Reflections for a New Year of the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir

Aug 19
5 min read

Updated: Sep 20

A new season of the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir starts on Tuesday, September 13th! In honour of our 45th year (founded in 1980), choir members share reflections on the annual Spring Concert, "Doyres Zingen," which took place at the Peretz Centre on Sunday, June 15th, 2025. As one of the last surviving Yiddish choirs in Canada, the choir has been entrusted with preserving and maintaining Yiddish cultural and political music for the benefit of future generations.

Read below to learn more about the choir and how to join (all singers are welcome).

A Celebration of the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir at 45 & Our Founder Searle Friedman

Poster for the 2025 Spring Concert, "Doyres Zingen" — Poster for the 2025 Spring Concert, "*Doyres Zingen*"

The Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir’s spring concert, which marked both the Peretz Centre's 80th anniversary and the Choir's 45th, embraced its title “Doyres Zingen”, or “Generations Sing”. Director David Millard selected arrangements and original music from the choir's history to present an eclectic programme of Yiddish music. This was also our last season with pianist Lacri Galagan, who has accompanied the choir for the past few years.

The choir drew on its repertoire of music written or arranged by Peretzniks, including several arrangements by the choir's founder, Searle Friedman. One of these, a setting of the folksong “Fishelekh Koyfn,” (to buy a fish), portrays a heartbroken soul lamenting their fate. Another of Friedman’s arrangements was the titular piece “Doyres Zingen,” which was composed by Ben Chud, who was the Peretz School's first principal when it was established in 1945. The song exemplifies the hope and idealism of the first generation here at Peretz: “May the peoples’ songs reach the glory of the farthest heaven / New generations will make the time come for a humane sunrise.”

Other more recent pieces were composed or arranged by current director David Millard, including “Sankt Besht,” his extended composition based on an Itzik Manger poem, and “La Roza Enflorese,” his setting of a poignant Ladino folksong. A handful of Yiddish translations from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance by retired New York schoolteacher Al Grand were thrown in for good measure as a throwback to a popular recital the choir once made of them.

Choir members also presented musical or comedic interludes, giving it a more informal cabaret feel as compared to traditional choral recitals. Among these special performances were klezmer music duets, a drag number, and a clown routine.

Retrieving and Recreating Folk Music Traditions

The Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir was founded at the Peretz Institute (now the Peretz Centre) in 1980 by Searle Friedman. We retrieve folk music and other cultural materials that would otherwise be lost or made inaccessible, from a diversity of Jewish languages and cultural backgrounds including Yiddish, Hebrew, and Ladino. In addition to performing traditional folk songs, the Choir creates new arrangements to bring those cultural treasures back to the community and into contemporary contexts for all generations.

In the 45 years since our founding, the choir has regularly performed three holiday repertoires (High Holidays, Hanukkah, and Passover) and concluded each season with a spring concert. Performances feature traditional and non-traditional songs that offer local communities, Jewish and non-Jewish, unique educational opportunities to connect with beloved — and sometimes forgotten — folk music traditions.

This work of recovery is especially important when it comes to music from Jewish progressive, leftist, and labour movements. Communal choruses like the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir, the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir (or "Freiheit Gezangs Farein" / "Freedom Singing Choir"), A Besere Velt (of the Boston Workers' Circle), and The Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus in New York (to name a few) are part of a history going back to the late 1800s. From protest songs to revolutionary poems set to music to satirical theatre pieces, choir members and audiences encounter and enliven important political and social aspects of our collective histories for the present day.

Friendship, Mentorship, & Community

With people from different cultural and faith backgrounds from their 20s to 80s, and a long history of overlapping with the LGBTQ+ community and many queer and trans members, the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir creates a welcoming, safe, and supportive multi-cultural space where people of all abilities and backgrounds can be in community, learn about Jewish music and languages, and build bridges with other folk music traditions.

“As a newer member, I've grown musically and learned a huge amount about Jewish music. The choir is a place for diverse people, including non-Jewish members like me, to connect, express and perform.” – Marguerite

In order to make participation accessible for singers of every level (as has been the goal for the past 45 years), songs in a variety of Jewish languages are taught in transliteration and recordings are provided to new members so they can learn at their own pace, no matter what time of year they join.

Choir members, including professional and semi-professional members who act as mentors, work to support and teach newcomers and often help out members who are sick by bringing food and sharing messages of support, as well as providing rides to and from rehearsals and performances for those who need assistance.

Join the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir for the 2025-26 Season!

The vision of the choir has always been as a community choir open to all. Prospective new members are invited to attend a rehearsal, where they can meet choir members and hear how rehearsals work. We accept new members in all voice parts, year-round from September through June (some exceptions leading up to performances).

For the next Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir season, one of our focuses is resuming partnerships with other folk music performance groups in the spirit of multi-cultural exchange and in promotion of peace between all peoples of the world. Join this exciting, culturally-enriching, and fun work with us on Tuesday evenings at the Peretz Centre!