Chor Leoni, Vancouver’s renowned 70-voice male choir, has announced their 32nd season, which begins with their longest-standing tradition, the annual Remembrance Day observance in November 2023.
The 2023/2024 season features a series of seven immersive concert programs to highlight Chor Leoni voices, two free programs for youth, as well the annual premier choral festival returns, under a new name: The Big Roar. Chor Leoni also provides access for everyone through their Concert Films online, available for free with RSVP.
“We’re thrilled to share a season filled with treasured favourites, exciting collaborations, and brand new landmark choral works,” says Artistic Director Erick Lichte. “As a singing community, Chor Leoni strives to express the inexpressible. We sing to connect to one another and to connect to our deepest selves. In entertaining and stirring ways, this season hopes to give voice to the fullness of the human experience.”
Highlights of the season include a collaboration with Montreal’s famed ensemble La Nef, led by Seán Dagher, for The Return Voyage, a concert of rollicking shanties and songs of the sea. The Leonids, Chor Leoni’s professional choral ensemble, will once again return to Vancouver to perform, educate, and inspire at Harmonia and The Big Roar.
The season also features monumental new choral pieces with nine world premieres, including multi-movement works from Melissa Dunphy, 3-time Grammy nominee Kile Smith, and Canada’s own Don Macdonald, who will be completing his final season as the choir’s Composer in Residence. The new works, commissioned by and for Chor Leoni, explore our human legacy, past and future, in the ground and through the air.
“These concerts come straight from the hearts of the creators and performers, so it is fitting that all of this year’s concerts take place in the heart of Vancouver, in our iconic home of Saint Andrew’s-Wesley United,” adds Lichte. “Our hope is to bring beauty, joy, laughter, thoughtfulness and peace to the heart of our extraordinary city. Chor Leoni is staunchly from and for its community and we hope this season can create a deeper and fuller connection in it.”
Chor Leoni’s 2023/24 Season Includes:
Boundless
32nd Annual Remembrance Day Concerts
November 10 and 11, 2023 at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United
Christmas with Chor Leoni
December 15, 16, and 18, 2023 at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United
The Return Voyage / La Nef and Chor Leoni sing Sea Shanties
February 16 and 17, 2024 at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United
Harmonia: The Leonids & Chor Leoni
April 11, 2024 at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United
The Big Roar
April 13, 2024 at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United
Earth & Aether / the archaeology of soul and sky
May 10 and 11, 2024 at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United
C/4: Canadian Choral Composition Competition
June 14, 2024 at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United
Find showtimes and show details, online at chorleoni.org
Also find details on ticket packs for Chor Leoni’s 2023/24 season are now on sale. Special pricing available for those 35 and under. Single tickets go on sale September 28, 2023.