Howard Payne University will host The American Boychoir on Wednesday, January 26, as part of the group’s 2011 Southwest Winter Tour. The American Boychoir, under the musical leadership of Litton-Lodal Music Director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, will perform in Mims Auditorium at 5:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public.

The American Boychoir’s 2011 Southwest Winter Tour will include 21 concerts, traveling through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, including a featured performance at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio. For these concerts, Malvar-Ruiz has chosen music from the recently released American Boychoir recording Journey On – Passport to a World of Music. Selections include works by J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Veljo Tormis, Sarah Hopkins, Moses Hogan and Morten Lauridsen, as well as arrangements of folk songs from Africa, Asia and North and South America.

Boys in grades 3-6 who love to sing are encouraged to audition after the concert. No preparation is necessary. More information about The American Boychoir can be found at www.americanboychoir.org.

The American Boychoir is regarded as the United States’ premier concert boys’ choir. Boys in grades 4 through 8, reflecting the ethnic, religious and cultural diversity of the United States, come from across the country and around the world to pursue a rigorous musical and academic curriculum at the school. The American Boychoir School , the only non-sectarian boys’ choir school in the nation, was founded in Columbus , Ohio , in 1937, and has been located in Princeton , New Jersey , since 1950.

Maintaining an active national and international touring schedule, The Boychoir performs with world-class ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. The Boychoir appears regularly as featured artists with James Levine at the Tanglewood Music Festival and has performed with the internationally renowned soprano Jessye Norman, prominent jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, pop diva Beyoncé, and at Carnegie Hall with Sir Paul McCartney.

The programs offered by The American Boychoir School are made possible in part through a grant by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding has been provided by the New Jersey Cultural Trust.