• Vancouver Chamber Choir outreach

Outreach

The Vancouver Chamber Choir is devoted to excellence in performance, and to mentoring and encouraging new talent. The choir is a leader in its educational initiatives and community outreach programs. These activities provide a critical link with today’s youth, foster a better appreciation of choral music, and contribute to the growth of choral music in Canada.

One of the hallmarks of this non-profit society is the scale and scope of outreach and educational programs offered throughout each season. The choir also trains singers, conductors, and composers across Canada in its ongoing effort to contribute back to society, to preserve the choral traditions of the past, and to encourage growth and innovation in the works of the future.

In June 2000, the choir was honoured with two awards at the 2000 Chorus America Conference, including the Education and Outreach Award, given in recognition of the choir’s outstanding programming in this area.

Conductors’ Symposium

The Conductors’ Symposium provides advanced training in choral conducting from Master Conductor Kari Turunen to university, school, church and community choir directors from around the world. Five participants will be given significant time over a full week to conduct the choir in rehearsal, with emphasis given to score interpretation as well as choral techniques and gestures. This year’s focus will be music of Canada and the United States and will culminate with our Neighbo(u)rs concert on February 13, 2026.

The 46th Annual Conductors’ Symposium will take place February 8-13, 2026 in Vancouver.

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN

Interplay

Vancouver Chamber Choir Interplay Winnipeg 2016

Interplay is an interactive workshop for Canadian composers who write for chorus: it provides them with the opportunity to workshop their in-progress (or recently completed) choral works and ideas with Kari Turunen and the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

In these workshops, composers are allotted individual rehearsal time with the professional chorus and conductor. This time may be used to test completed work and/or try out new concepts. The conductor, singers, and composer may dialogue about musical and technical features, strengths, flaws, textures, colours, notations, and many other aspects of successful choral writing. Each workshop is closely tailored to the needs and interests of the individual composer.

There is no charge to composers for the workshops, thanks to the generous support of the SOCAN Foundation and other supporters of our educational programs.

For the 25/26 season, two in-person workshops are scheduled in Vancouver for:

  • Tuesday, November 4, 2025, 11:30am-1:30pm
  • Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 11:30am-1:30pm

Additional workshops may take place in a city near you!

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Focus — Professional Development for Young Singers

Focus is a brief but intensive introduction to the world of professional choral singing for college and university students. A quartet of singers from each music department in Metro Vancouver is nominated by the school’s choral conductor.

For the 25/26 Season, this program will be offered in conjunction with our production entitled I Fall, I Rise at Pacific Spirit United Church on January 24, 2026.

Artistic Director Kari Turunen will reach out directly to postsecondary choral music educators with more information.

OnSite

OnSite is designed for small groups of elementary and secondary school students and their teachers or supervisors. The program, provided free of charge, offers a unique learning environment for students and teachers through attendance at a rehearsal, interaction with the conductor and singers, and attendance at the relevant concert.

OnSite is not only an experience to treasure, but also a way of establishing and building a long-term relationship between a school and the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

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Young Composers’ Competition

Founder & Conductor Emeritus Jon Washburn created this biennial event to encourage the development of young composers and to stimulate the interest of young people in singing choral music and attending choral concerts. The competition provides young composers with the artistic direction and supervision that will enable them to pursue the art.

The compositions are judged in three categories: Elementary (ages 8-12), Secondary (ages 13-18), and College/University (ages 18-25) with a cash prize awarded to the winning entry in each category.

Applications are now available for the 17th Biennial Young Composers’ Competition.

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The Vancouver Chamber Choir acknowledges that it operates and performs on the unceded Indigenous land belonging to the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We are grateful for this privilege.