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Basel Boys Choir

The Basel Boys Choir (Knabenkantorei Basel [KKB]) is a boys' choir based in Basel, Switzerland; it grew out of the boys' choir of the Protestant Church of Basel-City, founded by Hermann Ulbrich in 1927. Today the choir is non-denominational. They sing both sacred and secular works. The choir has been under the leadership of Oliver Rudin since 2017.

In addition, the choir has been invited to participate in important music festivals, including the Lucerne Festival under James Conlon, Mario Venzago, Riccardo Chailly and Mariss Jansons, the European Music Festival in Berlin under Roland Bader, the International Festival of Boys Choirs in Poznań (Poland), as well as festivals in Nancy, Maastricht, Venice, Basel, and the Schubert Choir Festival in Vienna in 1997. The Basel Boys Choir is also the host choir of the well-known and highly successful European Festival of Youth Choirs (Europäisches Jugendchorfestival, EJCF).

Structure
The choir consists of approximately 45 unchanged and 35 changed voices. The changed voices are, as a rule, former trebles and altos who have been in the choir for at least a year. The singers dedicate a considerable amount of their free time to the choir: in addition to rehearsals, there are church services, concerts, concert tours, radio and television appearances as well as CD recordings. A choir camp takes place each year for the purpose of learning repertoire.

Awards

 * CIMCF 2022 (Men's Choir of the KKB): 1. Place, 93/100 Points, Youth Choral Competition
 * CIMCF 2022 (Men's Choir of the KKB): Winner "Most Entertaining Performance"

Repertoire
The choir's a cappella repertoire ranges from Renaissance to contemporary music (Miskinis, Tormis). Performances of oratorios, masses, and cantatas by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Britten, and Rossini are the choir's main focus. Additionally, the boys' choir has participated in the Lucerne Festival as well as the following opera performances in Basel: Die Zauberflöte, Tosca, Mefistofele, Carmen, La Bohème, Carmina Burana und Macbeth. Soloists from the KKB could also be heard in performances of Die Zauberflöte in theaters in Bern, Basel and Freiburg im Breisgau.

Founding and first year
The founding of the choir goes back to the initiative of the then-school teacher Hermann Ulbrich, who sang in the Basel Bach Choir and attended the Thomanerchor's many concerts under Karl Straube in Basel. Ulbrich turned to Ernst Lipp, a fellow singer in the Bach Choir and president of the Kommission für den Unterricht in der Biblischen Geschichte ("Commission for the Teaching of Biblical History", KUBG), and suggested that he found a singing school for the preservation of choral tradition that was in the service of the church, but independent of the YMCA. Lipp passed the idea on to the consistory, where it found little support. Nevertheless, the KUBG approved the charter, which Ulbrich had previously written together with Lipp and YMCA youth secretary Jakob Staehelin, and he took responsibility for the still-to-be-founded choir.

At the beginning of June, 1927, Ulbrich sent out advertising for the Choirboys of the Protestant Church of Basel-City, institutionalized in May. On June 15, 1927, the first informational meeting took place with 33 interested boys; this date is taken to be the KKB's founding date. The first rehearsal took place on August 19, 1927 in the Bishop's residence of the Basel Münster; soon, though, they moved due to the heating problems in the Katharine Chapel of the cloister. The first public appearance occurred on October 30, 1927, as a part of a church service in the Martinskirche, but it was such a fiasco (the 19 boys who did show up sang very poorly) that Ulbrich threatened to resign. Lipp encouraged him to continue, however, and on Christmas, 1927, the choir enthralled the congregation of a church service in the Theodorskirche.

Their third appearance, a Bach concert in April 1928, was also their last before a long summer break, during which a large advertising campaign was carried out to ensure the continued existence of the group. Adolf Hamm, an organist at the Münster, played an important role in the campaign; he ensured that after the successful campaign, the choir, which had grown to 63 boys, was able to perform the Christmas Oratorio for Christmas, 1928, and a Passion concert for Easter, 1929. In August, 1929, a working party was founded on the occasion of the first parents' evening, and Jakob Staehelin was elected its first president, making him also the first president of the KKB.

In August, 1929, the Chorschüler der evangelisch-reformierten Kirche Basel-Stadt ("Choir students of the Protestant Church of Basel-City"), which consisted of former choirboys whose voices had changed, was founded. The expansion of the choir to include changed voices had already been considered by January 1928, but the proposal did not resonate with the older students; the consistory also refused it because of the unintentional competition it would create with the adult community and church choirs. Nevertheless, the choir students appeared at Hamm's Free Organ Recital in December, 1928, but the group was ultimately unable to survive (for the time being).

On December 22, 1929, the boys' choir organized their first full concert: a Christmas liturgy at the Münster with the locally renowned soprano Helene Sandreuter, which was a big success.

The quality of the singing, which was still modest in comparison with large boarding school choirs, was such a cause for concern among the choir parents that, after a weak appearance in a church service in Kleinhüningen, they demanded that the choir refrain from further public appearances for the time being. For that reason, the rehearsal time was extended from 75 to 120 minutes and divided into 60 minutes each of singing technique and choir rehearsal after the summer break in 1930. Meanwhile, the choir had grown to 88 boys, which necessitated changing the rehearsal space from St. John's Chapel to a larger and considerably more expensive location in Nadelberg by the Peterskirche. In December, 1930, the choir celebrated its 25th appearance. Their quality and proficiency had gradually increased, and soloists were already emerging from the choir.

In 1931, Ulbrich introduced a hierarchical group system inspired by the Scouts; following the Meistersinger model, singers could advance from Schüler (beginner) to Sänger (singer), and finally Meister (master). Additional elements, such as patches and a Sängerspiegel ("singer's mirror", equivalent to the Scout Promise) were incorporated. How long this hierarchical group system survived is unknown. However, everyone participated in all of the public appearances. The idea of a choir camp, which originated in 1930, was re-adopted by president Staehelin in 1932, and a camp was held from October 3–13 in Greifensee that year. The fifth anniversary, which occurred in 1932, was celebrated with a large family night with a lottery and singing.

One problem that came up again and again between 1930 and 1933 was the variation in the number of singers and the quality of the choir: Ulbrich was able to keep some of the members of the choir from leaving and train them for some promising performances, but the best singers quickly fell victim to their voices changing and had to leave; meanwhile, Ulbrich needed to recruit and train new boys. Furthermore, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis planned to form a children's choir, which meant further competition. For this reason, an "educational department" (now known as "Choir 101") was created to avoid any further reduction in quality. Talented singers then still came into the choir right away, and the others went through the educational department. A further improvement came in 1933 with vocal training, for which they were able to employ Helene Sandreuter. The rehearsal space was changed from the expensive location in Nadelberg to the church. At the end of the year, Jakob Staehelin stepped down as president due to having to move from Basel; his cousin Hans Staehelin took over his position.

The years leading up to the Second World War were marked by solid efforts for improvement. Ulbrich and Sandreuter, the voice teacher, fell in love and were married on July 11, 1936. Also in 1936, Alfred Courvoisier assumed the presidency. In December, 1938, the choir undertook a half-hour radio program for the first time. The high point of the year, however, had already taken place on May 12, 1938: their participation in the premiere of Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher at Theater Basel with Ida Rubinstein as Jeanne and the chamber orchestra Basler Kammerorchester under the direction of Paul Sacher. A repeat performance with the boys' choir took place at the Swiss national exposition in Zürich in 1939.

Crisis during the Second World War
After the outbreak of World War II, rehearing became increasingly more difficult, and in 1940 the rehearsal space changed yet again, first to the City of Basel Music Academy, then to the kindergarten at the Basel Mission. Since Ulbrich had to serve in the military until July, 1940, Emil Herrmann and Helene Sandreuter were entrusted with the interim direction of the choir, leading to temporary cessation of voice lessons. Meanwhile, the size of the choir had shrunk by 25 percent. Ulbrich, who was still on duty, developed a Christmas liturgy with the choir. In 1941, a joint performance with the Schola Cantorum took place. Ernst Lipp, who had been intimately involved with the development of the choir since its founding, died that same year. In 1942 and 1943, interest in joining the choir fell dramatically from its generally high levels, and the choir had only 16 members in May, 1943, who were not of a high enough quality to give a successful concert with the Schola Cantorum at the Barfüsserkirche ("Barefeet Church"). Fortunately, by 1944 the choir had grown back to 30 members. In May, 1945, the choir organized a thanksgiving service on the occasion of the end of the war.

Expansion and Ulbrich's last year
In the years after the war, the number of singers gradually increased. Ulbrich and Sandreuter, now married, could once again fully dedicate themselves to the choirboys. In 1945, the choir was already ready to perform for the premiere of Unser Vater by Walter Müller von Kulm with the Bach Choir. In 1949, the choir participated in the 17th "church music day," organized by the Swiss League of Church Music. In 1950, the minister Alfred Studer replaced Courvoisier as president. That same year, the choir returned to their original rehearsal space, the Bishop's residence, where the KKB still rehearses to this day.

On June 22, 1952, the choir celebrated its 25-year anniversary with a special church service in Münster. The composer Rudolf Moser composed a setting of the 29th psalm for the choir. Changed voices, drawn from former trebles and altos, were brought into the choir. The enrollment of new singers was expanded to include students from the second grade and older, allowing them to compete strongly with the Scouts. In 1956, there was another change of president; Studer stepped down because he had to move and handed the position over to the composer Rudolf Moser. In 1959, after the success of a concert with organist Hans Balmer, the choir performed several contemporary works for Swiss radio.

In 1958, the changed voices were finally allowed to join the unchanged voices; the KUBG approved a trial period for their inclusion. A name change was also discussed, but put off until after the trial period. On August 23, 1958, the first rehearsal with eight changed voices took place, and Ulbrich announced in January, 1959, that their inclusion would be made permanent. However, since no tenors could be found until 1962, the deepest boys' voices and the voices still in the process of changing were used to sing the tenor parts. In 1959, the previously discussed name change finally took place: the choir became the Evangelische Kantorei Basel ("Basel Protestant Choir") and became directly controlled by the consistory.

