CHOR LEONI – ERICK LICHTE CONDUCTOR | Tina Chang, piano | Karen Lee-Morlang, piano | Cameron Wilson, violin | Laurence Mollerup, bass | Keith Sinclair, guitar
In a holiday feast for the senses, our classic choral blend meets the illuminated architecture and soaring acoustics of Saint Andrew’s-Wesley United in a signature mix of sacred songs, festive carols and winter soundscapes. Experience impassioned new versions of the beloved songs of the season, as we’re joined by familiar musical friends this December. Enjoy candlelit carols and boisterous winter songs that have made Christmas with Chor Leoni one of Vancouver’s most popular holiday offerings, and let music fill your soul with the spirit of the season.
Tickets from $20-$75
35 and Under Ticket Pricing Available.
Let the voices of Chor Leoni bring you joy and light this holiday season at one of Vancouver’s favourite seasonal offerings.
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Described as a "scintillating player" (Opera Wire) whose "...pianism was a wonder," (Opera Canada), pianist and coach Tina Chang is currently on the music staff at Vancouver Opera, and recently at Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland. Based in Vancouver, she has been involved with various arts organizations, including Arts Club Theatre, Chor Leoni, Sound the Alarm Music Theatre, City Opera, and Against the Grain Theatre. She holds her own private studio, and has held adjunct positions at University of British Columbia and Dalhousie University. Find out more about Tina at www.TinaChangPiano.ca.
Award-winning performer, educator and producer Karen Lee-Morlang has been lauded as “funny, brainy and creative.” After specializing in art song, opera and chamber music for two degrees from UBC, Karen taught as a Sessional Lecturer there. Karen has championed “art music for the masses” with dedicated passion, co-producing recital-lecture series for the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Opera and Vancouver Public Library. Karen has also been featured at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, MusicFest Vancouver, World Peace Forum, Women's Worlds Conference, Vancouver Folk Festival and has been broadcast on CBC Radio. Karen enjoys working with local choirs such as Chor Leoni, Vivaldi Chamber Choir, EnChor, Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir, and BC Girls Choir. Karen especially relishes her work as Music Director at St. Francis-in-the-Wood in West Vancouver and Artistic Director at Health Arts Society of BC.
Violinist Cameron Wilson has been a fixture on the Vancouver music scene for the past three decades. He is recognized as one of the most versatile violinists, able to play a wide variety of different musical genres. He currently performs with Joe Trio as well as the gypsy jazz quartet, Van Django, The Wahs, Hard Rubber Orchestra, Mariachi del Soul, and the Marc Atkinson Quartet.
A mainstay of the West Coast Music Scene, Mollerup’s versatility on both Electric Bass and Double Bass has him active in a wide variety of fields, including Classical, Jazz, Latin, and World Music. Laurence has performed with many symphony orchestras and choirs, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, and Vancouver Opera, and his jazz credits include work with Herb Ellis, Louis Bellson, Alan Matheson and Bud Shank/Phil Woods, Charlie Byrd, NOW Orchestra, Asza, Christine Duncan, and his own jazz quartet. He can be heard on CBC radio and at jazz and folk festivals across the country.
Keith Sinclair has been making music for over 20 years. He is primarily a guitar player and vocalist and has performed as a solo artist and as a sideman with a wide range of local and international artists. His time singing with Chor Leoni has nurtured his love of arranging and his music is now sung by choirs around the world.
B.E. Boykin (Brittney Boykin) is a native of Alexandria, Virginia. After graduating from Spelman College in 2011 with a B.A. in Music, Ms. Boykin continued her studies at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey. She continued to compose music during her time at Westminster and was awarded the R & R Young Composition Prize just a few months shy of graduating. In May of 2013, Ms. Boykin graduated from Westminster Choir College with a M.M. in Sacred Music with a concentration in choral studies.
Marie-Claire Saindon is a Franco-Ontarian choral composer with a penchant for vivid imagery and a great affinity for setting text. Her experience while studying music at McGill University and Université de Montréal ranges from accompanying dancers, to scoring films, to fiddling in a team of folk musicians on a historical steam train. Based in Montreal as composer-in-residence for Chœur Adleisia, she runs creative choral/vocal composition workshops, scores films, and teaches fiddle. Recipient of multiple composition prizes, her choral works are published with Boosey & Hawkes, Hal Leonard, Cypress Choral Music, and her film scores can be found on documentaries hosted by CBC Gem and Radio-Canada.
