Backup Choir Page (Course)

Program Description

The 2025-26 Season of the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir begins in September (details TBA). Sign up for our newsletter to get updates about registration and more. About us: We are an eclectic and friendly choir of about 25 members. Our ages range from 20’s to late 70’s, and we have Jewish and non-Jewish members. The choir has a long history of overlapping with the LGBTQ+ community, and has many queer/trans members. We also aim to be a neurodivergent friendly and anti-ableist space. We stand with the long revolutionary Yiddish history of advocating for peace. Rehearsals & Performances: We rehearse Tuesday evenings (7:30-9:00pm) in the Ben Chud Auditorium at the Peretz Centre, from September-June (with a break over Christmas/New Years). The choir performs at Peretz Centre holiday events throughout the year and hosts an annual spring concert. We also collaborate with other choirs and have performed at numerous venues in the Vancouver area, including South Granville Lodge, Louis Brier home, Cityfest Vancouver, Vancouver Public Library, VanDusen Gardens, Cavell Gardens, Orpheum Theatre’s Parade of Choirs, the Vancouver Planetarium, and more. Repertoire: We sing mostly Yiddish pieces ranging from traditional folk and Yiddish theatre songs to newly-composed and arranged pieces of greater complexity, plus Hanukkah (Khanike) and Passover (Peysakh) repertoire in Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino and English. We often get to sing music arranged or composed specifically for the choir, and most of our music is in beautiful minor keys. All text is in transliteration, so no knowledge of Yiddish is required. You also don’t have to know how to read music (though it helps). Level: The vision of the choir has always been as a community choir open to all levels of experience. We do sing from sheet music and in 4-part harmony, but also have paid section leads in each voice part to make things easier. We also create recordings of voice parts to help new-comers learn the music. If you don’t have any musical experience you might find it challenging, but we’ll do our best to get you up to speed! We welcome more experienced singers, too. New Members: We are always accepting new members in all voice parts and offer choir memberships on a sliding scale. Learn more about the choir and its history here: https://www.peretz-centre.org/vancouver-jewish-folk-choir Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Vancouver-Jewish-Folk-Choir/61557043684723/