Please welcome Matthew Smith, Tenor 2, back to Phoenix! Matthew is a former member of the choir, and we are delighted to have him signing with us again.

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am very busy at the moment being a stay-at-home dad to my two young children. I also work for the Vancouver Public Library.

Tell us about your recent choral experience:
I previously sang with Phoenix for eight years, from 2004 – 2012. Other choirs I’ve sung with include Laudate Singers and Pacifica Singers.

What are you most excited about this season?
I’ve missed choral singing and am really excited to get back into it after some time away!

What song/album is your summer favourite?
Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972)(album)

Join us in welcoming Kimi Cheong to Phoenix Chamber Choir as our newest Soprano 1!

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am an articled student, which is essentially a lawyer who has finished law school but has not passed the bar exam yet! However, I can still go to court and do all the other things one would expect a lawyer to do, albeit with the supervision of a full lawyer.

Tell us about your recent choral experience:
I sang with the Vancouver Youth Choir for nine years, since its inception, and it was simultaneously a huge part of my life and a huge inspiration for me. Before that, I had only ever sung with my high school choir.

What are you most excited about this season?
The shared concert with the Chamber Choir and, of course, my own alumni choir! Sharing music with other choirs is always particularly special.

What song/album is your summer favourite?
I’m currently listening to the tick, tick… BOOM! soundtrack!

 

Welcome back to Phoenix, Jack Foster! Jack is our newest bass, and is a former member of Phoenix. We are so happy to have Jack back with the choir.

Tell us a little about yourself: 
I perform in Drag under the name Tara Beladi to channel my love of pop divas. I often accompany myself on the ukulele and sing hits such as Vogue and Genie in a Bottle.

Tell us about your recent choral experience:

I have spent the last few years singing bass with VanDeca Vocal Ensemble, and was previously a member of Phoenix in the 2017-18 season.

What are you most excited about this season?

So much! I’m most excited by the prospect of making high quality choral sounds with this talented group of musicians.
What song/album is your summer favourite?
This summer I’m (still) all about Lady Gaga’s 2020 dance album Chromatica. Honourable mention goes to Harry Styles’ 2022 album Harry’s House.
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We are thrilled to introduce you to our new Phoenix Members! Welcome Rachel Goetz, our newest Soprano 2.

 

Tell us a little about yourself: 

I’m a teacher in the Coquitlam school district, currently working on my masters of music education. I’m married to Mike and we have two daughters away at university. In my spare time, I enjoy singing (of course!), walking, reading, travelling, and hanging out with family & friends. A new hobby this past year has been playing alto sax in a couple of community bands.

 

Tell us about your recent choral experience:

I have sung in the Coquitlam Celebration Choir (directed by Amy Stephen) and DeCoro (directed by Kelly Prosnik), which is the adult choir of the Coastal Sound Music Academy.

 

What are you most excited about this season?

I’m excited to sing some newly commissioned works as well as favourite selections from the past 40 years. 

 

What song/album is your summer favourite?

Walking On Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. My husband and I were in a band during our student days and that was a song we used to perform – fun memories!

This 2022-2023 season will be a year-long celebration of Forty Years of Phoenix Chamber Choir. Phoenix is honoured and humbled to recognize four consecutive decades of creating music together for our community. When we consider the transitions and decisions that an organization of our size, stature, and mandate must weather in order to experience the success we have for as long as we have, we are especially grateful. We know that is in large part due to you all: our devoted and loyal audience.  This season will be a celebration of all of us: founders, choristers, directors past and present, composers and listeners alike. 

Phoenix invites you to join us this 2022-2023 season as we journey together through the past and find ourselves looking toward the future:

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Phoenix Chamber Choir wants to use our platform to make a difference and stand with those whose voices who have yet to be heard. Written in 3 languages, the text of “Nou La” was a collaborative effort between Sydney Guillaume, Fredericka Petit-Homme and Lloyd Reshard Jr.. After many meaningful conversations, the heart of the text was realized. Lloyd expressed his sentiments, stating: “The English portion of ‘Nou La’ stems from the social, cultural, racial and political unrest that has been stirred during the global Covid-19 pandemic. It was important for me to capture the questioning, the frustration, and the desire welling inside myself and others who feel marginalized.”
Our hope is that “Nou La” compels the listener to confront and wrestle with their own political, cultural, historical, and social stances, particularly when we do not agree or understand one another. We also hope that this work encourages listeners to passionately confront inhumanity as they cultivate empathy and compassion, inspiring the listener to examine their own relationship and actions towards marginalized communities.
“Nou La”, by Sydney Guillaume, was premiered on May 7, 2022 at Phoenix Chamber Choir’s Evolve concert featuring soloist Frédéricka Petit-Homme.

Phoenix Chamber Choir 2022/2023 Student Choral Composition Competition

Rules and Regulations

 

Founded in 1983, Phoenix Chamber Choir is entering its 40th season as one of Canada’s finest vocal ensembles, renowned for diverse and eclectic programming from the Renaissance to the contemporary, commissions from Canadian and international composers, and North American premieres of significant new works.

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Are you an educator looking for an engaging, relevant way to introduce your students to the magic of classical choral music?

We at Phoenix Chamber Choir have curated a unique experience exclusively for students, based on our 2021-2022 season, Emerge. This hour-long condensed concert encounter is designed to be shared in  class and educates your students about choral music and modern composers and is offered in both French and English.

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Auditions

Auditions for our 2022-2023 Season

Auditions for most voice parts are now closed, however we are still accepting auditions for Tenor 1 and Bass 2.

Auditions will remain open for these voice parts until the positions are filled, or until the start of our season. Please read below on how to prepare and submit your audition video.

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Fredericka-Petit-Homme

Frédéricka Petit-Homme joins Phoenix Chamber Choir as the soprano soloist in the world premiere of Nou La. Haitian-Canadian Petit-Homme was a part of this project from its start in 2020. Nou La’s composer Sydney Guillaume, Phoenix artist director Dr. Nicholle Andrews and Frédéricka Petit-Homme met in 2020 over video conference to have an honest conversation about marginalized communities and how the Phoenix Chamber Choir could use their platform to make a difference and stand with those whose voices have yet to be heard. They specifically spoke at length about Haiti and Haitian immigrants abroad, and these ideas will be voiced in Guillaume’s work. The text of the piece was written in collaboration by Sydney Guillaume, Frédéricka Petit-Homme, and bass-baritone Lloyd Reshard Jr. Phoenix is thrilled to have Frédéricka with us for the premiere of Nou La on May 7.

Tell us a little bit about yourself; introduce yourself to our audience. 

I’m a lyric artist and love making music in community.

Tell us about your connection to the piece Nou La. How were you selected for this solo and what makes it important to you? 

Nicholle had a big dream, next thing you know I’m on a jet plane.

How have you prepared to sing this solo? 

Feel the rhythm, baby.

Are there things you have learned or noticed as you’ve rehearsed? 

Kinda stressful preparing a Premiere-lol.

What do you hope the audience will experience while listening to the premiere of Nou La? What questions or emotions do you hope it will raise? 

I hope the audience embodies the contagious rhythm, the lilting melody and powerful message of Nou La. I hope the piece bridges the gaps that separate communities.

A fun question that we ask everyone: what are you listening to right now? 

A whole lot of music! lol Any and everything from plainchant to contemporary opera. 80’s pop never disappoints.

Anything else you want to share about yourself, the piece, or the upcoming concert. 

Very excited to be working with Nicholle, Sydney and the Phoenix family. Let’s do this!