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Show Choirboys concert slated for June 23 The Lane of Lakes Choirboys from the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn, area will present a one hour concert at the Bountiful Regional Center (formerly the Valley Music Hall, 835 N. 400 E., North Salt Lake) on Sunday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m. The choir, consisting of 40 boys ages 7-14, have presented concerts throughout the United States Canada, and Europe, with great success. They have also appeared on national television. The public is invited to attend this free concert. The Lane of Lakes Choirboys began as a bicentennial boy choir in August 1976. The original intent was to gather a group of boys to stage a one-time performance for the local bicentennial celebration in the city of Elk River, Minn., which is located a few miles northwest of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Eighteen boys attended those first rehearsals and soon more boys began showing up to get involved. The parents of those young pioneers were invited to attend a rehearsal a short time later to see what their sons were accomplishing. After hearing the choir, the parents became excited and plans began to change. The subject of uniforms was high on the list of priorities and talk of a tour began. Plans changed so much, in fact, that the bicentennial program never did materialize. Instead the choir became the Land of Lakes Choirboys, Choir-boys, and plans were made for a trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. To the amazement of the founder, who hadn't even considered a trip, the funds were raised not only for the trip, but also for the distinctive uniforms worn by the choirboys. These uniforms have become widely wide-ly known inasmuch as the choir has toured all of the contiguous United States, pans of Canada, England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Wales, Belgium and the Netherlands, Nether-lands, all of this in the course of 13 seasons. The Choirboys have presented concerts at Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida. They have performed the "Missa Brevis in D" by Benjamin Britten, amid the splendid acoustics of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, and have even performed high atop the Empire State Building in New York City. Each year when the renowned Vienna Boys Choir comes lo the Twin Cities, excitement runs high among the famed Austrian youngsters because this is where sort of a vacation occurs which gives them a break from the monotony of staying in motels and hotels night after night. For the past 11 years the two choirs have gotten to know each other very well since the Vienna Boys stay in the homes of the Land of Lakes Choirboys for a few days while the choir is in residence in the Twin Cities. In response, the Land of Lakes Choirboys have been hosted in the Augarten Palace in Vienna (home of the Vienna Choirboys) and in the private homes of the Vienna Choirboys Choir-boys while visiting in Austria. Many long-standing friendships have developed as a result of these get-togethers. This is the only American hospitality that the Austrian choir accepts in the United States. The Land of Lakes Choirboys have produced a number of record albums and have appeared on television tele-vision both locally and nationally. The choir consists of boys from Princeton to Blaine to Brooklyn Center. The boys sing some of their songs in several different languages. |