- June 11, 2025 | 7:30pm
- Canadian Memorial United Church
C/4: Canadian Choral Composition Competition
Be witness to new choral colours, musical expressions and artistic perspectives in one of the most fun and accessible new music events in Canada.
CHOR LEONI – ERICK LICHTE CONDUCTOR
We close our season with our annual Canadian Choral Composition Competition (C/4), an interactive and insightful gathering of composers, performers and music-lovers. Works by Dr. Roydon Tse, Tawnie Olsen and Benjamin Sigerson will be illuminated through performance and interactive conversation in the beautiful acoustics of Vancouver’s Canadian Memorial Church. Nowhere else will you get the chance to hear new works from three of the most exciting Canadian choral composers, read through their scores, rub elbows with these creators, and help crown the winner of this award-winning celebration of the freshest sounds of new choral music.
General Admission $30.
35 and Under Ticket Pricing Available.
Be witness to new choral colours, musical expressions and artistic perspectives in one of the most fun and accessible new music events in Canada.
Dr. Roydon Tse (1991) is an award-winning composer and educator who seeks to communicate with listeners from all backgrounds. His music, for orchestral, vocal and chamber forces, have been commissioned & performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Esprit Orchestra, the Atlanta Opera, Verona Quartet, & members of the Minnesota, Paris Opera and La Scala Orchestras, among others. Born in Hong Kong, Roydon was a teaching artist for the Canadian Opera Company and is a resident faculty for the Lunenburg Composition Academy in Nova Scotia. He completed his D.M.A at the University of Toronto and lives in Calgary, Alberta.
Described as "taut, focused... colourful" by Gramophone, "mesmerizing," by critic Tim Smith, and "especially glorious... ethereal" by Whole Note, the music of Canadian composer Tawnie Olson draws inspiration from politics, spirituality, the natural world, and the musicians for whom she composes. Her opera Sanctuary and Storm (libretto by Roberta Barker) is the winner of the 2021-2023 National Opera Association Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition. Olson is also the winner of the 2018 Barlow Prize, a consortium commission for the BYU Singers, The Crossing, and Seraphic Fire, and of a 2019 Copland House Residency Award. She was the Composer-in-Residence of the 2018 Women Composers Festival of Hartford. Her scores are available from the Canadian Music Centre, E.C. Schirmer, Galaxy Music, Hal Leonard's BandQuest and Mark Foster series, and Oxford University Press.
Benjamin Sigerson (b. 2001) is a composer and jazz pianist from Vancouver, B.C. Currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in composition at McGill university where he studies with Brian Cherney and previously with Christine Jensen. Sigerson has won awards for his compositions, including the Debbie Fleming Prize from the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, 3rd prize in the choral category in the 2021 edition of the SOCAN Awards, twice the Vancouver Chamber Choir's young composer competition, and the Barbara Pentland Award from the Canadian Music Center. His pieces have also been performed by the Vancouver Youth Choir, the Hard Rubber Orchestra, and in recording studios and jazz clubs around Vancouver and Montreal. He has appeared as a pianist and composer on four records, most recently the album Dogs of Orion.
©Chor Leoni 2024