VanMan Choral Summit brings together 400 singers for epic concert
Men's and boy's choir groups to put on massive performance at The Chan Centre
Nearly 400 singers will gather on a single stage next Saturday as part of the first-ever VanMan Choral Summit, an event that brings together men's and boys' choir groups from the Lower Mainland and Seattle.
The choral summit is a full-day event organized by Chor Leoni Men's Choir, a group known for its popular Remembrance Day concerts in Vancouver.
On Saturday, the choirs will rehearse and perform solo sets throughout the day until the massive finale at night at The Chan Centre for Performing Arts
Three choirs of young men who are part of Chor Leoni's free education program, MYVoice, will perform in the afternoon.
Isaac Sabier, who has been part of MYVoice for three years, jokes that he was initially tricked into singing choir in high school.
"We were sitting in band class one day and [the music director] comes in," he told North By Northwest's Sheryl MacKay during a recent rehearsal for the VanMan Choral Summit.
"We screwed up some of the tuning on one of our parts, so she told us to sing it. She made us do it individually and then she took a bunch of us and said, 'you're coming to choir tomorrow.'"
Music brings people together
Chor Leoni's artistic director Erick Lichte says the audience can expect to be a bit weepy on Saturday when they listen to the young men sing.
"Chor Leoni has always believed that male singing has transformative power, and the group has always wanted to create a culture where men of all ages can express themselves through singing," he said.
"It's something that you can do pretty much equally well from the cradle until the grave. You can be 80 years old and sing with a 16-years-old and you're on the same footing. You can't do that in golf or hockey or football."
MYVoice will perform at 4 p.m PT. at The Chan Centre for Performing Arts, Mar. 7. The VanMan Choral Summit concert will take place later that evening at 7:30 p.m. PT.
To hear the full interview with MYVoice members and Erick Lichte, click on the audio labelled: Boys' and men's choirs gather for massive concert in Vancouver.