2024-2025 Season

Our 28th season

Island Bel Canto Singers presents Celtic Ayres.
Artistic Director, Fiona Blackburn, with collaborative pianist Stefanie Unger will bring you music from Scotland and Ireland, as well as Benjamin Britten’s beloved Ceremony of Carols (a 20th century reworking of medieval carols). Also included will be music from the Irish phenomenon Riverdance.  We will be featuring Josh Layne on harp.

“Harpist/composer Josh Layne has been called a ‘harp genius’ and a ‘consummate musician’.  He has performed extensively across Canada, the US,  Europe, South America, and Australia and New Zealand and has been praised for both his virtuosity and the sensitivity of his playing. 

Josh has recorded 4 albums of solo harp music, including his 2013 CD which features three of his original compositions for harp. Recent projects include a revival of Bochsa’s long dormant “Concerto No. 1 in D minor” with a performance at the World Harp Congress in Wales in July 2022.”

Josh’s most recent YouTube project is Harpist in the Wild, a new video series combining his love of music and the outdoors.
More at http://www.harpistinthewild.com/

Where: St. Andrew’s United Church, Nanaimo
When: Dec. 1st, 3:00pm
Tickets available from the Port Theatre box office, or at the door.

Where: Knox United Church, Parksville
When: Dec. 8th, 3:00pm

Tickets available from the Port Theatre box office, from choir members, or at the door.

SPRING 2025

March 9, 2025 Sunday matinee 3pm
Choirs in Triplicate – Island Bel Canto Singers in concert with Island Voices Chamber Choir (Comox Valley/Campbell River) and Oceanside Consort
Where: Knox United Church, 345 Pym Street, Parksville.

April 6, Sunday 4pm  Island Bel Canto Singers will join Malaspina Choir and the Tidesmen in Nanaimo Sings! Community through song – choirs in collaboration
Where: St. Andrew’s United Church, 315 Fitzwilliam Street, Nanaimo.  More details to follow.

April 26, Saturday evening 7pm at St. Andrew’s United Church, Nanaimo
Island Bel Canto Singers perform Elements: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire
Where: St. Andrew’s United Church, 315 Fitzwilliam Street, Nanaimo
An exciting exploration of the four elements: Wind, Water, Earth and Fire through choral music for treble voices.

Island Bel Canto Singers will present music that ranges from the 12th century, with a composition by Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) called The Origin of Fire, to Newfoundlander composer Kathleen Allen’s award-winning work, Fire
Five more Canadian composers are represented:

  • Four Strong Winds (Ian Tyson d.2022)
  • Windsong (Richard Kidd of New Brunswick)
  • Water Fountain (arranged by British Columbian composer, Kris Fulton)
  • The Water is Wide(arranged by British Columbian composer, Brian Tate)
  • Earth Voices (currently composer-in-residence with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Laura Hawley).