In 1960, the choir was shaken by President Moser's accidental death; his successor was Rudolf Massini. In the 1960s, Ulbrich handed over some of his responsibilities: his wife, Helene Sandreuter, and his son, Markus Ulbrich, along with Kurt Tschirren, an employee in the administration, assisted him in leading the choir, and Markus Ulbrich and Tschirren Kurse worked in the educational department.

In 1967 the "mutant group," a group of singers undergoing a voice change, was formed with the purpose of productively using the mandatory time off from the choir for vocal training and learning repertoire to better prepare themselves for vocal maturity. Beginning in 1967, the choir started advertising for all elementary school grades. In 1968, the older singers (possibly inspired by the Protests of 1968) demanded the representation in a working committee, which they were finally granted.

Establishment as an independent organization
In February, 1970, Hermann Ulbrich and Helene Sandreuter announced their resignations from their positions with the choir effective at the end of June. The leadership of the choir was taken over by their son Markus along with two other former choirboys, Kurt Tschirren and Werner Schniepper. Markus Ulbrich placed a heavy emphasis on the works of Heinrich Schütz, with performances of The Seven Words of Jesus Christ on the Cross (1791), St. John Passion (1972), and History of the Resurrection (1974). Tschirren quit in 1972, whereupon Schiepper took over his responsibilities and Hans Peter Oppliger took over Tschirren's responsibilities.

Between 1970 and 1972 there was intense discussion regarding how the choir should be legally organized in the future. Various possibilities, including a merger with the YMCA, were seen as disadvantageous. Finally, they decided to establish the choir as an independent organization in order to separate it from the consistory. The foundational meeting took place on February 2, 1972 and resulted in the election of Max Huldi as a replacement for Massini. At the parents' meeting, yet another name change was decided upon which was in keeping with its recent shift toward Ecumenism and also conveyed its character as a boys' choir, in spite of the changed voices. This goal was accomplished with the name Basel Boys Choir (Knabenkantorei Basel, KKB).

The KKB then experienced a tremendous growth: as an independent organization, they were able to ask for financial support from a greater variety of institutions; furthermore, many members and patrons contributed to the improved financial situation, allowing them, for example, to hire more qualified teachers. Public relations were enormously strengthened and improved, and the choir got a logo by holding a public competition. In the summer of 1973, their first concert tour took place in the Bernese Oberland and their first record, a collection of choral and organ works by Felix Mendelssohn, was made. In 1974, a tour of the Netherlands followed with the help of the organist Hans Peter Aeschlimann, and the KKB became a supporting member of the Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige Basel ("Society for a Good and Charitable Basel"). Their first television appearances took place in 1975 and 1976 on Südwestrundfunk.

In 1974, the Gregorian Chant Circle was founded, which fosters continued training in church music, both for older current choir members as well as alumni. Ulbrich pushed for the improvement of educational opportunities: bassist Stefan Kramp was hired as a voice teacher, and the educational department became "Choir 101", which it remains today.

In November, 1980, Hermann Ulbrich, the founder of the choir, died at the age of 77; consequently, Markus Ulbrich retired for professional and personal reasons at the end of the year. For the first time, a commission was formed to search for a new choir leader. In the end, the choice was between German cantor Klaus Knall and the leader of the Muttenz youth music school, Beat Raaflaub. The commission unanimously voted for Knall, who took over leadership of the choir in 1981.

Turning point and change of director
Upon Knall taking over, Schniepper stepped down as administrative director. In 1982, the KKB found itself in deeper financial trouble; the Basel-city canton revoked the KKB's subsidies. Klaus Knall himself stepped down at the end of the year for professional reasons as well as a lack of time. Beat Raaflaub, who just two years earlier had lost the position to Knall, became the new musical director. In 1983 and 1984, various sources of support were withdrawn, and as a result the organization had to be restructured: now, the board took direct control over the choir. In 1984, Gerhard Winkler took over the presidency from Max Huldi after he resigned. Benjamin Britten's St. Nicolas was performed at Basel's Martinskirche and in Reinach, and in June, 1985, the KKB made the first German-language recording of the Britten cantata.

Raaflaub's leadership
In September, 1986, soloists from the KKB participated in a production of The Magic Flute for the first time at the Theater Basel, and later in Bern and in Freiburg im Breisgau. The boys' choir participated in the performance of Gustav Mahler's Eighth Symphony from October 13 to 17 at the Festival of European Music in Berlin under Roland Bader; in November, Mozart's Requiem and Grabmusik were performed by the whole choir.

In 1987, the choir held a lavish celebration for its 60-year anniversary: on January 10, the Vienna Boys' Choir sang a sold out joint performance with the KKB in Basel's Stadtcasino. At the end of February, the choir was invited to the Festival International de Chant Choral in Nantes. The large jubilee weekend, with choirs from throughout Europe and more than 600 participants from the Basel area, took place on May 16 and 17. This weekend festival can be seen as a kind of pilot project for the European Festival of Youth Choirs (EJCF), which would first take place in 1992. In August, the KKB appeared in the Lucerne Festival and participated in a performance of Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. To conclude the year, a tour took place in the Bernese Oberland to commemorate the choir's first concert tour.

In November, 1988, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Magnificat and Mozart's Coronation Mass were performed. In 1990, the KKB performed with the Charivari at the Carnival of Basel, after which they returned to the Theater Basel for a performance of Alban Berg's Wozzeck, and they also performed Frank Martin's Danse Macabre in Münster. In May, 1991, the boys' choir sang on the occasion of the 700 year anniversary session of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland at the Federal Palace of Switzerland in Bern. At the beginning of October, the choir was able to make a scheduled trip to sing in Saint Petersburg, although only weeks before, Mikhail Gorbachev had attempted to stop it.

In 1992, a scheduled three week concert tour of the United States suffered a financial setback as a result of the withdrawal of two large sponsors, and had to be cancelled as a result. In response, it was agreed at the yearly general meeting that a financial reservoir needed to be developed that could weather a bad economy, namely a concert tour endowment. In May, the first European Festival of Youth Choirs took place; the KKB, with Winkler as its business manager and Raaflaub as its musical director, was heavily involved with the planning and execution of the event. In 1993, the choir participated in more than 40 opera performances (including Puccini's Tosca and Boito's Mefistofele) at the Theater Basel. In May, the US concert tour was able to take place, shortened by a week and accompanied by legislator Hans-Rudolf Striebel. The first KKB concerts outside of Europe took place in such cities as New York and Philadelphia.

In March, 1994, the KKB performed and recorded Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's St. Mark Passion, rediscovered in 1985. This was their first globally distributed recording; the double-CD release was distributed by Ars Musici. In April, Gerhard Winkler stepped down as president. His successor was Jürg Rauschenbach. In 1995, the boys' choir embarked on a concert tour of Germany, traveling through the cities of Ulm, Wiesbaden, Göttingen, Hannover and Frankfurt am Main; the choir also participated in the second EJCF. In 1996, a concert tour through Finland and Estonia took place followed by a choir camp in Turku.

In 1997, the boys' choir celebrated its 70th year with the premiere performance of Joseph Fitzmartin's cantata Ich möcht' ein Clown sein ("I would like to be a clown", text by Hanns Dieter Hüsch). In April, a celebratory church service took place in Münster, and in May, the choir participated in a youth culture gala in the Stadtcasino Basel with other youth performing groups in the area. To conclude the year, three sold-out performances of Joseph Haydn's The Seasons took place in November. That same year, assistant director Rolf Herter stepped down; he was replaced by a German director named Johannes Tolle. The anniversary concert tour took place in February 1998, taking the KKB through South Africa for two weeks. In May, the choir participated in the EJCF one more time. In October, Raaflaub was awarded the Bumberniggel prize from the anniversary foundation of the UBS AG.

Brazilian Tour and Raaflaub's last year
In 1999, there followed a concert tour through the Czech Republic with appearances in Brno, Hradec Králové, Pardubice, and Prague, as well as performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio in December. In June, 2000, the choir traveled around the German cities of Berlin (with an appearance in the Berlin Cathedral) and Potsdam as well as the Polish city of Poznań, and at the end of the year they performed Mendelssohn's Elijah. On January 11, 2001, the boys' choir took part in a performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony (Symphony of a Thousand) involving a thousand performers, including 14 other choirs. Johannes Tolle stepped down as assistant director; he was replaced by Jürg Siegrist, a former member of the choir. In September, the choirboys participated in a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony during a Swiss concert series; other engagements at the Lucerne Festival followed in subsequent years. At the end of the year, Britten's St. Nicholas cantata was performed in collaboration with Kantorei St. Arbogast.

The choir's 75 year anniversary was celebrated with a three-week concert tour through Brazil in the summer of 2002. The Brazilian tour was the longest and most successful in the choir's history; the KKB was enthusiastically received in 13 cities and reached tens of millions of viewers in an appearance in the city of Riversul, which was broadcast on national television. In the Fall, the choir held its first ten-day choir camp in the former Maloja Palace in the Swiss district of Maloja; originally planned as a one-time camp, the KKB returned to Maloja for its Fall camp every year until 2007. In December, 2002, the KKB performed Handel's Coronation Anthems and the Chichester Psalms, choreographed by Parwin Hadinia in the Theater Basel, for its 75th birthday. The concert was so successful that in June, 2003, an extra performance followed in the Schauspielhaus Zürich.

