The Vienna Boys Choir is one of the oldest boys choirs existing in the world, with Maximilian I, who later became a Holy Roman Emperor, calling the first dozen boys to court 1498. For over five hundred years the twenty-four member Vienna Boys Choir has become a symbol of Austria. While motets and lieder for boys' choir form the core of their touring repertoire, as do the choir's own arrangements of waltzes and polkas by Strauss, it includes a variety of medieval, contemporary and experimental music.