The Start
SingYourJoy is an idea which came to life in January 2011. SingYourJoy’s aim was to provide a place for like-minded young people to gather, make music, and more importantly create friendships and build community. By the first rehearsal on February 7th, 12 young adults had dared to try out the concept of a non-auditioned community chorus for people aged 16 to 29. By the time of the group’s first performances a few months later, these 20 young people had become friends, and were a solid crowd favourite as guest artists at two “Make a Joyful Noise” concerts.
Since then…
By the numbers
SingYourJoy has hosted approximately 65 singers per season (September – December) (January – April) and performs its major concerts with an average of 55 singers on stage. SingYourJoy has worked with over 400 young people since our start.
Concerts & Performances
Our Concert Photos and Poster Art
SingYourJoy made their national debut at the January 2013 “Epiphany Explorations” conference, thrilling the audience with their energy, enthusiasm and joy in singing together. In December 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019 we were proud to perform at the BC Legislative Assembly, participating in “Christmas Lights Across Canada“, a celebration of the holiday season.
Special Guests
We’ve shared our concert stages with a variety of local artists, including: Aysia Law, Victoria’s first Youth Poet Laureate; Keegan Rice, beatboxer; Annie LePage, spoken word artist; DJ Graeme Bousada; the Coastline Fiddlers of Victoria and the James Bay Children’s Chorus.
SingYourJoy also enjoys great local musicians in our backup ensembles such as Rheana Slack, Kelby MacNayr, Dave Emery, Peter Dowse, Don Cox and Joey Smith.
Two times over the past 6 years, SingYourJoy has worked with guest clinicians/conductors and benefitted greatly from the knowledge and expertise of these well-known BC musicians: Louise Rose in 2014; and, to celebrate our fifth anniversary year, with Willi Zwozdesky in 2016.
We are making plans and looking forward to our collaboration with Celebrated Composer and Director, Brian Tate for our tenth anniversary year.
Collaborations
British Columbia is home to a vibrant choral community, and SingYourJoy has been fortunate to have performed with other local choirs, including: The Allegra Singers, The Victoria Squires, the church choirs of Cadboro Bay and Oak Bay United, Via Choralis Chamber Choir, the Chalice Choir of the First Unitarian Church of Victoria, the Joy of Life Choir and The Linden Singers of Victoria.
In May 2017, Victoria welcomed the BC Choral Federation’s annual provincial choral festival Chorfest, featuring four assembled choirs of singers from across the province working with esteemed choral conductors, celebrating choral singing as a life-long avocation. SingYourJoy was host to the inaugural non-auditioned Chorfest 2017 Young Adult Choir.
The gala concert on Sunday, May 21 at University Centre Farquhar Auditorium hosted a massed choir of almost 400 singers, together with the Victoria Symphony. SingYourJoy gained provincial attention by encouraging our brand of barrier-free choral singing.
Community Service
Giving back to our local community has been a key component of each season of SingYourJoy. In our first years, the singers assisted at Our Place Society to create and serve a hot meal to the family on days when the building was not normally opened. In recent seasons, we have entertained residents at both the Cridge Centre for the Family and Highgate Lodge with music from recent concerts.
We’ve also assisted in fundraising concerts by sharing our songs for: the Good News Choir (Victoria), the Student Refugee Program (WUSC) at the University of Victoria, Harvest House Food Bank (Chemainus), Chemainus Community Refugee Sponsorship Team, and the RASTA Animal Sanctuary (Chemainus).
