Vancouver Youth Choir performs at Mount Pleasant Park as part of Music on Main's summer series

Young people want their voices heard—literally. The Vancouver Youth Choir, which artistic director and founder Carrie Tennant established in 2013, has grown so much it has capped membership at 730 singers across 16 ensembles at eight levels. The high demand for spots in the choir reflects a real hunger for community and artistry, Tennant says.

"It's really hard for young people to find authentic places of connection in their lives right now, that are human to human, and not either through a screen or removed in some way," Tennant says. "And so, there's a real hunger for group singing, especially at the level of artistry and heart that these kids have. They're so passionate about it. It's not just an after-school activity for them. It's an art form."

The choir has achieved significant recognition. In May 2025, the Vancouver Youth Choir won Chorus America's prestigious Margaret Hillis Award for Artistic and Organizational Achievement. A year later, at the Cork International Choral Festival in Ireland, the ensemble brought home the Fleischmann International Trophy. In late May 2026, the choir closed its season with the biggest concert of its career at the Orpheum.

More milestones lie ahead. In December, the Vancouver Youth Choir will join Early Music Vancouver at its annual Christmas concert at the Chan Centre to perform Vivaldi's Gloria. Next spring, the group heads to the European Youth Choir Festival in Basel, Switzerland.

Before those major events, the choir will perform a cappella at Mount Pleasant Park on August 11 as part of Music on Main's Summer Pop-Up Concerts series. Tennant sees it as a chance to showcase the ensemble's wide-ranging, globally informed repertoire.

"We're known for very eclectic mixes of music, so we'll do some indie pop, some Renaissance music, some music from cultures from all over the world: Philippines, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Estonia, Slovenia, and China," she says. "Vancouver is a very diverse city and our choir is super diverse, too. So I program music often based on the cultures of the singers in my ensemble, and then we are really lucky to have their assistance with the cultural context and the language and all of that."

Music on Main launched its Summer Pop-Up Concerts in 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when provincial health orders severely restricted seating capacity for indoor performances. The series proved so popular that Music on Main has continued it every summer since. Concerts run August 11–13 at Mount Pleasant Park (West 16th Avenue at Ontario Street) and start at 6:30 p.m. Entry is free; no tickets required.