CHOR LEONI, THE LEONIDS, EMERGING CHORAL ARTIST PROGRAM – ERICK LICHTE, CONDUCTOR
Immerse yourself in both the delicacy and power of the unadorned human voice at Harmonia – Chor Leoni’s a cappella concert offering. The Leonids, Chor Leoni’s professional ensemble composed of some of the finest solo and ensemble voices in North America, return to Vancouver to harmonize alongside Chor Leoni and some of the best up-and coming singing talent in Canada. This harmonic offering, held in the intimate venue of Canadian Memorial Church, will feature the full flourishing of a cappella music – Renaissance motets, folk songs, pop songs and magnificent major works.
Tickets from $20-$85
35 and Under Ticket Pricing Available.
The Leonids, Chor Leoni, and the singers of the Emerging Choral Artist Program come together to astonish, thrill, and soothe through pure a cappella harmonies in this unique and world-class choral offering.
The Leonids is a professional ensemble under the direction of Artistic Director Erick Lichte. The ensemble serves as the professional headline choir for Chor Leoni’s annual Big Roar Choral Festival and as an educational, inspirational, and aspirational force for this festival and beyond. Like the spectacular meteor showers after which they are named, The Leonids come together once a year to rehearse, record, perform and enrich the experience of the Big Roar festival participants.
Ysaÿe M. Barnwell, Ph.D. MSPH, is a commissioned composer, arranger, author, actress and former member of the African American female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock. She is a vocalist with a range of over three octaves and appears on more than twenty-five recordings with Sweet Honey as well as other artists. Trained as a violinist for 15 years beginning at the age of 2 1/2, she holds degrees in speech pathology (BS, MSEd), cranio-facial studies (Ph.D.), and public health (MSPH). She was a professor at Howard University College of Dentistry for over a decade, and over the following 8 years developed training programs in Child Protection at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center, and administered community-based health programs at Gallaudet University, all in Washington DC. For almost thirty years, and on three continents, Barnwell has led the workshop Building a Vocal Community—Singing In the African American Tradition, which utilizes oral tradition, an African world view and African American history, values, cultural and vocal traditions to build communities of song among singers and non-singers alike. Her pedagogy is highly respected among musicians, educators, health workers, activists, organizers, and members of the corporate and non-profit sectors.
Dr. David Morrow is a native of Rochester, NY, and a graduate of Morehouse College with degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. He Morrow conducts the renowned Morehouse College Glee Club, which has achieved domestic and world-wide acclaim. He is a sought-after choral clinician and lecturer, who serves on the board of directors of both the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses, Inc. and Chorus America, Inc., and serves on the Georgia Council for the Arts. His compositions and arrangements are published with Alfred Music Publishers, Oxford Music and GIA music publishers.
Ily is an internationally acclaimed and award winning composer, conductor, choral clinician, and educator. To date, he has released two discographies: INFINITAS (2022) and EUPHONOS (2018) The Choral Works of Ily Matthew Maniano Vol. I & II. A 2023 “Ani ng Dangal” awardee by the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts, First Prize at the 2022 Busan International Choral Festival Composition Competition (South Korea) and Cambridge Chamber Singers International Composition Competition (USA), 2nd Place at the 2021 Concurso de Composicion Gustavo Gomez Ardilla (Colombia) and a 2017 Polyphonos Composition Competition Young Composer Winner (USA) and a few Honorable Mentions in other competitions. His works are being performed and recorded by some of the world’s best and notable choirs and Grammy award winning groups, the King’s Singers & the Swingles, to name a few.
John August Pamintuan is a renowned Philippine conductor, composer, singer, clinician, and adjudicator. Since 2007, John is recognized by the American Federation of Musicians as an artist of sustained international acclaim. As a conductor he has given workshops, performed in concerts, and won in competitions in Asia, Europe, and North America. As a singer, he has sung in solo recitals at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and Moscow Glinka Hall. As a composer, John was awarded the composition prize in Tours (France), Tokyo (Japan) and has written around 450 pieces which have been performed by choirs from 30 countries.
Born in 1964 in Dublin, Ireland, Michael's music combines elements of modality and contemporary compositional practices. He founded the vocal ensembles ANÚNA (1987), M’ANAM in 2018 and Systir a year later. Michael specialises in the composition of music for voices and his extensive output includes a number of pieces that have entered the standard repertoire of choirs and vocal ensembles all over the world. While he is deeply passionate about creating music in the Irish language, his music is expansive, spanning genres, languages and exploring the links between film making and musical creativity. His music spans a huge range of textures, encompassing larger scale pieces such as “Agnus Dei” (2005) commissioned by Chanticleer, or “Maalaulu” (2021), commissioned by Tampere Vocal Music Festival to the hugely popular piece “Dúlamán” (1995).
Henrik Dahlgren, born in 1991, is an award-winning Swedish composer. He began his musical education at the Malmö Academy of Music, where he studied under the guidance of Professor Rolf Martinsson. He then continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in London and the University of Aberdeen, where he studied with the highly renowned composer Paul Mealor. Henrik initially started his career as a drummer but soon traded his drumsticks for a composer's pen. Since then, he has worked in various musical genres and styles, both as a musician and a composer. Henrik's primary focus is choral music, and he has gained recognition for his work with ensembles such as the Vocal Art Ensemble of Sweden, VoNo, USC Thornton Chamber Singers, San Diego Master Chorale, Pro Coro Canada, John Bauer Brass, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, and the US Air Force Academy Band, as well as prominent british ensembles Voces8 and Apollo5.
Veljo Tormis has composed almost exclusively for the voice: hundreds of songs, song cycles, largescale compositions for choirs, some stage works, and only the occasional instrumental piece. His own explanation is that for him, music begins with words; he does not have “purely musical” ideas. He has emphasized that he cannot (or does not want to) write music for pleasure or entertainment; his music always has something to say about the world, nature, men and peoples.
Malcolm Dalglish is a hammer dulcimer player and composer whose work draws on his diverse background in choir, theatre and folk music. A choirboy in the 1960s with The American Boychoir, Malcolm later attended Oberlin College, where he joined a resident theatre company and worked with Bill Irwin and Julie Taymore. While a music education student at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, he designed and built over sixty hammer dulcimers. Mr Dalglish was a founding member of the popular folk trio Metamora and has nine albums out, including solo offerings onthe Windham Hill label. The American Boychoir, The St. Olaf Choir, The Indianapolis Children's Choir and other choirs throughout the land have commissioned his folk inspired music. In 1997 he formed The Oolites, an engaging young group of folk singers. Their second CD, Hymnody of Earth, is a spiritual celebration of nature that has been performed by choirs around the world.
Passionate, prolific, and complicated, composer David Lang embodies the restless spirit of invention. Lang is at the same time deeply versed in the classical tradition and committed to music that resists categorization, constantly creating new forms. Lang is one of America’s most performed composers. Many of his works resemble each other only in the fierce intelligence and clarity of vision that inform their structures. His catalogue is extensive, and his opera, orchestra, chamber and solo works are by turns ominous, ethereal, urgent, hypnotic, unsettling and very emotionally direct. Much of his work seeks to expand the definition of virtuosity in music — even the deceptively simple pieces can be fiendishly difficult to play and require incredible concentration by musicians and audiences alike.
©Chor Leoni 2024