Biography
Situated in Austria’s Vienna Woods at the Abbey of Stift Heiligenkreuz, the Cistercian Monks first reached mainstream pop and classical-crossover listeners through the 2008 album Chant: Music for the Soul, issued as Chant: Music for Paradise across Europe. The project gathered the monks’ performances of Gregorian chant, described by the community as sung prayer, and achieved worldwide commercial success that brought both widespread notice and substantial revenue to the historic order. Established in 1133 by St. Leopold III, the abbey endured the seventeenth-century Turkish invasion as well as the ascent and collapse of the Nazi regime in adjacent Germany. At the time of the album’s appearance, roughly eighty monks belonged to the community, the majority residing within the abbey walls. Seeking fresh Gregorian-chant recordings, Universal Records approached the Austrian monastery in 2008; following periods of prayer, discussion, and negotiation, the monks consented to make the album. Seventeen residents performed the pieces inside the abbey church, preserving liturgical traditions that predate the Christian era. Upon release the collection entered the U.S. Billboard charts at number one. The subsequent releases Vesperae: Baroque Vespers at Stift Heiligenkreuz and Chant: Amor et Passio appeared in 2011, followed by Chant: Stabat Mater in 2012.
Albums