Jürg Rauschenbach, who was intimately involved in the execution and the success of the large concert tours through South Africa and Brasil, stepped down as president in 2002. Kuno Hämisegger, a banker, was chosen as his successor. Around the same time, Rolf Herter, who had resigned as Assistant Director in 1997, returned to former position, which he continues to hold along with Siegrist to this day. In 2003, the KKB took part in the first Venezia in Musica international choir festival in Venice and Jesolo and Performed Bach's Johannes Passion for Easter, 2004. In May, 2005, a concert tour through Bulgaria took place, during which the choir became the first foreign choir to be allowed perform in the orthodox Easter celebration at Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia. In January and April of that same year, the choir performed the original version of Gioacchino Rossini's Petite messe solennelle. In December 2005, an additional performance of Britten's cantata St. Nicolas and Arthur Honegger's A Christmas Cantata with the Basel Girls' Choir were successfully brought to the stage. Three years of fall concert tours of Germany took the KKB through Calw, Limburg, Göttingen and Rotterdam (Netherlands) in 2004, Nederhof, Wiesbaden, Wirges and Luxembourg in 2006, and Frankfurt (Oder), Saalfeld, Jena, and Sondershausen in 2007.

New Director
After the concert season was over, Raaflaub announced his resignation, effective February 2007. As in 1980, a search commission was formed. The final choice was Markus Teutschbein. Raaflaub's crowning achievement as director of the choir was two sold-out performances of Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio St. Paul. During the months immediately following Raaflaub's resignation, assistant director Herter took partial responsibility for leading the choir, while Teutschbein stayed in Germany.

Teutschbein has been the KKB's musical director from February 2007 until Autumn 2016, and his first joint project with the choir was to organize the sixth EJCF in May 2007, in Basel. In September, the choir appeared in the Jugendkulturfestival Basel ("Basel Youth Culture Festival") as well as The Glue's Lala Blabla Pomme d'Adam Festival. In January 2008, Handel's Messiah was performed with the Berner Freitagsakademie in the original English with great success; in March, there followed a concert tour through Hungary with four more Messiah concerts, one of which took place in Matthias Church in Budapest. In the fall, the choirboys participated in an open-air production of Orff's Carmina Burana. In October 2008, the changed voices performed Luigi Cherubini's Requiem in D Minor for men's chorus in the Basel Münster and in the music hall of Stadtcasino Basel; the concert was rounded out by César Franck's Psalm 150 and Georges Bizet's Te Deum.

Bach's St. John Passion was performed three times in March 2009; after two concerts in the Basel Münster and the Arlesheim Dome, the KKB opened its 37th summer concert season in the Bürgel Monastery in Jena. In early summer 2009, a concert tour through France took place. There, the choir performed the Lyon Cathedral in Lyon, as well as in collaboration with the Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc (featured in the movie Les Choristes) and gave other performances in Nîmes, Carpentras and Besançon. Shortly thereafter, the KKB appeared in three joint concerts with the Freiburg Cathedral Boys' Choir and the Chœur de Garçons de Mulhouse. In 2011 the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was performed, in 2012 Beethoven's C-Major Mass followed. In 2014 the Knabenkantorei Basel performed the late version of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Mark Passion reconstructed by Alexander Grychtolik. In the following year several concerts with the oratorio Elias by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy took place.

From autumn 2016 to summer 2017 Rolf Herter conducted the choir on an interim basis. In summer 2017 Oliver Rudin took over the direction of the choir.

Partnerships
Alongside sporadic collaborations with Theater Basel and various orchestras, such as the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the Basel Sinfonietta, plus ensembles from outside Basel such as the Bern Freitagsakademie, as well as with various guest choirs, there were also regular collaborations with the Basel Girls' Choir in the past. A collaboration with the Collegium Musicum Basel Orchestra was planned in 2007, but both organizations decided to cancel again in 2009.

LPs

 * 1973–Felix Mendelssohn: "Chor- und Orgelwerke" (Pelca, PSR 40 585; out of print)
 * 1976–Baroque Christmas songs: "Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem" ("A Child Born in Bethlehem", KKB (private label))
 * 1977–secular Renaissance songs: "Nun fanget an, ein guts Lied zu singen" ("Now begin to sing a good song", Pelca, PSR 40 617)
 * 1979–Heinrich Schütz: "Musikalische Exequien und Psalm 136" ("Musikalische Exequien and Psalm 136", EMI, 065-03 828)
 * 1980–Johann Sebastian Bach: "Kantaten Nr. 82a und Nr. 161" ("Cantatas 82a and 161", EMI, 065-43 076)
 * 1980–Johann Sebastian Bach: "Kantaten Nr. 179 und Nr. 177" ("Cantatas 179 and 177", EMI, 065-43 077)
 * 1985–Benjamin Britten: "St. Nikolaus-Kantate" ("St. Nicolas", KKB (private label), CS 558-3)
 * 1987–various composers: "60 Jahre KKB – Jubiläumsprogramm ("The KKB's 60 Year Anniversary Program", KKB (private label), CS 572 K, only available internally)

Cassettes

 * 1978–Bach/Brahms/Reger: "Geistliche Motetten" ("Sacred Motets", KKB (private label), EDT 80031; out of print)
 * 1985–div. Komponisten: "Knabenkantorei in concert" (KKB (private label), AZ 1014 MC; out of print)
 * 1986–Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: "Requiem und Grabmusik" ("Requiem und Grabmusik", KKB (private label), only available internally)
 * 1987–various composers: "60 Jahre KKB – Jubiläumsprogramm" ("The KKB's 60 Year Anniversary Program", KKB (private label), CS 572 K, only available internally)
 * 1987–various composers: "Festkonzert vom 17. Mai 1987" ("Special Concert on May 17, 1987", KKB (private label), only available internally)
 * 1989–Mozart/C.P.E. Bach: "Krönungsmesse und Magnificat" ("Coronation Mass and Magnificat", KKB (private label), only available internally)
 * 1989–various composers: "Musik zu Weihnachten – Weihnachtslieder und Motetten" ("Music for Christmas – Christmas Songs and Motets", KKB (private label))
 * 1992–various composers: "Motetten grosser Meister/Schweizer Volksliedkantate" ("Motets of the Great Masters/Swiss Folk Song Cantata", KKB (private label))

CDs

 * 1989–various composers: "Musik zu Weihnachten – Weihnachtslieder und Motetten" ("Music for Christmas – Christmas Songs and Motets", KKB (private label))
 * 1991–Johann Sebastian Bach: "Weihnachtsoratorium I-VI" ("Christmas Oratorio I-VI", KKB (private label), only available internally)
 * 1992–various composers: "Motetten grosser Meister/Schweizer Volksliedkantate" ("Motets of the Great Masters/Swiss Folk Song Cantata", KKB (private label))
 * 1994–C.P.E. Bach: "Markuspassion" ("St. Mark Passion", Ars Musici)
 * 1994–Mendelssohn/Rheinberger: "Psalm 95 und Weihnachtskantate" ("Psalm 95 and Christmas Cantata", KKB (private label))
 * 1996–Mozart/Reicha: "Litanei und Te Deum" ("Litany und Te Deum", KKB (private label)/SRDRS, KKB-006, only available internally)
 * 1996–Martin/Beethoven: "In Terra Pax und Friedenskantate" ("In Terra Pax and Peace Cantata", private label, KKB-007)
 * 1997–various composers: "Geistliche Vokalmusik" ("Sacred Vocal Music", private label, KKB-008)
 * 1999–Telemann/Krebs/Bach/Dudli: "Eine grosse Freude" (private label, KKB-009)
 * 2000–various composers: "Highlights" (private label, KKB-010)
 * 2000–various composers: "Spirituals + Lieder + Songs" (private label, KKB-011)
 * 2000–Johann Sebastian Bach: "Weihnachtsoratorium I, IV-VI" ("Christmas Oratorio I, IV-VI", private label, KKB-012)
 * 2001–Felix Mendelssohn: "Elias" (private label, KKB-013)
 * 2001–Gustav Mahler: "Sinfonie Nr. 8 in Es-Dur" ("Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major", a.k.a. Symphony of a Thousand, only available internally)
 * 2005–various composers: "Tournee-Programm 2005" ("Tour Program 2005", private label, KKB-014)
 * 2005–Gioacchino Rossini: "Petite messe solennelle" (private label, PST 05367, only available internally)
 * 2005–Honegger/Britten: "Cantate de Noël/Sankt Nikolaus" ("Cantate de Noël/St. Nicolas", Schweizer Radio DRS, only available internally)

VHS

 * 2001–Gustav Mahler: "Sinfonie Nr. 8 in Es-Dur" ("Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major", Telebasel, only available internally)
 * 2002–Händel/Bernstein: "Coronation Anthems und Chichester Psalms" ("Coronation Anthems and Chichester Psalms", only available internally)

Major concerts since 1997

 * Dec. 1997: The Seasons (Joseph Haydn)
 * Dec. 1999: Christmas Oratorio (Johann Sebastian Bach)
 * Nov. 2000: Elijah (Felix Mendelssohn)
 * Dec. 2001: St. Nicolas (Benjamin Britten) (unchanged voices only, with the St. Arbogast Choir)
 * Nov./Dec. 2002, Jun. 2003: Coronation Anthems (George Frideric Handel), Chichester Psalms (Leonard Bernstein)
 * Apr. 2004: St. John Passion (Johann Sebastian Bach)
 * Jan./Apr. 2005: Petite messe solennelle (Gioacchino Rossini)
 * Dec. 2005: Cantate de Noël (Arthur Honegger) and St. Nicolas (Benjamin Britten)
 * Feb. 2007: St. Paul (Felix Mendelssohn)
 * Jan./March 2008: The Messiah von Georg Friedrich Händel
 * Dec. 2009: Christmas Oratorio (Johann Sebastian Bach)
 * Nov. 2010: Die Schöpfung (Joseph Haydn)
 * Mar. 2014: Markuspassion (Johann Sebastian Bach, late version (1744), Reconstruction: Alexander F. Grychtolik)
 * Sep. 2019: Participation in „Theater im Münster“ for the 1000th anniversary of Basel Minster
 * Aug. 2022: Weissagung und Erfüllung (Hans Huber), with Sinfonieorchester Basel, Basler Madrigalisten, and Basler Gesangsverein
 * Jan. 2023: Messe in C-Dur (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), with Kammerorchester Basel
 * Jan. 2023: Requiem, Gabriel Fauré, with Kammerorchester Basel

