The Leonids, Chor Leoni's new professional supergroup, makes its Vancouver debut
All of the ensemble’s bass, baritone, and tenor members are among North America’s top singers
Eric Alatorre.
Jonathan Woody. Photo by Sean Salomon
Chor Leoni presents A Sound Like This: Chor Leoni & The Leonids May 12 and 13 at 7:30 pm at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church. The VanMan Summit Concert takes place May 14 at the Chan Centre.
EVERY YEAR, CHOR LEONI’S VanMan Choral Summit gathers more than 300 singers of all ages for a week of interactive study and song, culminating in the VanMan Summit Concert. The happening will look—or rather, sound—entirely different for 2022, with the debut of the Leonids. Taking its name from a meteor shower that shines in the night sky every November, Chor Leoni’s brand-new professional supergroup is made up of some of the brightest lights on the North American choral scene.
In an interview with Stir, Chor Leoni artistic director Erick Lichte explains that the idea had been flickering in his mind for years. In the past, VanMan would feature visiting headliners for collaboration and performance. Why not assemble its own cluster of star singers, an ensemble that could act as mentors to Chor Leoni, the VanMan Festival singers, the choir’s Emerging Choral Artist Program, and participants of the MYVoice Youth Program—and put on performances for local audiences that would dazzle? “If we could do so, our impact would be stronger,” Lichte says.
The pandemic pause gave the conductor the chance to put the wheels in motion, Lichte reaching out to artists he respected from across Canada and the United States. “There wasn't much that was fortuitous about the pandemic, but no one was working and I caught people at home,” he says. Lichte notes that it’s rare to have this kind of small group dedicated exclusively to lower-tone music; its nine members are all tenor, baritone, or bass. Between them, they have performed with some of the continent’s most acclaimed ensembles, including Chanticleer, Conspirare, Cantus, Anúna, Roomful of Teeth, Seraphic Fire, and New York Polyphony.
“I’m excited because of Chor Leoni’s ties to this kind of music and these sorts of sounds, and about being able to use this platform of our festival to bring these artists together and then to bring them back again and again, year after year,” Lichte says. “This will allow our home audiences to get to know this ensemble while we hope to grow our singers. It all feels very much a part of the Chor Leoni ethos.
“Chor Leoni is already an incredible choir,” he adds, “and I felt like if we were going to do this, have something that was coming in at an even more aspirational level, I had to go to the best of the best of the best.”
Mission accomplished. There’s Eric Alatorre (bass), who’s known for his 28 seasons with Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer; Jonathan Woody (bass-baritone), who has performed with historically informed orchestras such as Boston Early Music Festival and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra; Sam Kreidenweis (baritone), a member of the Dublin-based Anúna; and Enrico Lagasca (bass-baritone), whom the New York Times once praised for his “beautiful” sound. Tenor Dann Coakwell is a soloist with Conspirare who performed on the Grammy-winning album The Sacred Spirit of Russia and on Considering Matthew Shepard, while tenor Andrew Fuchs’s recent appearances include a debut at the Kennedy Center in Monteverdi’s Vespers with The Thirteen and the Lincoln Center in Bach’s Magnificat with the American Classical Orchestra. Tenor Jacob Perry, critically acclaimed for his interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, has been featured as a soloist with groups such as Handel Choir of Baltimore, Mountainside Baroque, and Tempesta di Mare, and The Thirteen. Steven Soph, tenor, appears regularly with Seraphic Fire, Conspirare, Roomful of Teeth, and others; while Steven Caldicott Wilson, tenor, is a long-time member of twice Grammy-nominated classical a cappella vocal quartet New York Polyphony.
Beyond being top artists, each of the Leonids grasps Chor Leoni’s greater goals, Lichte says.
“Our mission is to transform people’s lives through male choral singing, and that is something that we take extraordinarily seriously,” Lichte says. “It’s about having another aspirational force in the world for my guys in the choir to learn directly from and be inspired by, and also for the audience and the community we’ve built up around here to be inspired by. We just want to bring something that is extraordinary here. Not only is the quality of the work going to be good; that’s just the first part. The things we’re singing about in this program also fall in line with what Chor Leoni does.”
The Leonids will appear as guest artists at the VanMan Summit Concert, while A Sound Like This will feature solo sets from Chor Leoni and The Leonids as well as collaborative performances with both groups.
A Sound Like This features Grammy nominee Kile Smith’s composition based on what he calls poet Robert Lax’s “artistic credo”, and a piece by fast-rising star Melissa Dunphy that sets a text from the apocryphal Book of Enoch and is inspired by her early love of Renaissance madrigals. Also on the program are works by Ēriks Ešenvalds, David Lang, Ysaÿe Barnwell, Edie Hill, Chor Leoni composer in residence Don Macdonald, and the one and only Mr. Rogers. The throughline is a theme of love.
“There’s a lot of new music and newish music and there’s accessibility to all of them, melody and in some places driving rhythm,” Lichte says. “I wanted to try to play as much as I could with different colours and textures within the pieces themselves
The concert really spans a lot of territory,” he says. “The hope here is that there are moments of showing off these sorts of sounds together and that you’re going to find some real emotional connection.”
VanMan Summit Concert. Photo by Phil Jack
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