Vancouver music scene celebrates Valentine's Day with romantic concerts
Offerings from the Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs, the VSO, Early Music Vancouver, and more take place on February 14 and 15
German soprano Dorothee Mields, who is performing at Bach Ties the Knot. Photo by Harald Hoffmann
Spanish pianist Javier Perianes, who will be performing at Saint-Saëns’s “The Egyptian”. Photo by Igor Studio
LOVE IS IN the air this month on the Vancouver music scene, with everything from a cappella pop arrangements to romantic piano recitals in store for locals. Here are just a few of the music events taking place in honour of Valentine’s Day.
Behind the Keys
February 14 at 7:30 pm at the Annex
The Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs fetes the occasion with its annual fundraising event featuring a solo recital by piano virtuoso and VBFC artistic director Leslie Dala. Audiences will be serenaded by the sounds of Liszt and Schumann while enjoying a complimentary glass of wine (or soft drink), a delicious chocolate, and an optional charcuterie plate.
Vancouver Jazz Orchestra. Photo by Steve Mynett
Valentine’s Jazz Evening
February 14 at 7:30 pm at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts
Jazz at the Bolt hosts this sold-out cabaret-style show taking place as a prelude to its annual festival on February 15 and 16. Led by saxophonist and clarinetist James Danderfer, the Vancouver Jazz Orchestra will play the joyous music of legendary local trombonist, bandleader, arranger, composer, and educator Dave Robbins in honour of Happy Faces, an upcoming release of archival Dave Robbins Big Band recordings from the 1960s. A beverage and snack bar will be on-site.
VOCES8: Draw on Sweet Night
February 14 at 7:30 pm at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
A cappella octet VOCES8 travels from the U.K. to perform arrangements of pop, jazz, and swing tunes in this concert presented with Early Music Vancouver. Selections range from Venetian Renaissance works to music by Pulitzer Prize–winning American composer Caroline Shaw.
Saint-Saëns’s “The Egyptian”
February 14 and 15 at 8 pm at the Orpheum
Parisian conductor Chloé van Soeterstède will guide the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra through Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “The Egyptian” (the French talent’s final piano concerto, composed on a winter vacation to Luxor, Egypt in 1896). The program—which also includes Franck’s Symphony in D minor and contemporary composer Camille Pepin’s Laniakea—will feature Spanish piano soloist Javier Perianes.
Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Bach Ties the Knot
February 15 at 3 pm at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church
In this Early Music Vancouver presentation, German soprano Dorothee Mields and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra (helmed by Alexander Weimann) will perform wedding-related music by J.S. Bach as part of the 2025 LUMEN Festival. Audiences will hear Bach’s cantata Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202—which translates roughly to “Dissipate, you troublesome shadows”—along with the world premiere of Mields’s Fictive Wedding Cantata, “O großes Hochzeitsfest!”, which is composed of arias and movements from a variety of Bach works. EMV’s artistic director Suzie LeBlanc will host a pre-concert chat with Weimann and Mields at 2:30 pm.
Isn’t it Romantic
February 15 at 7:30 pm at Pacific Spirit United Church
The Vancouver Chamber Choir wraps its annual Conductors Symposium led by Kari Turunen with this program dedicated to romance, featuring works by Stephen Chatman, Ramona Luengen, Jake Runestad, and composer-in-residence laura hawley. Symposium participants include Singapore’s Siew Woon Choy, Ireland’s Brian Dungan, Canada’s Kai Leung, Belgium’s Klaudia Zając, and Germany’s Michael Stahl. 
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