A native Kansan, Dr. Gerald Gurss received his bachelor’s degree in voice at Emporia State University. He received his master’s degree in voice with a choral cognate from Miami University, where he studied with Ethan Sperry. Gurss received his DMA in choral conducting from the University of South Carolina, where he studied with Dr. Larry Wyatt and Dr. Alicia Walker. His research focus is the inclusion and pedagogy of transgender singers in the choral rehearsal. This research has granted him speaking engagements at Wingate University, University of South Carolina, and the MacPhail Center for the Arts. Until his arrival in the Twin Cities, Gerald was the artistic director for the One Voice Chorus (Charlotte’s LGBTQ+ chorus) and the chamber ensemble, Sotto Voce. In 2015, he collaborated in the founding of Midlands Men's Chorus: The Gay Men's Chorus of Columbia, SC and served as its artistic director until 2018. Gerald moved to St. Paul in 2018 with his husband, Ervin, and his dog, Blue. Since then, he has served as the artistic director for the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus as well as White Bear Lake United Methodist Church as the director of traditional music. Most recently, Gerald has been appointed TTBB repertoire chair for Minnesota ACDA.
Michael Engelhardt is a singer, songwriter, composer, vocal coach, producer, and director on a mission to make a positive impact on people’s lives. His work has been featured on ABC, NBC, PBS, and NPR broadcasts, the Carnegie Hall stage, and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and the Jazz Education Network (JEN). He has numerous choral works published by Walton Music (GIA) and Hinshaw Music in addition to his self-published catalog.
Dan Forrest (b. 1978) has been described as having “an undoubted gift for writing beautiful music….that is truly magical” (NY Concert Review), with works hailed as “magnificent, very cleverly constructed sound sculpture” (Classical Voice), and “superb writing…full of spine-tingling moments” (Salt Lake Tribune). His music has sold millions of copies, has received numerous awards and distinctions, and has become well established in the repertoire of choirs around the world via festivals, recordings, radio/TV broadcasts, and premieres in prominent international venues. Dan’s work ranges from small choral works to instrumental solo works, wind ensemble works, and extended multi-movement works for chorus and orchestra. His Requiem for the Living (2013) and Jubilate Deo (2016) have become standard choral/orchestral repertoire for ensembles around the world, with LUX (2018), the breath of life (2020), and his new CREATION oratorio (2023) also receiving critical acclaim.
Kyle Pederson (b. 1971) is a Minneapolis-based composer, lyricist, pianist, and educator. Kyle was awarded the ACDA Genesis Prize in 2020 and the American Prize in Choral Composition in 2019. His work has been commissioned and recorded by All State/Honors choirs, and youth, church, college, and professional choirs around the world. Kyle enjoys working at the intersection of the sacred and secular, and his lyrics and music invite the choir and audience to be agents of hope, grace, and compassion in the world. Kyle has an undergraduate degree from Augustana University, a Masters Degree in Education from University of St. Thomas, and an MFA in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Art. His work is published by Walton, Santa Barbara, Galaxy, Morningstar, Alfred, Hal Leonard, Beckenhorst, Gentry, Hinshaw, and Carl Fischer music publishers. Additional information and links to Kyle’s music can be found at kylepederson.com.
Keith Christopher is a composer, arranger, editor, educator, lyricist, and author. He received the famed Gold Record Award for “A Merry Christmas with Brass,” featuring The Dallas Brass, and earned a Dove Award from the GMA. He has hundreds of musical pieces in print for choir, band, and orchestra in with multiple publishers and his music is performed worldwide. He is the author of a children’s book “The First Christmas Night” that is becoming a perennial favorite.
Ken Cormier is a pianist equally at home in the classical, pop, and jazz genres. Upon completion of his classical studies at the UBC School of Music, his professional career began with 3 seasons as repetiteur with Vancouver Opera. He then moved into the world of professional music theatre, first with the Livent Company, and more recently with Vancouver’s Arts Club, in whose productions he continues to work regularly as keyboardist, arranger, and musical director. Ken has been with Chor Leoni since 1998. He makes his home in Burnaby with his wife Lisa and their two wonderful children.
Stephen Smith (b. 1966) grew up in rural Nova Scotia, where he sang and played the piano from an early age. After initial studies in his home province in both piano and organ, he attended the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. While there, he participated in national and international competitions and won numerous awards and distinctions. Since 1990, Stephen has lived in Vancouver, obtaining his doctoral degree in piano performance from the University of British Columbia and contributing to the musical life of the city as a performer, teacher, composer, choral conductor, and adjudicator. His choral arrangements and compositions have been performed and recorded by choirs from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Seoul, South Korea.
Howard Helvey (b. 1968) resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is active as a composer, arranger and pianist, and serves as organist and choirmaster of historic Calvary Episcopal Church. He is also co-founder (2013) and conductor of the Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble, a professional chamber choir. Additionally, in 2016 he became Editor of the historic music publishing imprint, H.W. Gray. Nationally and internationally Mr. Helvey is in frequent demand as a composer, conductor, and speaker. Known particularly for his choral music, Mr. Helvey maintains an extremely active writing schedule, and his hundreds of compositions and arrangements are published by Beckenhorst Press, Hinshaw Music, Oxford University Press, Boosey & Hawkes, H.W. Gray, Alliance Music, Lawson-Gould, E.C. Schirmer, MorningStar Music, Paraclete Press, and Roger Dean, among other companies.
©Chor Leoni 2024