Conductors

 * Hermann Ulbrich (1927–1970)
 * Markus Ulbrich (1970–1980)
 * Klaus Knall (1980–1983)
 * Beat Raaflaub (1983–2007)
 * Markus Teutschbein (2007-2016)
 * Rolf Herter ad interim (2016–2017)
 * Oliver Rudin (since 2017)

Presidents

 * Jakob Staehelin (1929–1933)
 * Hans Staehelin (1933–1936)
 * Alfred Courvoisier (1936–1950)
 * Alfred Studer (1950–1956)
 * Rudolf Moser (1956–1960)
 * Rudolf Massini (1960–1972)
 * Max Huldi (1972–1983)
 * Gerhard Winkler (1983–1994)
 * Jürg Rauschenbach (1994–2003)
 * Kuno Hämisegger (2003-2008)
 * Werner Schniepper (2008-2017)
 * Peter Küng (since 2017)

Notable alumni

 * Rainer Brambach, writer
 * Michael Feyfar, singer
 * Lukas Holliger, playwright, dramaturge, editor
 * Michael Koch, actor, director
 * Thomas Mattmüller, conductor
 * Andreas Meier, conductor
 * Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass-baritone in opera and concert
 * Meinert Rahn, geologist, mineralogist
 * Félix Rienth, singer
 * Oliver Rudin, conductor, singer, composer

title: Basel Boys Choir


text:
SWV

SWV (Sisters with Voices) is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City whose members are Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Tamara (Taj) George, and Leanne (Lelee) Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B groups of the 1990s. They had a series of hits, including "Weak", "Right Here (Human Nature Remix)", "I'm So into You", and "You're the One". The group disbanded in 1998 to pursue solo projects and reunited in 2005.

Early life and big break
SWV was formed by founding members Cheryl "Coko" Gamble and Leanne "Lelee" Lyons, with Gamble later recruiting Tamara "Taj" Johnson to join the group along with a fourth member named Samantha, who would eventually leave for unknown reasons. After getting their demo together, their manager at the time, Maureen Singleton sent out demo tapes along with bottles of Perrier ("We couldn't afford champagne", says Taj) to catch the attention of record execs all over America. In 1991, after being invited to sing live in front of RCA executives, SWV was signed to an eight-album record deal.

1992–1995: It's About Time and The Remixes
It's About Time, the debut studio album by SWV, was released by RCA Records on October 27, 1992. It was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA for more than two million copies shipped to store. SWV's first single, "Right Here", was released in the fall of 1992, reaching No. 13 on the R&B charts. Their second single, "I'm So into You", peaked at No. 2 on R&B and reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The third single, "Weak", reached No. 1 on both the R&B and Hot 100 charts. "Right Here/Human Nature", the fourth single and a remix of their first single, "Right Here", featured samples of Michael Jackson's hit "Human Nature". Pharrell Williams performed a small rap solo on "Right Here (UK Remix)". "Right Here/Human Nature" peaked at No. 1 on R&B and No. 2 on the Hot 100 and it stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts for 7 weeks, making it one of the longest-running singles of 1993. It was followed up with the additional Top10 R&B hits, "Downtown" (No. 2), and "You're Always on My Mind" (No. 8). The album peaked at 8 on the US Billboard 200. Following the success of their first album, SWV appeared on the soundtrack for the 1994 film Above the Rim. The single, "Anything", became a top ten R&B hit and reached No. 18 on the Hot 100 in the spring of 1994. That same year, SWV released The Remixes, which went gold by the end of the year. In the summer of 1995, the trio lent vocal harmonies to Blackstreet's Top 40 R&B hit "Tonight's the Night". SWV also recorded the track, "All Night Long", which appeared on the Waiting to Exhale: Original Soundtrack Album in late 1995.

1996–1997: New Beginning, Release Some Tension and A Special Christmas
Released on April 23, 1996, New Beginning was the second album from SWV. The first single, "You're the One", became one of their signature songs peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. The second single, "Use Your Heart", saw the debut of the super producers The Neptunes. This song peaked at twenty-two on the Hot 100 and number six on the R&B chart. The last single, "It's All About U", found Taj taking most of the lead as opposed to Coko. The album was certified platinum for shipping 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone.

Release Some Tension is SWV's third album. It arrived on July 29, 1997. Guest appearances are made by E-40, Puff Daddy, Missy Elliott, Foxy Brown, Lil' Cease, Lil' Kim, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Redman. The album features hits like "Rain" (which samples Jaco Pastorius's classic "Portrait of Tracy"), "Someone", "Can We" (which was originally included on the soundtrack for the Jamie Foxx film Booty Call), and canceled single "Lose My Cool". "Someone", although featuring one of the biggest producers/artists of the year, Puff Daddy, only reached No. 19 on the Billboard charts which sampled The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Ten Crack Commandment's and Les McCann's "Valantra". "When U Cry" also sampled Tyrone Davis' "In The Mood". The album was certified gold for shipping 500,000 copies in the U.S. alone. A Special Christmas, a holiday album featuring both cover versions and original material, was released in the United States on November 18, 1997, by RCA Records. A Special Christmas would be the penultimate album the trio recorded together before they disbanded the following year.

1998–2010: Hiatus and reuniting of SWV
The group split in 1998. Shortly after SWV disbanded, the members began leading their own careers. Coko went on to release her first solo album under RCA, titled Hot Coko, in August 1999. The first single, "Sunshine", which was dedicated to her son Jazz, reached the Top 40 position in the R&B charts that summer. However, neither the album nor the singles gathered the same mainstream success as Coko did with SWV. Coko began working on a second solo album titled Music Doll in early 2001, but RCA closed the black music division and the project was shelved. Since then, she has concentrated more on her family. She eventually married gospel producer and drummer for Israel and New Breed, Mike "Big Mike" Clemmons, the father of her second son, Jaylen. She currently resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia. In 2001, Coko and her mother, Lady "Clyde" Tibba Gamble, did a remake of the song "Tears in Heaven" (originally recorded by Eric Clapton) on the album Rhythm and Spirit: "Love Can Build a Bridge". The album featured other artists such as Jennifer Holliday, Patti LaBelle, and Tramaine Hawkins. Clemons sang on the Brent Jones & TP Mobb single "Midnite" in 2002. She also appeared on Youthful Praise's 2003 gospel album Thank You for the Change singing lead on "Up There".

Coko's full gospel solo debut, Grateful, was released in the United States on October 31, 2006 and debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top Independent albums chart. Grateful includes an all-star cover of The Clark Sisters' "Endow Me" which features R&B singers Faith Evans, Fantasia Barrino and Lil Mo. An alternate version, minus Faith Evans was performed on BET's Celebration of Gospel '07. A special edition of Grateful only available through Wal-Mart includes two bonus tracks "I Wish" and Brent Jones' "Midnite" featuring Coko on lead vocals. Coko was reported to have joined an all-black touring cast performing the critically acclaimed play The Vagina Monologues, along with Sherri Shepherd, Star Jones, Vanessa L. Williams, and others. Coko performed in Japan for the Billboard Live Tour. She sang some of her solo hits "Sunshine", "Clap Your Hands", and the SWV song "Right Here/Human Nature".

In 2005, SWV reunited and announced plans to record a new album the following year, which did not materialize. In 2007, the group performed dates with After 7, Bobby Brown, New Edition, and Blackstreet. Also in 2007, Taj appeared in the TV One reality series I Married a Baller which documented her life with husband Eddie George, former NFL player and present Nashville entrepreneur. SWV members Coko and Lelee (who sing the theme song along with Taj) appear in a couple of the show's episodes. On June 24, 2008, during a performance by Alicia Keys at the BET Awards 2008, SWV made a special appearance with the original line up from En Vogue and TLC. SWV sang "Weak" with Alicia and later performed "Waterfalls" with the two other R&B girl groups. Taj was a contestant on Survivor: Tocantins, in which she came in fourth place. She was blindsided by her former alliance of J.T. Thomas and Stephen Fishbach. She became the sixth Jury Member. She participated in a 2009 national tour of The Vagina Monologues with an all-black cast, most of whom are also former reality show contestants. SWV appeared on The Mo'Nique Show on February 2, 2010, performing Patti LaBelle's "If Only You Knew". Lelee and Coko provided the lead vocals.

2011–present: I Missed Us, reality show and Still
In 2011, SWV signed a record deal with Mass Appeal Entertainment and E1 Entertainment. On June 10, SWV was featured on the official remix of Chris Brown's remake of their "Right Here/Human Nature" song, "She Ain't You". SWV released "Co-Sign" on December 15, 2011, via iTunes as the first single from their fourth studio album, I Missed Us. VH1 ranked SWV No. 88 on their 100 Greatest: Women in Music list. Billboard named SWV the No. 7 R&B Act and the No. 2 Top Selling/Airplay R&B Female Group of the 1990s. The track listing for SWV's I Missed Us was released on Amazon.com. The album was released on April 17, 2012, via eOne Music and Mass Appeal Entertainment.

SWV appeared on the television talk show The Wendy Williams Show on April 17, 2012, to promote the release of I Missed Us and to perform the hit song "Co-Sign". The album then went to No. 1 on the iTunes R&B albums chart. On June 1, 2012, SWV announced that their next single from I Missed Us would be "Love Unconditionally". On June 28, 2012, the song "I'm So into You" from the triple-platinum album It's About Time was ranked at No. 18 on VH1's 40 Greatest R&B Songs of the '90s.

On November 4, 2012, SWV performed on Black Girls Rock!, an organization founded to inspire young black girls, on BET. On July 7, 2013, during the Essence Music Festival, SWV announced that We tv green-lit a reality series that would detail their lives as a group and individually, professionally and personally. It would also address their 1998 breakup and their subsequent reunion. SWV Reunited premiered on January 16, 2014, with a six-episode season. A twelve-episode second season followed later that August. As promised, the show has documented the trust issues the groupmates have with one another from their acrimonious split and their attempt to rebuild their friendships and their brand. It also showcased their professional endeavors and struggles, including touring and recording a comeback album, trying to get out of a record contract and disputes with their road manager, Cory Taylor. Subplots included Coko's reluctance to record secular music after her foray into gospel, Taj's health issues and Lelee's tumultuous relationship with her daughter. A song that the group was shown recording on SWV Reunited, titled "Ain't No Man", was released to iTunes as a promotional single on August 7, 2015.

