Phoenix Boys Choir gala sets up season

Think of the Phoenix Boys Choir fall gala as two celebrations in one. The group marks its 65th anniversary and it’s been 20 years since the organization found a new home in central Phoenix.

“It’s a huge event for us,” says artistic director Georg Stangelberger, who has been with the group since 1999. “This is going to be an exciting season for us, and this is a great way to kick it off.”

The gala will be held at the organization’s Phoenix headquarters. Rooms will be dedicated to countries the choir has visited and decorated with memorabilia and photos documenting the group’s history.

There will be performances from both the tour choir and masters’ choir. During the evening, the group also will pay tribute to Jerry Lewkowitz, who helped the choir secure its present home, and Dorothy Lincoln-Smith. The widow of the choir’s former artistic director Harvey K. Smith, she coordinated tours and served as vocal coach through the years.

Her husband died last year, but Lincoln-Smith continues to be a part of the organization. She said she always enjoyed working with the youngsters who make up the choir, particularly when it came to preparing them for travel.

“We tried to instill in them that they shouldn’t be working the room or looking somewhere else when shaking hands,” she says. “We wanted them to be the very best representatives of Americans they can be.”

The choir features between 100 to 150 members; Stangelberger said the group is in the midst of recruiting.

“It’s quite easy to join,” he says. “The main thing we are looking for in a boy is to be able to match pitch. The rest we pride ourselves in doing. Some people get scared and hesitant, but it isn’t something that’s scary.”

Performances this season will include the group’s regular Thursday concert series, as well as a Christmas show and a pops concert.

“We try to listen to our audiences as well as the people involved with the choir,” he says. “We try to be creative and think out of the box, but we always keep in mind what brings the audience here, and what they enjoy.”

That’s why he says the Christmas show, which is held Dec. 13-22 at various Valley locations, will include such “greatest hits” as an enactment of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and a medley of “Sleigh Ride” and “Jingle Bells.”

“The purity of their voices, especially at Christmastime, is endearing,” Stangelberger says. “It invokes memories of boys choirs of the past and, naturally, Christmas.”