When beloved Vancouver men’s choir Chor Leoni travelled to Bosnia, Croatia and Italy last summer, they not only picked up a whopping 12 awards at the 51st Seghizzi International Choral Festival, but their breathtaking sound won them a whole new following — literally.
“By the end of the tour we had an entourage. I’m not kidding,” says the group’s new artistic director, Erick Lichte, with a laugh. “We had people who stopped going to work and followed us from town to town. I’ve done a lot of touring, but I’ve never seen anything like that. It was incredible.”
As rare as that level of magnetism might be, it will come as no surprise to those who have seen Chor Leoni perform live — and choral music aficionados will no doubt be charmed once again as the group celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special concert at the Chan Centre in Vancouver this weekend.
On the program are works that range from Schubert to Bollywood and stretch all the way back from the choir’s early days to the premiere of a new commission titled Winter by renowned Swedish composer and conductor Robert Sund, who will also be on hand to guest conduct. Other special guests include soprano Mariateresa Magisano, baritone Brett Polegato and the CBC’s Shelagh Rogers as host.
“We got the Rolodex out for this one,” says Lichte. “It really is an embarrassment of riches.”
It’s also an especially poignant anniversary, because the choir is still grieving the loss of its revered founder and former director, Diane Loomer, who died in December, so the concert is also a tribute to her remarkable legacy.
“Diane had a grace and a gentleness about her the likes of which I’ve never seen in a conductor,” says Lichte, who was a founding member and artistic director of the renowned American choir Cantus. “There was a firmness in her too, a solidness about who she was and what she believed in. She didn’t start Chor Leoni until she was 41, and I think when you come to things a bit later in life, you have all of that wisdom and that sense of self that you can bring to a group."
“You aren’t proving anything to anybody; you can just create an atmosphere of sharing. And I think that audiences pick up on that too,” he continues. “There’s a genuine warmth that these guys exude everywhere they go, especially when they’re singing together.”
But while the group is looking back over 20 years with everything from a Diane Loomer arrangement of "Ave Maris Stella" — a kind of “national anthem” for the Acadian people — to a Scottish traditional called "Loch Lomond" that will have the choir joined by over 40 Chor Leoni alumni, Lichte says the anniversary is also about looking ahead at what’s to come.
And, of course, it’s the chance for the group – who are lovingly nicknamed "the lions" – to win even more followers through their remarkable vocal power, but also through their intricate subtlety.
“Sure, the lions can roar, they can purr really nicely as well,” says Lichte. “We have a somewhat strange conception of what masculinity is and what being a man is, and I think what’s so disarming about these guys is that, yeah, they’re a bunch of dudes, but they’re also very sensitive and sharing men.
"And whenever I listened to a Chor Leoni recording or I saw them at different festivals, even when they were tackling very difficult literature, there was something so inviting and so easy about them,” he remembers. “They really do separate the men from the boys.”
Related:
Diane Loomer, lion-taming choral conductor, dies in Vancouver
20 years of remembrance with Vancouver’s Chor Leoni
Are men’s choirs making a comeback?
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5 classical music ensembles to discover on CBC Music