On November 6, 2015, it was officially announced via Coko's official Instagram account that SWV Reunited had been canceled by WE tv. In the same post, she stated that SWV's long-delayed fifth studio album would be titled Still and was set to be released on February 5, 2016. On December 10, 2015, while making a surprise appearance on the television talk show, The View, Taj announced that "Still" was available for pre-order along with that came a second single titled "MCE (Man Crush Everyday)". In 2017, SWV collaborated with Bell Biv DeVoe on the song "Finally" which was released as the second single off their album Three Stripes. They were also awarded the "Lady of Soul Award" at the 2017 Soul Train Music Awards.

In 2019, SWV announced they had partnered with hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa in the creation of a new reality series called 'Ladies Night'. The show premiered on BET on April 30, 2019.

As part of their virtual artist battles birthed in 2020, Verzuz hosted a pre-Mother's day event, featuring both SWV and Xscape, on May 8, 2021. Both DJs, AONE and Spinderella, were responsible for music play for both groups.

Members

 * Cheryl "Coko" Gamble (born June 13, 1970, The Bronx, New York) is the Soprano and lead singer of the group, known for her distinctive high tone and vocal acrobatics. Coko lives in Virginia Beach.
 * Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George (born April 29, 1971, Brooklyn, New York) is the group's Mezzo-Soprano who has a more jazzy and blues sound. Taj lives in Nashville.
 * Leanne "Lelee" Lyons (born July 17, 1973, The Bronx, New York) is also a Mezzo-Soprano and despite being the lightest voice of the three, sings the alto or lower parts. Lelee lives in Atlanta.

Discography

 * Studio albums
 * It's About Time (1992)
 * New Beginning (1996)
 * Release Some Tension (1997)
 * A Special Christmas (1997)
 * I Missed Us (2012)
 * Still (2016)

Tours

 * Weak (1993 in the UK)
 * Budweiser Superfest 1993 with BBD, Silk, Shai, MC Lyte & Intro in the US)
 * SWV Live (1994 in the UK, South Africa, Canada, US)
 * SWV World Tour (1996 in the US, Europe, South Africa, Asia, New Zealand)
 * Release Some Tension (1998 in the US)
 * New Jack Swing Tour (2005 in the US and Canada)
 * Billboard Live Tour (June 16–21, 2008 in Japan)
 * Billboard Live Tour (January 12–13, 2009 in Japan)
 * SWV and Faith Evans (December 5–10, 2010 in the United Kingdom)
 * Fresh Music Festival (May–July 2012, US)
 * SWV Comeback Tour (2013 in London and US)
 * Ladies Night Tour (With Salt-N-Pepa) (2018, US) Canceled
 * Summer Block Party (with Jodeci and Dru Hill) (2023, US)
 * Queens of R&B Tour (2024)

Opening Act
 * 2017: Three Stripes Tour (for Bell Biv DeVoe with En Vogue)
 * 2018: The Great Xscape Tour (for Xscape)
 * 2019: As Long as I Live Tour (for Toni Braxton)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: SWV


text:
User:Seth Ilys/Test2

{|
 * align=center width=40%|Cities and Towns
 * align=center width=40%|Cities and Towns

A - Raleigh, North Carolina B - Durham, North Carolina C - Chapel Hill, North Carolina D - Cary, North Carolina E - Morrisville, North Carolina F - Apex, North Carolina G - Holly Springs, North Carolina H - Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina I - Garner, North Carolina J - Knightdale, North Carolina K - Wendell, North Carolina L - Zebulon, North Carolina M - Rolesville, North Carolina N - Wake Forest, North Carolina O - Hillsborough, North Carolina P - Carrboro, North Carolina Q - Pittsboro, North Carolina R - Clayton, North Carolina S - Youngsville, North Carolina T - Franklinton, North Carolina U - Creedmoor, North Carolina V - Stem, North Carolina W - Butner, North Carolina

Counties
 * align=center width=40%|

1 - Wake County, North Carolina 2 - Durham County, North Carolina 3 - Orange County, North Carolina 4 - Chatham County, North Carolina 5 - Harnett County, North Carolina 6 - Johnston County, North Carolina 7 - Franklin County, North Carolina 8 - Granville County, North Carolina

Parks and Bodies of Water

a - Research Triangle Park b - Umstead State Park c - Jordan Lake d - Haw River e - Harris Lake f - Lake Wheeler g - Lake Benson h - Falls Lake Interstate Highways
 * align=center width=20%|

1 - I-40/I-85 2 - I-85 3 - I-40 4 - I-440 5 - I-540

Other Major Highways

1 - US-15 2 - US-1 3 - US-401 4 - US-64 5 - US-70 6 - US-401 7 - US-1 8 - US-15-501 9 - US-64 10 - US-70 11 - US-15 12 - NC-147

title: User:Seth Ilys/Test2


text:
Sani

Sani may refer to:

 * Sani (given name), a list of people
 * Sani (surname), a list of people
 * The Sani ethnic minority, grouped by the Chinese government as part of the Yi people
 * Sani, a North American Wild Kratts Girl from the series Wild Kratts

Places

 * Sani, Burkina Faso
 * Sani, Mauritania
 * Sani, a village in Zanskar, Jammu and Kashmir state, India near the Sani Monastery
 * Sani Pass, pass in the Drakensberg linking Lesotho to South Africa

title: Sani


text:
Carlo Bergonzi (tenor)

Carlo Bergonzi (13 July 1924 – 25 July 2014) was an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and verismo roles, he was above all associated with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, including many of the composer's lesser known works he helped revive. He sang more than forty other roles throughout his career.

Early life
Bergonzi was born in Polesine Parmense, near Parma in Northern Italy, on 13 July 1924. He was an only child. He later claimed he saw his first opera, Verdi’s Il trovatore, when he was six years old. He sang in church, and soon he began to appear in children's opera roles in Busseto, a nearby town. After he left school at age 11 he began working in a parmesan cheese factory. His father worked there too, and Carlo often got into trouble for singing.

At the age of 16, he began his vocal studies as a baritone at Arrigo Boito Conservatory in Parma with Ettore Campogalliani and Edmondo Grandini.

During World War II, Bergonzi became involved in anti-Nazi activities and was interned in a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1943. Two years later, he was freed by the Russians and walked 106 km in order to reach an American camp. However, while on his way, he drank unboiled water and contracted typhoid fever, from which he recovered within a year. After the war he returned to the Arrigo Boito Conservatory in Parma, weighing just over 36 kilograms (80 pounds).

Operatic career
In a 1985 interview with Opera Fanatic's Stefan Zucker, Bergonzi cited 1948 as the year of his professional debut, as a baritone. He sang the role of Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, which he performed with a former prisoners' association which he joined after the war. It has been noted that the fee of 2,000 lire paid for his professional debut was insufficient to cover his meals and travel.

Other baritone roles which he undertook included those of Metifio in L'arlesiana, Doctor Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore, Enrico Ashton in Lucia di Lammermoor, Ghirlino in Le astuzie di Bertoldo, Silvio in Pagliacci, David in L'amico Fritz, Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana, Albert in Werther, Marcello in La bohème, Sonora in La fanciulla del West, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut, Laerte in Mignon, the title role in Rigoletto, and Georgio Germont in La traviata.

However, he realized that the tenor repertoire was more suited to his voice, and after retraining, he made his debut as a tenor in the title role of Andrea Chénier at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari in 1951. That same year, Bergonzi sang at the Coliseum in Rome in a 50th anniversary concert of Verdi's death and the Italian state radio network RAI engaged Bergonzi for a series of broadcasts of the lesser-known Verdi operas for the same purpose. These included I due Foscari as well as Giovanna d'Arco and Simon Boccanegra.

In 1953, Bergonzi made his La Scala debut, creating the title role in Jacopo Napoli's opera Mas' Aniello which was based on the life of Tommaso Aniello, the 17th-century Italian fisherman-turned-revolutionary. His London debut as Alvaro in La forza del destino took place at the Stoll Theatre in 1953. His American debut was at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1955, and his Metropolitan Opera debut as Radamès in Aida came on 13 November 1956 when he (and Antonietta Stella) received a positive reaction from Howard Taubman in The New York Times. Bergonzi continued to sing at the Met for 32 years, his last performance there occurring on 12 November 1988 in the role of Edgardo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

He sang the role of Radames again for his debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1961 and in 1962 he reprised the role of Alvaro for his debut with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. He made his debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1969 as Don Alvaro in La forza del destino.

Bergonzi pursued a busy international career in the opera house and recording studio during the 1960s. His chief Italian tenor rivals in this period were Franco Corelli and Mario Del Monaco. Bergonzi outlasted both, continuing to sing through the 1970s at major opera houses. But in the 1980s, as his own vocal quality deteriorated inevitably with age, he concentrated on recital work. In 1996, Bergonzi participated in conductor James Levine's 25th anniversary gala at the Metropolitan Opera. He gave his American farewell concert at Carnegie Hall on 17 April that same year.

However, an announcement that on 3 May 2000, he was to sing the title role in a concert performance of Verdi's Otello, conducted by Eve Queler and the Opera Orchestra of New York, attracted intense interest, particularly because he had never performed the demanding role on stage. Amongst others, the audience included Anna Moffo, Licia Albanese, Sherrill Milnes, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. Bergonzi was unable to finish the performance, supposedly suffering irritation from the air-conditioning in his dressing room. He withdrew after two acts, leaving the remaining two to be sung by Antonio Barasorda, a substitute singer. This performance was by wide critical consensus seen as a disaster.

