Doug!
A beloved fixture of the Vancouver Cantata Singers since 1976, Doug Colpitts reflects on nearly five decades with the choir—from a nervous first rehearsal to his golden 50th season.
News Category: Community & Reflections
Paddy Macleod
Paddy Macleod – 1932-2023 We were sad to learn of Paddy’s passing. Paddy was General Manager of VCS in some capacity for more than 25 years. Paddy was a tireless force in the cultural life of Vancouver, a champion for the role of the arts in the community and a skilled and resourceful administrator who […]
Christmas Reprise, A Treasured Vancouver Tradition, by J. Evan Kreider
Year after year, hundreds of music lovers make sure to add Christmas Reprise to their holiday calendars. ‘Reprise’ (as we fondly call it) is held on the last Saturday before Christmas. This hour-long concert presents fifteen to twenty unaccompanied Advent/Christmas choral works without the interruption of intermission or applause. We reprise some familiar favourites and […]
Light of Humanity program is released!
Click here to have a look!
Light of Humanity Spotify Playlist!
We’ve created a playlist featuring some of the music you’ll hear at our concert on October 22nd. Listen below! Click here to buy tickets, as these pieces and many more will be featured!
Ave Maria – A Christmas Reprise Tradition
Every Christmas Reprise (since 2002), the Vancouver Cantata Singers have ended the program with Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria. The Ave Maria text dates back many centuries and countless music compositions have been inspired by it. A local fireman’s choir in Munich had asked Biebl to write something for the choir in anticipation of a choir festival […]
Vancouver Cantata Singers offers a free, open rehearsal on Wednesday, Oct. 24th
The Vancouver Cantata Singers prepares for their season opening performance of Threnody: Requiem and Remembrance on November 10th by presenting a free, open rehearsal at St. James’ Anglican Church as part of The Heart of the City Festival. The choir will explore and share choral music of consolation and reflection at this time of year […]
Tavener’s Song for Athene, an elegiac tribute to a friend
With an estimated 2.5 billion people tuning in, Princess Diana’s funeral on September 6, 1997 was one of the biggest televised events in history. Many would have heard John Tavener’s Song for Athene for the first time as the flag-draped casket of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was carried out of Westminster Abbey, destined […]
Howell’s Requiem, the influence of grief and loss
Herbert Howell’s Requiem has been hailed by a BBC review as ‘one of the most beautiful and searingly moving works in the entire English sacred musical canon.’ Sections of Howell’s Requiem were first composed in 1932, although it wasn’t until 1980 that the full work was published. Howell’s was deeply affected by the loss of his nine year old son, Michael, who […]
Vancouver’s choral scene, 60 years ago.
It was the late 1950s and the world was changing. In 1957, the Soveit satellite Sputnik was launched and in 1959, Xerox introduces the first commercial photocopier to the market. Locally, in 1957, the Oak Street bridge opened, Elvis came to town (while fans ended the performance with a riot, read more here), and in 1958, Oscar Peterson performed at the Orpheum Theatre. […]
Celebrating choral excellence since 1959.
