3 Belmont Students To Tour Europe With Saint Paul's Boys’ Choir

BELMONT, MA — Three Belmont boys are part of a choir that is set to spend ten days touring Europe. Belmont's Philip Chamian, Clemens Ehrhardt and Benedikt Ehrhardt will tour Europe, performing with the school's Boys' Choir of St. Paul's for 10 days in February.

The choir will visit and perform in iconic, historic destinations in Munich, Regensburg and Köln, Germany, as well as Salzburg, Austria, exploring academic and cultural opportunities that support the school's educational model. The choir is directed by Saint Paul’s Choir School (SPCS) Director of Music and Conductor James Kennerley, accompanied by Assistant Director of Music Maks Adach, organ.

The Boys’ Choir of St. Paul’s, currently comprised of 29 boys from the Greater Boston region, ranging from ages 9 to 14 in grades 3 through 8 at St. Paul’s Choir School, will travel through two countries accompanied by 18 chaperones. Most recently, the choristers traveled to Washington D.C. at the invitation of Cardinal Sean O’Malley to perform at the Sacred Heart Shrine and at Catholic University’s St. Vincent de Paul Chapel.

On another international tour, the choir visited Mexico, where it performed at the largest basilica in the Americas, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and at San Josemaría Escrivá Church, both in Mexico City.

The Boys’ Choir of St. Paul’s school curriculum is currently exploring the history and music of Germany and Austria, much of which the choristers will encounter and perform during their travels. Visiting this historic European heartland, the students will walk in the footsteps of those they study and perform - Bach, Beethoven, Handel, Mendelssohn and Mozart, among others.

Saint Paul’s Choir School’s world-class music program is built on a foundation of the choral masterwork canon, training all students in choral music appreciation, theory, practice and performance, and the mastery of piano and organ. They sing music ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary commissions for the choir. A demanding and thorough music theory course is taught using the internationally acclaimed materials of the ABRSM. As the boys continue through the school and their voices change, a Choral Studies course teaches them about conducting, composition, and choir training.