After retiring, Bergonzi is credited with mentoring tenors Roberto Aronica, Giuliano Ciannella, Berle Sanford Rosenberg, Vincenzo La Scola, Filippo Lo Giudice, Philip Webb, Giorgio Casciari, Paul Caragiulo, Lance Clinker, Fernando del Valle, Salvatore Licitra and Emmanuel Lawler. Soprano Frances Ginsberg was also one of his pupils.

Bergonzi left a legacy of many recordings of individual arias and complete operas, including works by Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni and Leoncavallo. However, of his early baritone roles, few of his audio recordings still exist.

Summary of his vocal attributes
In The New York Times obituary, Peter G. Davis, who reviewed a 1978 Carnegie Hall recital by Bergonzi in The Times is quoted as noting:
 * More than the sound of the voice, it is Mr. Bergonzi's way of using it that is so special. He is a natural singer in that everything he does seems right and inevitable—the artful phrasing, the coloristic variety, the perfectly positioned accents, the theatrical sense of well-proportioned climaxes, the honest emotional fervor. Best of all, Mr. Bergonzi obviously uses these effects artistically because he feels them rather than intellectualizes them—a rare instinctual gift, possibly the most precious one any musician can possess.

Alan Blyth, in his Gramophone survey of Bergonzi's greatest recordings, sums up the qualities of Bergonzi's voice:
 * His singing there [referring to an online example], even more his earlier Verdi discs, evinces an innate feeling for shaping a line on a long breath, an exemplary clarity of diction, words placed immaculately on the tone, an authoritative use of portamento and acuti. Add to those virtues the manner by which he gives to each phrase a sense of inevitability and you say to yourself, in a mood of sheer pleasure, this is exactly how the music ought to sound. In the theatre only Otello was beyond his capabilities, though his solos are movingly sung on the Philips set.

Personal life
In 1950 Bergonzi married Adele Aimi, with whom he had two sons, Maurizio and Marco; the former was born on the day Bergonzi made his tenor debut. Bergonzi owned homes in both Milan and Busseto, in addition to a restaurant and hotel in the latter, the "I Due Foscari", named after the Verdi opera about Venetian court intrigue.

Death
Bergonzi died on 25 July 2014, twelve days after his 90th birthday, in the Auxologico Institution in Milan. He was buried in the Vidalenzo Cemetery.

Repertory as tenor

 * Andrea Chénier. Bari, Teatro Petruzzelli, 18 January 1951
 * Giovanna d'Arco. Milan, RAI, 26 May 1951
 * Pagliacci. Milan, RAI, 10 June 1951
 * La forza del destino. Milan, RAI, 16 July 1951
 * Un ballo in maschera. Milan, Teatro Nuovo, 15 August 1951
 * Simon Boccanegra. Rome, RAI, 21 November 1951
 * I due Foscari. Milan, RAI, 5 December 1951
 * Adriana Lecouvreur. Prato, Teatro Metastasio, 31 December 1951
 * Faust. Bari, Teatro Petruzzelli, 8 January 1952
 * Jenůfa (Steva). Rome, Teatro dell'Opera, 17 April 1952
 * Ifigenia (by Pizzetti). Naples, San Carlo, 1 June 1952
 * Mefistofele. Rome, Baths of Caracalla, 1 July 1952
 * Madama Butterfly. Cagliari, August 1952
 * Mas' Aniello. Milan, La Scala, 25 March 1953
 * Rigoletto. Livorno, Teatro Goldoni, 20 May 1953
 * Aida. Buenos Aires, Colón, 24 July 1953
 * Tosca. Buenos Aires, Colón, 7 August 1953
 * Manon Lescaut. Rovigo, Teatro Sociale, 24 October 1953
 * Turandot. Catania, Massimo Teatro Bellini, 19 November 1953
 * Loreley. Reggio Emilia, Teatro Municipale, 2 February 1954
 * L'incoronazione di Poppea. Milan, RAI, 7 March 1954
 * Carmen. Monte Carlo, Salle Garnier, 30 January 1955
 * Lucia di Lammermoor. Brescia, Teatro Grande, 3 February 1955
 * Don Carlos. Buenos Aires, Teatro Colón, August 1955
 * La traviata. Salsomaggiore, Teatro Nuovo, 10 September 1955
 * Il tabarro. Chicago, Lyric, 16 November 1955
 * Cavalleria rusticana. Chicago, Lyric, 26 November 1955
 * L'amore dei tre re. Chicago, Lyric, 28 November 1955
 * La Gioconda. Trieste, Castello di San Giusto, 16 July 1956
 * Il trovatore. New York, MET, 13 November 1956
 * Fior di Maria. Milan, RAI, 30 January 1957
 * La bohème. Caracas, Teatro Municipal, October 1957
 * Macbeth. New York, MET, 5 February 1959
 * L'elisir d'amore. San Sebastian, Victoria Eugenia, 26 August 1959
 * Ernani. New York, MET, 26 November 1962
 * La Wally. New York, Carnegie Hall, 13 March 1968
 * Werther. Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 11 February 1969
 * Aida. Parma, Teatro Regio, date unk.
 * La forza del destino. Parma, Teatro Regio, date unk.
 * Norma. New York, MET, 3 March 1970
 * Luisa Miller. Genoa, Teatro Margherita, 20 September 1972
 * Edgar. New York, Carnegie Hall, 13 April 1977
 * I Lombardi alla prima crociata. San Diego, Russ Auditorium, 22 June 1979
 * Il corsaro. New York, Town Hall, 16 December 1981
 * Attila. Tulsa, Chapman Music Hall, 6 March 1982
 * Oberto. Munich, Bavarian Radio Recording Studio, 4–12 March 1983
 * Otello - acts 1 and 2. New York, Carnegie Hall, 3 May 2000

Videography

 * James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala (1996), Deutsche Grammophon DVD, B0004602-09

Honour

 * 🇮🇹: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (11 January 2011)

title: Carlo Bergonzi (tenor)


text:
National Institute for Higher Education

A National Institute for Higher Education (NIHE) (Foras Náisiúnta um Ard-Oideachas) was a category of higher education institution established in Ireland to provide higher level technical education above the standard of the then established Regional Technical College system, at university level. Higher level technical education in Ireland was seen to be an area that was poorly served until the advent of these institutions.

The plan was to see degree level education mainly. The first institution was set up in Limerick, where there had been long-standing demand for a university, in fact a "University of Limerick" was proposed inter alia in the late 1960s by the Lichfield Report. The institution at Dublin was to be the unified campus of what later became Dublin Institute of Technology, but instead a new institution was developed similar to Limerick.

In the 1970s it was expected that the institutions would be recognised colleges of the National University of Ireland, in time this status been raised to constituent college status. Initially this did occur for a short time (1976–1977), however the institutions had all degrees conferred by the National Council for Educational Awards after 1977, this continued until university status was achieved.

International Study Group on Technological Education
In November 1986 the International Study Group on Technological Education was established by the Minister for Education.

The chair was T.P. Hardiman, chairman of the Investment Bank of Ireland, whilst the deputy chair was Emeritus Professor of Business Administration at University College Dublin. The other three members were:
 * Vice-Chancellor of Brunel University and Vice President of the Royal Society
 * President of the University of Waterloo
 * Vice-President of the German Research Foundation at Hamburg University of Technology

The institutions were de facto universities from the start, and were elevated to the level of university in 1989 after the International Study Group on Technological Education presented its recommendations to the Irish Government on their status. The original brief of this report was to investigate the creation of a single National Technological University:

 * ...to examine third-level technological education outside the universities and to consider the case of a new Technological University...

However the study group found that this title would not be appropriate considering that non-technical disciplines were offered and that one university might limit the innovation which had become the trademark of the two separate institutions:

 * ...the NIHE Limerick having the title University of Limerick and the NIHE Dublin having the title Dublin City University or the University of Leinster.

 * The title 'technological university" should not be used.

title: National Institute for Higher Education


text:
Talk:Disinfectant

Killing viruses
The definition of a disinfectant states that it kills viruses. Viruses are not living things, however; they only have some, but not all, of the properties of living things.
 * There's actually [|some debate] about that. — ceejayoz talk 13:49, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
 * The word used in drinking water regulations is "inactivate" rather than "kill." Alicia Diehl (talk) 19:45, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Salt
Salt is the most effective disinfectant for wounds. Pack a wound with it sometime and see how fast it heals. 24.54.208.177 17:19, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

ha.--Yugyug (talk) 13:26, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Sanitizers
The article states that '. . .sanitizers are high level disinfectants. . .' which can be a misleading statement.

"High Level Disinfectant" is a specific definition used by the FDA to identify "a germicide that is intended for use as the terminal step in processing critical and semicritical medical devices prior to patient use. Critical devices make contact with normally sterile tissue or body spaces during use. Semicritical devices make contact during use with mucous membranes or nonintact skin (21 CFR 880.6885)." FDA website.

Whereas disinfectants typically effect a 6-log [or more] reduction of vegetative organisms to pass the AOAC Use-Dilution Test [99.9999% kill], food contact sanitizers effect a 5-log [99.999%] reduction of vegetative organisms.

Many high-level disinfectants kill endospores, although possibly not to the level of a true chemical sterilant.

In general, for environmental surfaces there are three kinds of germicides: sanitizers [lowest level of kill], disinfectants [higher level of kill] and sterilants [highest level of kill]. All three depend upon mode of use, contact time, temperature and application methods.

Jim Smith

209.145.162.138 21:34, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

 * A discussion of high-level, intermediate-level, and low-level disinfectants could improve the quality of this entry. Rbulling 21:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Recharacterization of Thymol as a phenolic disinfectant
Thymol is a phenolic disinfectant. Its chemical name is 5-methyl-2-(1-methylethyl)phenol, and scholarly articles refer to it as a phenolic disinfectant. Therefore, I am moving the Thymol entry under the Phenolic heading.

I wonder whether the statement about Benefect violates Neutral Point of View guidelines by promoting one commercial product.

Rbulling 18:57, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Removal of Septustin M reference
The text describing is essentially identical to the text on Septustin M, tagged for speedy deletion (see Talk:Septustin M ), so I am removing the reference in the Disinfectant article. The text is both an advertisement for a product and badly translated.

