Vancouver Cantata Singers celebrate two decades of winter tradition with 20th Christmas Reprise at the Holy Rosary Cathedral
December 23 matinee ending in surround-sound of Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria tours to New Westminster’s Queens Avenue United Church in the evening
Vancouver Cantata Singers’s Christmas Reprise at the Holy Rosary Cathedral.
Vancouver Cantata Singers present the 20th Christmas Reprise on December 23, with a 2 pm show at the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver and a 7:30 pm show at Queens Avenue United Church in New Westminster
EVERY WINTER ON the last Saturday before Christmas, the Vancouver Cantata Singers gather at the Holy Rosary Cathedral downtown for an hour-long holiday serenade. This year, the tradition continues for an extra-special milestone—it’s the concert’s 20th edition.
Eric Hannan introduced the annual Christmas Reprise in his first year as artistic director of the Vancouver Cantata Singers back in 2002. Hannan led the group until 2012, and current artistic director Paula Kremer carried on the tradition when she took the helm in 2013, adding New Westminster’s Queens Avenue United Church as a second venue.
“A lot of people have purposefully made it a tradition in their calendars, and a lot of the choir look forward to it,” the Vancouver Cantata Singers’s general manager Trevor Mangion tells Stir. Prior to becoming general manager two years ago, Mangion was a board member, and sang with the choir for five years. “It is by far our best-selling show of the year, and it's for that reason that people have come to expect this concert,” he says.
Since 2002, there have only been two years without the Christmas Reprise—one of which was 2020, when the pandemic shuttered live performances to a halt. In the absence of a concert, Kremer compiled archival Christmas Reprise recordings into Christmas Reprise XVIII, a digital album of favourite songs performed live from 2012 to 2019.
Stained glass window by Guido Nincheri at the Holy Rosary Cathedral.
There are a few non-negotiables at a Christmas Reprise. The main one is the concert’s ending: the Vancouver Cantata Singers surround the audience in the cathedral for a performance of Franz Biebl’s moving Ave Maria (“tradition and sacrosanct,” notes Mangion). Another is the return of beloved favourites, including Miles Ramsay’s arrangement of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, and Andrew Carter’s arrangement of Spanish Carol (Esta noche nace un Niño), a joyous flamenco-style piece that spotlights soloist Benila Ninan.
At this year’s edition, audiences can also expect a newly commissioned piece by the choir’s tenor Sam Dabrusin, and Io, Io! by late local composer Jocelyn Morlock. Though there are no intermissions or applause during the concert, audiences always react in awe when it reaches a close.
“Everybody comes to their feet in a standing ovation right away,” says Mangion. “And I have very vivid memories of my first year in the choir, just having that reaction in that full of a house at the Holy Rosary—it was quite overwhelming for me.”
The concert’s milieu likely adds to the flood of emotions it inspires. Opened to the public in 1900 as the Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary and later declared a cathedral in 1916, the cross-shaped Holy Rosary Cathedral sits at the intersection of Richards and Dunsmuir streets in the heart of downtown Vancouver.
Its French Gothic architecture, designed by T. E. Julian and H. J. Williams, stands out from the surrounding high-rises. The cathedral’s walls made from Gabriola Island-sourced sandstone are adorned with 21 magnificent stained glass windows, five of which are crafted by Italian-Canadian artist Guido Nincheri. A variety of striking artworks are also displayed inside the cathedral, including a 17th-century oil painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe by Mexican artist Manuel de Arellano (a donation from local arts philanthropist Michael Audain in 2020).
All the cathedral’s grand historic elements combine to create an air of calm and serenity, and a refuge from the hustle and bustle of Christmas activity taking place outside.
“It’s meant purposefully to be an escape,” Mangion shares of the Christmas Reprise. “It’s crazy, it’s busy, it’s right downtown—but here is an hour’s escape.”
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