Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs announces 95th season, opening with a Phantom of the Opera silent-movie score

Among the other highlights are the annual Christmas With the Bach Choir, Behind the Keys, and SpringSong

Leslie Dala conducting the Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs. Photo by Diamond’s Edge Photography

THE VANCOUVER BACH FAMILY of Choirs has just announced its 2025-26 season, and kicking it off is a special edition of Silent Movie Mondays.

At the Orpheum on October 27 at 8 pm, the Vancouver Bach Choir (also known as the adult symphonic choir) will perform a live score to a screening of the 1925 silent film The Phantom of the Opera for its 100th anniversary. A six-piece orchestra and organist Michael Dirk will accompany the 80 singers, with Leslie Dala conducting. Vancouver Civic Theatres co-presents the event; arrive early to catch a pre-show performance by the Gatsby Strutters Jazz Band in the lobby.

The symphonic choir will celebrate the holidays with two concerts. The first is a full performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at St. Andrew’s–Wesley United Church on December 6 at 7:30 pm. Featured soloists include soprano Chloe Hurst, mezzo-soprano Emma Parkinson, tenor Colin Ainsworth, and baritone Aaron Durand. And on December 7 at 2 pm, the festive Christmas With the Bach Choir concert returns to the Orpheum, with all nine of the Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs performing winter classics alongside five pianists, organist Dirk, and the Touch of Brass Quintet.

Behind the Keys, the company’s annual black tie–optional Valentine’s Day fundraiser, will be at the Annex on February 13 at 7:30 pm. Dala will be at the piano while attendees sample wine, chocolate, and optional charcuterie.

On February 28 at 7:30 pm, back at the Orpheum, the Vancouver Bach Choir will perform the Canadian premiere of the chamber arrangement of Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D major, along with Kati Agócs’s Hosanna of the Clouds. The choir will be joined by the singers of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program: soprano Julia LoRusso, mezzo-soprano Marianne Bertrand, tenor Lyndon Ladeur, and bass-baritone Mihnea Nitu.

SpringSong, a concert by the Vancouver Bach Children’s Choirs, is on March 10 at 7 pm at Pacific Spirit United Church. And the whole family of choirs will unite once more for SummerSing on May 10 at 2 pm at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.

The organization’s 95th season will close with the world premiere of Mother/Land—an opera-oratorio written by Jeffrey Ryan and Michael Lewis MacLennan—at the Vancouver Playhouse on May 16 at 7:30 pm. The piece tells the story of Naomi and Ruth, a mother and daughter-in-law who escape war but face discrimination while trying to re-establish themselves. The Vancouver Bach Choir will be joined by soprano Heidi Duncan, mezzo-sopranos Krisztina Szabo and Simran Claire, and baritone Luka Kawabata.

Tickets to all shows in the season are now on sale.

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Emily Lyth

Stir editorial assistant Emily Lyth is a Vancouver-based writer and editor who graduated from Langara College’s Journalism program. Her decade of dance training and passion for all things food-related are the foundation of her love for telling arts, culture, and community stories.

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