Island Bel Canto Singers is an adult treble choir based in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Our members bring wonderfully diverse backgrounds to the choir – the binding factor is that we all love to sing. Since our beginning in 1997 and, with the exception of the pandemic years, the choir has been producing concerts at least twice a year ever since. Over this 30 years, we have collaborated with numerous other choirs and appeared as guest performers.
Our music is diverse, challenging and fun! We perform both a cappella and accompanied pieces with instruments including piano, percussion, brass, strings, guitar, organ and harp. Our repertoire covers multiple languages, time periods from medieval to contemporary, and style genres from classical to pop, folk, musical theatre and everything in between!
Fiona has been directing Island Bel Canto Singers since the spring of 2021. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of choral music and singing to our choir. She has earned a Bachelor of Music in voice performance, a Bachelor of Education in secondary music, and a Master of Music in choral conducting.
Fiona has either sung or conducted in some of the world’s greatest venues. As a professional singer, Fiona has been a featured soloist on numerous Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio and television broadcasts, and with various orchestras. For 13 seasons, Fiona was a member of the Vancouver Chamber Choir. She also performed various roles with companies such as Vancouver Opera, North Shore Light Opera and Theatre under the Stars.
As an educator, Fiona has taught music from kindergarten to university. She was an adjunct professor in the Department of Education at UBC. We are fortunate to have her as our artistic director! More information about Fiona can be found here
Stefanie Unger is our Collaborative Pianist.
Pianist Stefanie Unger thrives in collaboration with fellow musicians across a broad range of vocal, choral and instrumental works spanning classical, opera, oratorio, chamber music, musical theatre, sacred music, contemporary, and jazz. In the four decades since first accompanying her elementary school and church choirs, she has worked with numerous choirs in Indiana, Eastern Europe, Southern Ontario and Vancouver Island. Island Bel Canto Singers’ collaborative pianist since 2018, she looks forward each Monday night and the community, camaraderie, laughter, and uniquely brilliant and agile sound created when treble voices join together. We are very fortunate to enjoy the musicianship of such an accomplished pianist.
