Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir

The Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir is a terrific Lower Mainland choir. Its Christmas-themed concerts in December are tremendously popular and highly recommended.

If you get the chance to see one of their performances, you should go! They are very good!

To learn about the choir in general see our article about the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir or visit vancouverchoir.ca. To learn about our experience at one of their Christmas concerts, continue reading.

For concert tickets, see the official Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir website.

Christmas Concerts with the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir

The Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir performs over a dozen times most years. Concerts take place in March around St. Patrick’s Day, in November for Remembrance Day, and in December for Christmas. A small number of other concerts usually happen in other months too.

In 2023 the choir has Christmas concerts in White Rock, New Westminster, Surrey and North Vancouver on December 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 15th. It also has performances in Vancouver on both December 9th and 16th. This year’s theme is “A Ringing, Swinging Christmas“.

In 2019 the concerts were Christmas Traditions Around the World and they ran between the end of November and middle of December. In 2020, because of COVID-19, there were no live performances at Christmas. The choir’s series of concerts during the 2021 winter holiday season were called Sing We Now of Christmas. In 2022 they had Holly Jolly Christmas concerts. In the two years prior to 2023, because of COVID, almost everyone had to wear a mask. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case!

Skye Wilkinson and Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir — Christmas Concert at Centennial Theatre (in 2022)

2023 Christmas Concerts

In 2023 the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir performs their A Ringing, Swinging Christmas concerts on the following dates and at the following venues:

Saturday, December 2nd – in the afternoon at the White Rock Baptist Church.
Sunday, December 3rd – a Christmas Concert with Winter Harp in the afternoon at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster.
Tuesday, December 5th – in the evening at the Surrey Arts Centre near Bear Creek Park in Surrey.
Saturday, December 9th – in the afternoon at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Vancouver.
Friday, December 15th – in the evening at Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver.
Saturday, December 16th – in the evening at Shaughnessy Heights United Church in Vancouver.

For concert tickets, see the official Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir website.

Karen Lee-Morland and Welsh Men's Choir

What to Expect at the Choir’s Concerts

We have attended a few of the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir concerts and thoroughly enjoyed them. Our most recent Christmas concert with them was at Centennial Theatre in North Vancouver in December of 2021. Also performing that night was the Argyle Secondary Chamber Choir which is also an exceptional choir. They perform together in North Vancouver again in 2023.

The Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir entertain audiences at some of the Lower Mainland’s nicest and most prominent venues. Centennial Theatre, where we saw them, is a community theatre. It has a seating capacity of about 650. It’s a very nice community theatre facility.

In 2021 we got to watch the choir practice just prior to their performance. That was a really interesting experience. It was fun watching them warm up. The fine tuning and precision of both the director and choir was impressive and demonstrated how good and practiced these guys are!

Skye Wilkinson Singing — Skye Wilkinson During the Rehearsal

The Concert Experience

The concert we attended in 2021 was exceptional, as was expected. We had seats near the back of the theatre, but could still see everything no problem.

The choir sang a wide selection of songs, most of which we recognized, which was nice. Some of the songs were very traditional while others were variations of classic favourites. Traditional songs included Joy to the World, O Come All Ye Faithful, Good King Wenceslas, I Saw Three Ships and Oh Holy Night.

Perhaps because of COVID-19, the choir was smaller in 2021 than it was in the past. All dressed in their black tuxedos, there were about 40 men in the choir, compared to up to 100 in previous years. Their voices, however, were still as powerful and beautiful as ever, even with their masks on!

Although a men’s choir, four women also performed at the concert when we went. Karen Lee-Morlang is the group’s regular pianist and wow is she amazing! What a talented musician she is! For a few of the pieces she was also joined by Grace Wiggins on the piano. On the saxophone was Julia Nolan.

Complementing all the male voices, Skye Wilkinson was the sole female singer in the year we went. The soprano’s solos and singing were also exceptional.

For concert tickets, see the official Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir website.

Karen Lee-Morlang on Piano — Pianist Karen Lee-Morlang

Argyle Secondary Chamber Choir

Often the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir performs with a second group. In the case of the North Vancouver concert, both in 2021, 2023 and other past years, it was the Chamber Choir from Argyle Secondary School. We’re guessing that it will probably be the same again in 2023.

The Argyle Secondary Chamber Choir is an exceptional high school choir. In some years they sing a few songs on their own and then join the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir on the stage to sing a couple of songs together. In 2021, because of COVID-19, the two groups performed separately the entire time. In non-pandemic years, they usually sing some songs together.

At the concert we attended the Argyle group sang four songs and all of them were lovely! Only one song was fairly traditional and something we recognized. The others were very unique and, in a couple of cases, in foreign languages. One of the songs was from Finland and involved the choir making windy weather-like sounds. It was especially interesting.

Argyle Secondary School Chamber Choir — Argyle Secondary Chamber Choir (in 2021)

Concert Summary

Between the two choirs, instrumentalists and soprano singer, the entire concert we attended was most enjoyable. The show lasted for about two hours with a 15-minute intermission in the middle.

The intermission allowed people time to go to the restrooms, stand up to stretch, and chat with people around them. Because of COVID, the bar was closed so people couldn’t purchase refreshments, but that was both okay and understandable. In 2023, where available, the bars will be open!

The duration of the performances was about perfect. We didn’t check our watches or feel it should have ended earlier. The variety of the selection of songs was also really nice.

If you ever get the chance to see the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir perform, you should go. We highly recommend their concerts. They are a talented group of singers, and Jonathan Quick is a very talented conductor.

The Argyle Secondary Chamber Choir is also really good, as we understand are the Winter Harp group and Delta Secondary School Choir.