Nanaimo's Classical Chamber Choir

“…to perform choral music and to engage audiences in the enjoyment of choral repertoire..”

MUSIC DIRECTOR

Bruce Farquharson


Bruce Farquharson has been involved in Nanaimo’s music scene since 1977. Formerly director of the Nanaimo Tidesman Barbershop Chorus, A Cappella Plus, Nanaimo Concert Band and a founding member of the Nanaimo Chamber Orchestra, in 2007 Farquharson started up the Island Consort chamber choir with an emphasis on excellence and Early Music. Read more about Bruce.

UPCOMING EVENTS

  • A Choral Cornucopia (April 2024)

    2:30pm 13 April 2024 - St. Andrew's United Church, Nanaimo

    Nanaimo Tickets: $25 through the Port Theatre  or $25 cash at the door for Adults, $5 for Students, Children under 13, Free

    What do you do when naming a harvest of wonderful repertoire that has no obvious relationships?: call it a “cornucopia”. Island Consort presents “A Choral Cornucopia” which begins with Salish Song, and an acknowledgement to the Snuneymuxw 1st Nation. Music Director, Bruce Farquharson has divided the rest of the program into 4 sections; Sacred, Contemplative, Foreign and Folk, with four selections in each section...


THE
ISLAND
CONSORT

The Island Consort Chamber Choir is a 20-voice community chamber choir in Nanaimo, BC that first appeared in concert in late April 2007. Repertoire is performed mostly a cappella but with occasional keyboard or strings accompaniment.

The choir produces two programs per year in Nanaimo, typically in late November and in mid-April. Past performances have also been in the mid-Island communities of Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Chemainus, Ladysmith and Gabriola Island. Programming retains the emphasis on Early Music (Byrd, Tallis, Weelkes, Palestrina, Monteverdi, Bach, etc.) but also expands to include Classical, Romantic and 20th Century/contemporary works (Schubert, Pearsall, Rheinberger, Kodaly, Tormis, Whitacre, etc.). The choir entered the National Choral Competition for the first time in the spring of 2013 and again in 2019, and has performed four times at the Port Theatre – with the Nanaimo Chamber Orchestra, with the Vancouver-based professional dance ensemble, “Dancers Dancing”, providing on-stage vocal accompaniment, and with the Vancouver Island Symphony’s presentation of Mozart’s Requiem and, most recently with the VIS “Christmas Memories” program. To celebrate our 10th anniversary in 2017, we produced a concert and CD with pieces selected from each of the previous years to represent our “Odyssey”.

More information about past music selection can be found on our Past Concerts page.

I was so moved and lifted by the harmonies of all your lovely voices...

“We are very lucky to have you here in our community!”

There is no where else in Nanaimo that people can come to hear this kind of wonderful choral music

a 'truly magical' evening