Co-hosted by Canada Choral and l’Alliance chorale du Québec, the Podium 2024 Choral Conference and Festival took place in Montreal from May 16 to 19. This year’s theme was “Open voices, open minds.” Bringing together dozens of choirs from across Canada and beyond, the festival featured seven major indoor concerts and a series of free concerts, which took place across downtown Montreal.
The festival opened with the Cultural Landscapes concert, featuring Toronto-based ensembles Babεl and Concreamus, as well as Coroncoro Vocal Ensamble from Bogotá, Colombia. The high-calibre performances delighted the audience. Coroncoro should be singled out, having delivered a flawless performance.
Héritage was then performed by the National Youth Choir of Canada, a group made up of 31 of the country’s finest young choristers, under the direction of conductor Roseline Blain and assistant conductor Kitbielle Pasagui. The group offered a program on the theme of “passing on.” Making full use of the space at St. Andrew and St. Paul’s, the choir moved throughout the church to provide a captivating experience for the enthusiastic audience. Of particular note was the spellbinding performance of Kanien’kehá:ka dancer Barbara Diabo in Katia Makdissi-Warren’s Clairière, which concluded the concert program.
The festival continued on May 17 with Home Is Where the Heart Is. Toronto was once again in the spotlight, with the Chroma Vocal Ensemble and Toronto Northern Lights choirs, alongside Winnipeg’s Proximus 5 vocal quintet, who rounded out the program. Chroma Vocal Ensemble, true to form, shared their passion for new music, presenting mainly works by Canadian composers. Constellation by Montreal composer Marie-Claire Saindon was especially well-rendered.
Ahskennon’nia: Songs of Peace was the first concert to be presented at Salle Pierre-Mercure. It was a landmark event that demonstrated the power of choral music to unite cultures and build bridges of reconciliation. At the invitation of artistic director and singer-songwriter Sherryl Sewepagaham, the concert brought together Wendat singer-songwriter Andrée Levesque Sioui; Inuk soprano Deantha Edmunds; Innu baritone and pianist Alex Vollant; the Chœur des enfants de Montréal, conducted by Eun Jung Park; the Ensemble vocal musica intima; and Cree composer Andrew Balfour. Many of the works performed during the concert conjured great emotion in the audience. The final piece, Les trois sœurs by Andrée Levesque Sioui, arranged by Andrew Balfour, brought all the artists together on stage and was a definite highlight.
On May 18, Choral Awakening highlighted youth choirs. A wave of youth and freshness washed over the audience, and high-calibre performances were delivered by Chœur des jeunes de Laval, Chœur Adleisia and Holy Heart Chamber Choir.
The Saturday evening concert, Lift Every Voice: From Negro Spirituals to Hip Hop, brought together two very different gospel groups at Salle Pierre-Mercure: The Nathaniel Dett Chorale and the Jireh Gospel Choir. While The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, under the direction of Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, offered a traditional vision of gospel, emphasizing the beauty of the voices and the purity of the harmonies, the Jireh Gospel Choir, conducted by Carol Bernard, took the hall by storm with festive, rhythmic interpretations. The choir director’s infectious enthusiasm immediately won over the audience, who rose to their feet clapping and dancing. The party continued until after the concert, as audience members continued to sing as they left the hall.
The indoor program concluded with Connected Voices, a concert conceived and directed by André Pappathomas. Four Quebec choirs from diverse cultural communities (Canticorum, Haïti chante et danse, La Muse and La chorale Singiza), a quartet of lyric singers, a trio of Quebec folklorists and three instrumentalists took to the stage. The concept, developed by André Pappathomas, highlighted controlled choral improvisation. Indeed, the prologue, the pieces linking the various choral performances and the epilogue were all the result of collective creations conceived and arranged by the conductor. While this was a most interesting proposition, unfortunately the choirs struggled to pull it off. The groups lacked vocal cohesion, had intonation difficulties, and occasionally created what felt like random phrase endings. The concert also suffered as a result of its position in the festival program, as the last of a weekend marked by so many groups, each more brilliant than the last.
The closing evening of the conference, which was not presented as part of the festival, deserves a special mention. Attendees were treated to a short concert by the Philippine Madrigal Singers, which dazzled everyone in attendance. This professional ensemble set the bar high with their flawless a-cappella interpretation of repertoire featuring complex vocal harmonies and rhythms.
The Podium 2024 Festival program also included what felt like a choral marathon at Place des Arts’s Espace culturel Georges-Émile-Lapalme on May 18 and 19. Twenty-seven choirs shared their passion for choral singing, delighting the many passers-by. The Concerts éphémères series presented short, informal concerts in various downtown venues: at the Delta Hotel, on the forecourt of Christ Church Cathedral, and in Place Pasteur. Podium Jeunesse was presented on May 20, bringing together 220 young choristers and the QW4RTZ vocal quartet for a day of rehearsals and workshops.
The next edition of Podium will take place in Victoria, B.C., in May 2026.
