The Leonids explode onto the Vancouver choral scene
TIt was really a chance to bring together…these people who are at the top of their game…
– Erick Lichte
here’s an unforgettable anecdote in one YouTube video of U.S. bass-baritone singer and composer Jonathan Woody. It came in conversation with Erick Lichte, artistic director of Vancouver’s Chor Leoni men’s choir and assembler of a new choral supergroup, the Leonids.
Woody—one of nine members of the Leonids—tells the story behind his impassioned and enthralling performance of composer George Frideric Handel’s “Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage Together” with Kansas City’s Spire Chamber Ensemble in December 2016.
Earlier that day, someone in politics, whom Woody didn’t identify, had made a disgusting comment about then–first lady Michelle Obama going back to Africa. This came as the Obamas were preparing to leave the White House.
“It kind of broke my heart, actually, particularly because they weren’t even going to be in power in a month,” Woody tells Lichte in the video. “You know, it was just like, why are we still attacking these folks?
“I don’t know—something personal just hit me that day,” the singer-composer continues. “I was really fortunate, actually, to have the opportunity to have the music to express myself.”
Woody’s singing of the Handel classic from Messiah is riveting. His voice ascends with tension, shakes with anger and pain, enunciating every word and exploding through the hall.
“It was cathartic for me,” he says. “That was what I needed to do those days to get through those emotions.”
To stargazers, the Leonids are an annual meteor shower associated with Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Like their namesake, the Leonids choral group will return to Vancouver with a radiant and dynamic show every year.
“It was really a chance to bring together a lot of these people who are at the top of their game and put them together in a small ensemble,” Lichte tells the Straight by phone.
The Leonids include soloists from some of North America’s most admired ensembles, such as bass singer Eric Alatorre, with the Grammy-winning Chanticleer ensemble. The group will perform with Chor Leoni twice at St. Andrew’s–Wesley United Church and once at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts from May 12 to 14.
Other members of the Leonids are bassbaritone Enrico Lagasca, baritone Sam Kreidenweis, and tenors Dann Coakwell, Andrew Fuchs, Jacob Perry, Steven Soph, and Steven Caldicott Wilson.
“This program offers Vancouverites the rare opportunity to hear one of the world’s greatest large male choirs [Chor Leoni] coupled with one of the world’s most distinguished small ensembles,” Lichte says.
He notes that their shows will focus on humankind’s relationship to the divine. This will be reflected in verses by Indian mystic poet Kabir, whose writings reflect Sikh and Hindu influences. As well, performers will sing verses by Welsh mystic poet George Herbert and American Trappist monk Thomas Merton, among others.
“It’s some of the most exquisite, wild, and heartfelt music,” Lichte says. “You don’t always get that combination.”
The Chor Leoni artistic director was determined to bring together singers with a sense of mission, artistic generosity, and educational experience. The goal was for them to share their expertise with younger singers at the two-day VanMan Choral Summit, culminating in the Leonids’ final 2022 show at the Chan Centre.
“The audience will hear something they’ve rarely heard in Vancouver,” Lichte says. “It’s going to be partly homegrown and partly exotic, coming in from other lands once a year.”