In Brief:
Tickets are now on sale for Christmas at the Chan, produced by Trinity Western University’s School of the Arts, Media + Culture and its signature Christmas event. The Christmas extravaganza will be held Sunday, December 2 at 2:30 p.m. at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts in Vancouver. Tickets for this celebration of choral music go fast. Don’t miss out—get your tickets early at tickets.ubc.ca or by phone at 604.822.2697.
This Christmastide - Christmas at the Chan 2018
Christmas season highlight event Christmas at the Chan is a showcase of four Trinity Western University choirs accompanied by a professional orchestra for a musical celebration of the season. Award-winning conductor Dr. Joel Tranquilla, Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at TWU’s School of the Arts, Media + Culture, brings the audience an enchanting afternoon of musical performance to usher in the spirit and meaning of Christmas.
Christmas at the Chan features a delightful variety of choral music with performances by TWU’s Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, Chamber Singers and Masterworks Chorus. Special guests this year are the celebrated Pacific Mennonite Children’s Choir, under the direction of Betty-Ann Braun. Altogether, this concert brings together 150 singers with a 40-piece orchestra of professional musicians.
The program this year plays on the theme of time, reflecting the story of Christ’s birth as it has been told throughout history. Christmas is a season of both celebration and reflection when we also look forward with joy and hope to the year ahead. This concert is a musical journey through time, encompassing selections from the 14th century through to the 21st century.
Concert Highlights:
- Pacific Mennonite Children’s Choir under the direction of TWU alumna Betty-Anne Braun
- Performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Christmas cantata Hodie
- Works by composers Gustav Holst, John Burge, Donald Fraser, and SAMC’s own David Squires
- Well-known carols and traditional audience singalongs
“Drawing particularly on the rich history of British choral music, this year's program includes an extended seasonal work by Ralph Vaughan Williams as well as fresh contemporary songs and arrangements. We hope there will be something for everyone! As always, the audience will have several opportunities to join the choirs in some traditional Christmas sing-alongs,” says Tranquilla.
Sharing the podium with Dr. Tranquilla will be PMCC’s Betty-Ann Braun, the conductor of TWU’s Concert Choir, Cathrie Yuen, and Masterworks Chorus Assistant Conductor, Anna-Marie Ryan—all of whom are graduates of TWU’s School of the Arts, Media and Culture.
Trinity Western University’s choral program has been recognized internationally. TWU choirs collaborate with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver Chamber Choir, and have performed on CBC Radio locally and at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Our choirs have toured China, Korea, Eastern Europe and the Ukraine.
The annual Christmas at the Chan Centre concert is a collaborative gift to the wider community from the Chan family, the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, and Trinity Western University, and is made possible through the generous assistance of the Chan Endowment Fund of the University of British Columbia.
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is a private Christian post-secondary institution in Langley, British Columbia. It is a fully accredited university offering liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media and culture.
For more information
Angela Lee
Senior Marketing and Communications Specialist
Trinity Western University
604-513-2027 x 3191
angela.lee@twu.ca