Making music in praise of God

Neustift Abbey has always been an important centre of religious music. This is clear from the medieval graduals (books containing chorales) and music-related archive material, but also from the tradition of abbey choirs. The mixed abbey choir was founded by the abbey’s former music director H. Martin Peintner, and has been providing the music for the services in the Abbey Church on feast days since 1982. The more recent music tradition was also influenced by Josef Gasser, whose students founded the male voice choir in 1959. It is also thanks to Gasser that the long tradition of carol singing at Neustift has been revived. And since 2015 there have also been choristers in the school boarding house again: continuing a Neustift tradition that has been documented since the Middle Ages.