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Arts & Culture

Salute To Vienna

Airs Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012 at 10 p.m. & Saturday, Dec. 1 at 3:30 p.m. on KPBS TV

"Salute To Vienna," narrated by the late Academy Award-winning actor Gregory Peck, features an all-star cast of Austrian and American soloists and the inspired pairing of the Vienna Boys Choir and the Boys Choir of Harlem.

Taped at the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna in 1999, the program marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Vienna's renowned "Waltz King," whose prolific library of music consists of over 400 compositions.

In the spirit of the multicultural celebration, soloists perform some of the most beloved songs, including "The Watch Duet from Die Fledermaus," with tenor Herbert Lippert and soprano Martina Serafin, "Voices of Spring" a waltz for voice with soprano Eva Lind and "Dein is mein ganzes Herz" with tenor Paul Groves.

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Other highlights include the Vienna Boys Choir's exhuberant "Chit Chat Polka" and the Strauss Festival Orchestra's "Thunder and Lightening" and "Radetzky March." "Salute To Vienna" also highlights some of the period's waltzes and lively polkas.

In beautifully costumed dance segments, members of the International Ballroom Dance Champions, the Vienna Opera Ballet and the Hungarian National Ballet are featured and dance to Strauss' "Wine, Women and Song Waltz," "On the Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz" and "Eljen a Magyar."

"Salute To Vienna" is on Facebook, and you can follow @salutetovienna on Twitter.

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