Rbulling 20:24, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

== Treatment of

Pls disable the autodirect from the topic of sanitizer....
unless the definitions of the both are specified in the article

Please have a look at the defs at

http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=1783 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.62.138.33 (talk) 00:01, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Chlorine in Public Pools
Not a major deal, but I thought I'd point out that the section about sodium hypochlorite as a disinfectant in pools isn't entirely true. When a pool is chlorinated, it can be chorinated by elemental chlorine gas, di-chlor, tri-chlor, lithium hypochlorite, and calcium hypochlorite as well as sodium hypochlorite. Sodium hypochlorite is just the most commonly used chlorinating agent because it's cheap and relatively easy to use. If somebody feels like changing this, feel free, but I don't have a source for this handy at the moment. I just remembered it from my pool operator class (I'm a lifeguard).

Peteweez (talk) 05:57, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

It is Bleach/Chlorine, rather than HP that kills cells. HP is the safest Bleach substitute out there and the only one I don't get a bad reaction from.

BLEACH http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WSN-4TX7KY2-J&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=eee2257265ed702e941a9daf731ae0b2

BLEACH ARTICLE http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=6829b ```` —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.77.75.185 (talk) 19:02, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Sunlight and ultraviolet light.
They are not equivalent. The word sunlight should be removed entirely, or the sentence could be changed to: "The disinfecting properties of ultraviolet light (a component of sunlight) are powerful." Joezuyus (talk) 14:52, 24 February 2009 (UTC)joezuyus

What is the most common disenfectant used in hospitals —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.109.130.165 (talk) 20:33, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

See the infos from Google scholar
--222.67.202.167 (talk) 08:07, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
 * http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?as_q=disinfectant+sunlight&num=10&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_occt=title&as_sauthors=&as_publication=&as_ylo=&as_yhi=&as_sdt=1.&as_sdtp=on&as_sdts=5&hl=en

 * http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=allintitle%3A+disinfectant+ultraviolet+light&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0

--222.67.202.167 (talk) 08:08, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
 * http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=allintitle%3A+disinfectant+UV&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0

 * http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=allintitle%3A+disinfectant+water&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0

--222.67.202.167 (talk) 08:11, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
 * http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=allintitle%3A+disinfectant+holy+water&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0

--222.67.202.167 (talk) 08:17, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
 * http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&q=disinfectant+%22holy+water%22&btnG=Search&as_sdt=2000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0

Controversies
--222.67.202.167 (talk) 08:20, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
 * http://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&newwindow=1&q=disinfectant%20NEAR%20%22holy%20water%22&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=ws

Removal of picture of soldiers being "disinfected"
I removed the picture of the soldiers standing around, naked, allegedly waiting to be disinfected. While I understand that Wikipedia is not censored (WP:CENSORED), that doesn't mean that we should include any picture of naked people "just because." Nothing in that picture should a disinfectant, there was no clear evidence that the picture was, for certain, linked to disinfectants, and even if we could verify that it did, having the picture doesn't add anything to the reader's understanding of disinfectants. That picture may be appropriate on a page about the history of military health treatment or sanitation, but not on the page explaining what a disinfectant is. Qwyrxian (talk) 02:33, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Removed Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide: it was blurb for ahptechnology.com's product.
I removed this section on "Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide". The section is a general overview of different disinfectants and AHP is a variant of peroxide. Plus, the section was extremely public-relations heavy and close to the company's website info: viz, "globally patented", "synergistic blend", "benefits and efficacy of AHP have been validated by third party blah blah"--Petzl (talk) 03:17, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

 * Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide, also known as AHP, is a globally patented technology for cleaning, disinfection and sterilization. AHP is a synergistic blend of commonly used safe ingredients, that when combined with low levels of hydrogen peroxide, dramatically increase its germicidal potency and cleaning performance.  The inert ingredients, which include surfactants, wetting agents and chelating agents, are listed on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) and Health Canada Inerts lists in addition to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) List.  The benefits and efficacy of AHP have been validated by third party clinical studies conducted by scientific organizations and third party researchers that are recognized by government regulatory agencies in Canada, the U.S and Europe.  The evidence available suggests that products based on Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide, apart from being good germicides, are safer for humans and benign to the environment.

 * I can't agree more on the style, but the correct course of action is not, as one would "obviously" react, to delete it. Instead, it has to be replaced. --vuo (talk) 21:47, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

Alcohols - Inaccurate Information
I am going to give the benefit of the doubt why this misinformation has been presented as fact, without references, and contrary to decades of evidence to the contrary. I have asked for citations an am preparing updated information with citations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shabooshabooshaboo (talk • contribs) 19:35, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

Steam or heat as disinfectant
I think something should be said about using steam or heat as a form of disinfectant, such as steam cleaning for carpets or upholstery, or just plain cooking food to a proper temperature. --71.82.64.203 (talk) 14:14, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

In addition, not all chemical forms of disinfectant are effective against all pathogens. Viruses and Bacteria are separate classes, for example. To call them "germs" is particularly misleading. Antibacterial agents are not always effective in stopping the spread of viruses. --71.82.64.203 (talk) 14:14, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

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Why were the halogen compounds removed from oxidizing agents to "inorganics"?
"Active" halogen derivatives (O- and N-chlorinated derivatives, and iodofors), such as hypochlorites, chloramines and polyiodides are oxidizing agents (hence their common iodometric titration analysis) and a good few of them are organic derivatives (such as chloramine-T, troclosene sodium or iodinated povidone). Why were they renamed/moved to "inorganics"? That is a quite nonsense category on its own, because it does not adress the mechanism of action (i.e. oxidizing action on biomolecules), instead describing some imaginary quality as "inorganic". The category "oxidants" comprises the peroxides, ozone, metal oxo salts as well as "active halogen" derivatives (hypochlorites, chloramines ans iodofors, as opposed to aliphatic and aromatic halogen derivatives, such as monochloroacetate, chlorocresol or chlorhexidine). Any thoughts on why the hypochlorites, chloramines and iodofors were excised out of the oxidant category? Cheers,--91.89.195.4 (talk) 00:38, 17 September 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Disinfectant


text:
Siamang

The siamang ({{IPAc-en|"|s|i:|@|m|{|N}}, also ; Symphalangus syndactylus) is an endangered arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The largest of the gibbons, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching 1 m in height, and weighing up to 14 kg. It is the only species in the genus Symphalangus. Fossils of siamangs date back to the Middle Pleistocene.

Two features distinguish the siamang from other gibbons. First, two digits on each foot—the second and third toes—are partially joined by a membrane, hence the specific name syndactylus, from the Ancient Greek σύν, sun-, "with" + δάκτυλος, daktulos, "finger". Second, a large gular sac (throat pouch), found in both males and females of the species, can be inflated to the size of the siamang's head, allowing it to make resonating calls.

Two subspecies of the siamang are the nominate Sumatran siamang (S. s. syndactylus) and the Malaysian siamang (S. s. continentis, in Malay Peninsula). Otherwise, the Malaysian individuals are only a population. The siamang occurs sympatrically with other gibbons; its two ranges are entirely within the combined ranges of the agile gibbon and the lar gibbon.

The siamang can live to around 40 years in captivity.

While the illegal pet trade takes a toll on wild populations, the principal threat to the siamang is habitat loss in both Indonesia and Malaysia. The palm oil production industry is clearing large swaths of forest, reducing the habitat of the siamang, along with those of other species, such as the Sumatran tiger.

Description
The siamang has long, dense, shaggy hair, which is the darkest shade of all gibbons. The ape's long, gangling arms are longer than its legs. The average length of a siamang is 90 cm; the largest they have ever grown is 150 cm. The face of this large gibbon is mostly hairless, apart from a thin mustache.

Distribution and habitat
The siamang inhabits the forest remnants of Sumatra Island and the Malay Peninsula, and is widely distributed from lowland forest to mountain forest—even rainforest—and can be found at altitudes up to 3800 m. It lives in groups of up to six individuals (four individuals on average) with an average home range of 23 hectares. Their day ranges are substantially smaller than those of sympatric Hylobates species, often less than 1 km. The siamang's melodious singing breaks the forest's silence in the early morning after the agile gibbons' or lar gibbons' calls. The siamangs in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula are similar in appearance, but some behaviors differ between the two populations.

Ecology and behavior
Siamangs have an ecology and relationship between two types of gibbons that share the same habitat. Those include the Agile gibbon and Lar gibbon. Both of the gibbons that live with the siamangs are Hylobates rather than Symphalangus. When two siamangs meet, they often have a bond with each other. They might also communicate by using their throat pouches and shouts to communicate when they feel excited, relaxed, trying to mate, or threatened. If siamangs use loud sounds, they also use body language to communicate. They use sign language or pointing to make others aware of what they need or what they want to do.

Diet
The siamang eats mainly various parts of plants. The Sumatran siamang is more frugivorous than its Malayan relative, with fruit making up to 60% of its diet. The siamang eats at least 160 species of plants, from vines to woody plants. Its major food source is figs (Ficus spp. The siamang prefers to eat ripe rather than unripe fruit, and young rather than old leaves. It eats flowers and a few animals, mostly insects. When the siamang eats large flowers, it eats only the corollae (petals), but it eats all parts of smaller flowers, with the small fruit collected in its hand before being consumed. When it eats big and hard seeds or seeds with sharp edges, it peels out the fruit flesh and throws away the seed. Although its diet consists of substantial portions of fruit, it is the most folivorous of all members of Hylobatidae. As it is also the largest gibbon, it fits well with the general primate dietary trend in which larger primates tend to be more folivorous.

Demography and population
A group of siamangs normally consists of an adult dominant male, an adult dominant female, with offspring, infants, and sometimes a subadult. The subadult usually leaves the group after attaining the age of 6–8 years; subadult females tend to leave the group earlier than subadult males. Siamang gestation period is between 6.2 and 7.9 months; after the infant is born, the mother takes care of the infant for the first year of its life. Siamang males tend to offer more paternal care than do other members of the family Hylobatidae, taking up a major role in carrying an infant after it is about 8 months old. The infant typically returns to its mother to sleep and nurse. The infant begins to travel independently from its parents by its third year of life.

