Chor Leoni announces 2026–27 season featuring sea shanties, returning holiday favourites, and day of free concerts

A new series of public performances and a cross-country collaboration with La Nef and Seán Dagher mark the choir’s 35th season

VANCOUVER’S CHOR LEONI is celebrating its 35th year with a full lineup of performances at St. Andrew’s–Wesley United Church and a new series of free public concerts as part of its annual choral festival The Big Roar.

The season kicks off on November 11 with the choir’s Remembrance Day Concerts, The Soul Flies Away, featuring the highly anticipated return of Don Macdonald’s High Flight, a six-movement composition honouring the life of a World War II Canadian air-force pilot.

December brings the long-standing holiday tradition Christmas With Chor Leoni, running December 17 to 19. Performing alongside the choir are local guest musicians including pianists Tina Chang and Karen Lee-Morlang, guitarist Keith Sinclair, and violinist Cameron Wilson.

On March 5 and 6, Chor Leoni sets sail once again with Montreal’s acclaimed ensemble La Nef in a rollicking program of songs of the sea, featuring shantyman Seán Dagher, santour player Saina Khaledi, and violinist Cameron Wilson. Bound Away includes a major new piece by the choir’s composer in residence, Marie-Claire Saindon.

Closing the season is Chor Leoni’s annual festival The Big Roar, on May 7 and 8, gathering over 450 singers whose harmonized singing is sure to live up to the festival’s name. Participants this year include the group’s professional ensemble The Leonids, MYVoice youth choirs, participants in the Emerging Choral Artist Program, and 12 local invitational choirs—among them the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir, Vancouver Cantonese Choir, Vancouver Iranian Choir, Koro Pacifico, and KÔR. A new community initiative, The Big Roar: Day of Singing, takes place on the second day of the fest with a series of free public performances.

Throughout the season, Chor Leoni will continue offering their digital Concert Film series, available for free with RSVP.

Season packages are now on sale, with single tickets available starting October 1. Visit Chor Leoni’s website here for more details.

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Ashley Kim

Ashley Kim is an American writer based in Vancouver with a degree in English Literature from McGill University, where she also minored in Hispanic Studies and European Literature and Culture. Her work is shaped by a love of food and travel, and fuelled by a passion for storytelling in all its artistic and cultural forms.

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