

Links to other Sites

American Boychoir School (Official Website)
American Boychor Scholl (Wikipedia)
The Columbus Boychor (Virtual Museum)