Christmas with Chor Leoni features a mix of familiar and brand-new seasonal songs
The all-male choir’s 2021 Yuletide offering is more than a concert, says artistic director Erick Lichte
Chor Leoni. Photo by Phil Jack
Chor Leoni presents Christmas with Chor Leoni December 17, 18, and 20 at 8 pm; December 18 at 2 pm and 5 pm; and December 20 at 4:30 pm at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church. Opening night features a post-concert talk with artistic director Erick Lichte and former CBC broadcaster Rick Cluff.
WHEN VANCOUVER’S SINGING lions gather for Christmas with Chor Leoni at the just-refurbished St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church, they’ll be joined by versatile violin virtuoso Cameron Wilson, a wizard in styles ranging from gypsy jazz to rock. Lighting designer Alan Brodie, whose award-winning work in theatre, dance, and opera has been seen on stages across Canada, the U.S., and Europe, will help set the mood. And on the program of 14 works including six world premieres, there will be the soft glow of candles for the choir’s signature closing sing-along carol, “Silent Night”.
“We try to take what is a Christmas concert and also make it a Christmas show,” Chor Leoni artistic director Erick Lichte says in a phone interview with Stir. “We’re doing that within the language and the feel of what choral music is with theatrical lighting and trying to create that magical flow where people settle in and pop out the other side and go, ‘Wow, what just happened to me?’ It’s wonderful to pair production with music that has depth and tradition and new arrangements. Turning all of these smaller elements into the whole is where the real ambition lies.
“With what the Chor Leoni singers themselves bring to this program, I don’t think you need to be a choral aficionado or a classical-musical lover or any of those sorts of things,” he adds. “If you just want to feel that you’re together and connected with community this holiday season, that’s the MO for this concert.”
This year’s iteration of the eagerly anticipated event will showcase Wilson’s wide range, the acclaimed fiddler-composer having appeared on recordings by the likes of Bryan Adams and Nickelback and regularly performing with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Opera Orchestra, acoustic string jazz quartet Van Django, and the Hard Rubber Orchestra, among numerous other ensembles. He’ll accompany the choir in offerings like Portland-based singer-songwriter Naomi LaViolette’s brand-new setting of “Noel” and Los Angeles-based pianist-composer Shawn Kirchner’s “Brightest and Best”, a lively arrangement based on the American hymn “Star in the East”.
“He’s a polymath,” Lichte says of Wilson. “He can play any and every style, and one of my jobs to make sure I tick all the boxes to be able to show him off in the best possible way. He’s going to play everything from classical fiddle music to jazz. It’s so much fun to throw things at him to see what he does with it.” Lichte adds with a laugh: “I’ll call him the X factor.”
The 65-member Juno-nominated choir will also perform familiar songs such as “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Winter Wonderland” as well as fresh-off-the-press arrangements, including African-American composer Marques L.A. Garrett’s “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman”; Chor Leoni tenor Keith Sinclair’s setting of singer-songwriter David Wilcox’s “It’s Almost Time”; and Lichte’s own take on “Auld Lang Syne”.
Then there’s “Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter”, with Ken Cormier, Chor Leoni’s collaborative pianist of more than two decades, putting a contemporary spin on the 1950 Bing Crosby original that featured the voices of the Andrews Sisters. “Going down this rabbit hole of research that happened over pandemic, I found this old-time Christmas carol recorded by Bing Crosby that I’d never in my life heard of,” Lichte says. “It’s perfect. I don’t know how this hasn’t become part of the canon of Christmas carols. It’s going to melt some hearts.”
That essentially sums up Lichte’s hope for the show—that everyone who steps foot in the venue will be moved not only by the Yuletide songs but by everything they hear.
“For me what’s so important is the idea of listening,” he says. “When you create a choir that has that discipline and that ethos, they get their buzz from the experience of deep listening to one another, and that passes off to the audience as they listen to the music. That’s the ultimate goal of choral music and also with me in this program in particular—trying to create that space communal listening. Netflix can’t replicate that. A digital concert can’t replicate that, even though it’s a great way to experience it if you can’t be there live. Listening with other people, when it’s happening, is this incredibly powerful feeling.
“It’s my job and our job in putting the show together to create a space where that can happen,” he adds. “The holidays are about coming together as a community. Hopefully our sound can surround you and buoy you out of the church.”
FFor more information, visit chorleoni.org.
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