Siamangs are generally known to have monogamous mating pairs, which have been documented to spend more time in close proximity to each other, in comparison to other gibbon species. Both monogamous and polyandrous groups, though, are found in South Sumatra. In studying these populations, infants belonging to monogamous groups were found to receive more overall male care than infants in the polyandrous groups. This reduced care is most likely due to reduced certainty of paternity in these groups.

Habitat disturbance affects siamang group composition; it is varied in age-sex structure between intact forest and burnt, regrown forest. The burnt, regrown forest population contained more adult and subadults than the intact forest population, which had more infants, small juveniles, and large juveniles. Infant survival rates in burnt, regrown forest groups are lower than in intact forest groups. The number of individuals in the latter is higher than in the former. The siamang in disturbed forests live in small groups and have a density lower than in intact forests because of lack of food resources and trees for living.

In the 1980s, the Indonesian population of the siamang in the wild was estimated to be 360,000 individuals. This figure may be less in the 21st century: Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is the third-largest protected area (3568 km2) in Sumatra, of which roughly 2570 km2 remain under forest cover inhabited by 22,390 siamangs (in 2002 censuses). In Sumatra, the siamang prefers to inhabit lowland forest between 500 and 1000 m above sea level.

Behavior
The siamang tends to rest for more than half of its waking period from dawn to dusk, followed by feeding, moving, foraging, and social activities. It takes more rest during midday, taking time to groom others or to play. During resting time, it usually uses a branch of a large tree, lying on its back or belly. Feeding behaviors, foraging, and moving are most often in the morning and after resting. Grooming is one of the most important social interactions among family members. Grooming takes place between adults earlier in the day; the adults groom the juveniles later in the day. Adult males are the most involved in grooming.

In the dry season, the size of the siamang's daily range is larger than in the rainy season. The siamang in southern Sumatra spends less time foraging than siamangs in other places, as it eats a diet higher in fruit. It thus consumes more nutrients, which results in less time needed for food acquisition. A siamang may spend an entire day in a single fruiting tree, moving out when it wants to rest and returning to feed.

Siamangs are a very social species of primates and exhibit a variety of tactile and visual gestures, along with actions and facial expressions to communicate and increase social bonds within their family group. They are also territorial, and interact with other family groups by making loud calls to let other groups know where their territory is. The calls may be asynchronous, where they are not directed at a particular neighbouring group, or simultaneous group calls may take place across the territory boundary. Males are known to chase one another across the boundary.

Grooming frequency between males and females has been found to correlate to copulation frequency, as well as bouts of aggression. Pairs copulate over four to five months at intervals of two to three years. The peak of their reproductive activity is often during the time when fruit is most abundant. Dorsoventral copulation is the most common type in siamangs, where the female is squatting and the male hangs by his arms and grips the female with his legs, whereas ventroventral copulation, where both primates are suspended, occurs only one in 60 times on average.

Role of calling

The siamang starts its day by calling in the early morning; it calls less after midday, with the peak of the calls around 9:00 to 10:00 am. Most of the siamang's calls are directed to its neighbours rather than to those inside its home range. This means the siamang's calling is in response to disturbances and to defend its territory. Calls in the late morning typically happen when it meets or sees another siamang group. The edge of the siamang's home range, which may overlap another, is often the place where calling is made. Counter (co-response) calling occasionally happens near the border or in the overlap area. Calls are numerous when fruit is more abundant rather than when it is less available. Branch shaking, swinging, and moving around the tree crowns accompany the calling. This movement might be to show the other groups where they are.

The siamang prefers calling in the living, tall, and big trees, possibly where another group is easy to see. Besides that, such trees can support siamang movement. Calling trees are usually near feeding trees, but sometimes they call in the feeding trees.

Mated pairs produce loud, well-patterned calling bouts, which are referred to as duetting. These calls advertise the presence and status of a mated pair. Newly formed pairs spend more time singing than an established pair. Advertising the presence of a strong bond is advantageous in territorial defense. Siamang duetting differs from other species because it has a particularly complex vocal structure. Four distinct classes of vocalizations have been documented: booms, barks, ululating screams, and bitonal screams. Females typically produce long barks and males generally produce bitonal screams, but both sexes have been known to produce all four classes of vocalizations. Unlike other gibbons in which vocalization is added by laterally expanded laryngeal sacs, those in siamangs fuse with each other and extend into the ventral area of the neck.

Seeding
As a frugivorous animal, the siamang disperses seeds through defecation as it travels across its territory. The siamang can carry seed while digesting, and defecate between 81.9 and 365.9 m from the seed resource, which supports the forest's regeneration and succession.

Threats and conservation
As an arboreal primate whose survival absolutely depends on the forest, the siamang faces population pressure due to habitat loss, poaching, and hunting.

Habitat loss

A major threat to the siamang is habitat fragmentation due to plantations, forest fire, illegal logging, encroachment, and human development. Firstly, palm-oil plantations have removed large areas of the siamang's habitat in recent decades. Since 2002, 107,000 km2 of oil palm have been planted, which has replaced much rainforest in Indonesia and Malaysia, where the siamang originally lived. Secondly, in the second decade of the 21st century, forests in the Malay Peninsula have been destroyed due to illegal logging. Sixteen out of the 37 permanent forest reserves in Kelantan, in the Malay Peninsula, where most of the siamangs live, have been encroached upon by illegal loggers. Thirdly, forest encroachments change forest cover into cultivated land; for example, the rising price of coffee in 1998 encouraged people in Sumatra to replace the forest with coffee plantations. Fourthly, development in many areas requires infrastructure, such as roads, which now divide conservation areas and have caused forest fragmentation and edge effects.

Poaching and hunting
Unlike other parts of Asia, primates are not hunted for their meat in Indonesia. They are hunted for the illegal pet trade, with hunters preferring infant siamangs. Poachers often kill the mothers first, since siamang females are highly protective of their infants, and removing the infant without first killing the mother requires more effort. Most siamangs on the market are infants, which often die during transportation.

Conservation
Siamang can be found in at least 11 protected areas:
 * Indonesia
 * Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park
 * Gunung Leuser National Park
 * Kerinci Seblat National Park
 * Langkat Barat Wildlife Reserve
 * Way Kambas National Park
 * Malaysia
 * Fraser's Hill Reserve
 * Gunong Besout Forest Reserve
 * Krau Wildlife Reserve
 * Ulu Gombak Wildlife Reserve
 * Thailand
 * Hala Bala Wildlife Sanctuary

title: Siamang


text:
Talk:Siamang

"No you'll never make a monkey out of me!"
Sorry about hte gorilla image! I cut'n'pasted the taxobox from the gorilla article and then edited it. I guess I didn't edit it quite enough ;)--Mishac 19:32, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Oh, that's quite alright; we've all suffered from "copy & paste syndrome" at one point or another (myself included). Nice work on the article! :) Hadal 19:35, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Put a line in about threats to siamang... been working out there a lot recently and even seen siamang having to come down to the ground and run through the clearance areas - it is quite a sight.
 * Neat! - UtherSRG (talk) 14:00, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Can we change the taxonomy box? The siamang was classified as Symphalangus until 1972 when it was reabsorbed into Hylobates - (Reference - Geissmann T. 1994. Systematik der gibbons. Z Koelner Zoo 37(2):65-77. --Cockroach.org.uk 08:48, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Nope. Goodman et al (1998) split it off again, and Groves (2001a) confirmed the split. Geissmann is even in on the split now (see his systemics page and our use of it in Hylobatidae). - UtherSRG (talk) 14:00, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

for the up to date info ;) --Cockroach.org.uk 09:22, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

albino siamang
I've removed the rest of the albino text. Personal Observation is a form of original research, and that is not allowed in Wikipedia. - UtherSRG (talk) 03:12, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Syndactylus--which two fingers?
"...two fingers on each hand are fused together (hence the name "syndactylus")." Which two fingers would these be? 140.147.160.34 (talk) 14:15, 13 February 2008 (UTC)Stephen Kosciesza

talk/calls/vocal communicativ techniques
so they r only calling t 'defend territory'? which researchers say that where r the references? they make more calls when fruits r superabundant? more of these 'repulsiv calls' t defend territory when thrs fruit all ovr? less calls when thrs slim pickings u can starve t death so dont guard ur food with calls then?

sounds like cooperativ calls, or som complicated mixture, but fewer when food is scarce u might starve if too many fellows home n on ur precious few fruity locales!... but thrs no references on any this stuff we dont know who said it & how they said it.

nicholas yoho-wikse... Xenia — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.115.155.105 (talk) 01:39, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

 * Please note that Wikipedia talk page guidelines direct users to speak English on the Talk pages. Depaderico (talk) 23:30, 9 October 2014 (UTC)

Article Organization
The contents of the article are divided into two major categories: ecology, and threats and conservation. Both categories are further divided into sub-categories, and of the two, the section on ecology contains far more information. It may be useful to reorganize the ecology section into several smaller sections, especially since sub-categories discussing the role of calling could fall under the behavior sub-category. While the organization may need some work, the content of the article seems appropriately in depth for a Wikipedia article. The section on the role of calling is particularly interesting and well developed. There are several references to cooperative behavior concerning infant care and vocalizations. Gabriel.hassler (talk) 19:53, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Seeding
This section, in spite of the citations, makes very little sense. A Siamang can defecate up to 300m with a minumum of 47.6m? I don't think that is what is meant, but I can't parse it exactly... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:D1E0:60E0:5BF:8043:1C04:9D1A (talk • contribs)

 * I've updated the text and found a replacement reference. Basically, siamang eats some fruit, digestion takes a day or so, siamang travels while digesting, then siamang poops and the seeds come out in the poop. - UtherSRG (talk) 01:10, 26 November 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program course assignment
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