We are people of all ages, who love to sing and perform. Our members come from Langley and the surrounding areas.

Members

We have one major thing in common: a love for singing and making music with others. We are a mixed voice (SATB) choral group and a registered non-profit society. The Langley Community Chorus began with only 15 singers in 1992. Since then our chorus has grown to the 50 + members you see today.

Membership info.

Anita Comba

Director

Anita Comba’s path to directing the Langley Community Chorus has been a musical journey that has spanned a lifetime. Her well-rounded musicianship is the product of her varied musical experiences as a collaborator, soloist, coach, teacher, arranger, music copyist, and ultimately choral director. She loves this diversity and values the enriching qualities that each area brings to the other.

A native of Calgary, Anita’s early piano lessons were at the Mount Royal Academy of Music with Dale Jackson. She spent many inspiring summers at the Banff Centre for Performing Arts studying with renowned teachers Gyorgi Sebok, Marek Jablonski, Jon Kimura Parker and Gwen Beamish. Her most formative years earned her a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Victoria studying under the late, beloved Dr. Robin Wood. Continued studies at Camosun College with Winnifred Scott Wood gave her a foundation in piano pedagogy.

Anita has appeared as soloist in performances with the Victoria Symphony, Victoria Civic and Prince George Symphony Orchestras.

As a collaborative pianist, she has performed a vast amount of string, woodwind, and brass repertoire. The expressive potential of the human voice, however, lured her to the vocal world of opera, art song, and choirs.

She worked as repetiteur with UVIC’s Opera Nova, the Victoria Conservatory’s Opera Studio, and the Vancouver Opera Chorus. For three years she toured with the Vancouver Opera Touring Ensemble as their pianist and coach. Together with mezzo soprano Susan Platts, she attended the Cleveland Art Song Festival (Marilyn Horne and Warren Jones) and the Aldeburgh Song Festival (Graham Johnson). Other highlights include CBC radio performances and accompanying Richard Margison at the Commonwealth Games for Queen Elizabeth II.

After Anita settled in the Greater Vancouver area in the late 90’s, the choral world became her passion and focus. Her long tenure with Pandora’s Vox and Espiritu Vocal Ensembles has earned her the position of Resident Pianist. In 2016 she was awarded the Joyce O. Maguire Award for outstanding, long-term service as a choral accompanist. These years of playing under the inspired direction of Gillian Hunt gave her the courage to take on a directorship role with the Langley Community Chorus. Now in her tenth year with the LCC, Anita remains humbled and honoured to be entrusted with the leadership of this group. She has come to deeply appreciate the value and meaning of community. Her local community experience has led her to serving the wider choral community in the role of Vice President of the BC Choral Federation.

Anita lives in the Fraser Valley with her supportive family: husband Jeff, teenage son Evan, and Golden Retriever Sasha.

Thoughts on the 2021/2022 season

As I reflect on these past two seasons, I am struck by how unusual this time has been. Of course, we are all only too familiar with the impacts that the pandemic has had on our daily lives, but when I stand back and look at the impacts on choral singing, I’m just so inspired by the will to persevere. It is truly testament to the fundamental joy and fulfillment that singing can bring
Our 2021-2022 seasons brought a renewed sense of hope as we were again able to meet for in person rehearsals after a full year and a half on Zoom. September started out very tentatively with rehearsals in the UCoL chapel. Several measures were put into place to make the environment as safe as possible for singing: alternating weeks with groups no larger than 25; assigned seating 6 feet apart in staggered rows; masking at all times; mandatory vaccination for participation; mandatory health check on day of rehearsal; two air purifiers running during a 15 minute break to do a full air exchange before resuming the second half; no longer than 45 minutes of singing at a time; no gathering in groups indoors. We successfully kept ourselves healthy and managed to prepare a half dozen songs culminating in the creation of a video “Christmas Cards from the LCC” which you can see here.
Despite a late start in January 2021 we began rehearsals in the sanctuary of UCoL with all our membership able to sing in the same room. Restrictions began to ease gradually throughout the spring season and by season’s end we were able to give two live performances of our spring repertoire! These concerts were shorter than pre-pandemic concerts but nonetheless gave us a chance to sing for family and friends, once again. It felt so good! Our stellar Board worked hard these past few years to keep the choir functioning and viable. We’re excited to celebrate the Langley Community Chorus’ 30th Anniversary in 2022-2023! See you then!
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June 2022

LCC 2020 - 2021
Well, that was quite a season! Who knew we could “do” choir for two full seasons without once singing together in the same room! We learned a lot about ourselves this past year. We learned that through this adversity, the imposed distance between us has also somehow brought us closer together. Online we were able to visit with fellow members who we might not otherwise have engaged in conversations. Online we were able to see our fellow members, face to face, screen to screen as we sang together. Online we were able to keep our community choir going through one of the most challenging years the choral world has faced. We learned new music, polished up some familiar music, and brought our voices together in the production of several virtual choir videos.

We have, however, deeply missed singing together in person. As the pandemic continues to call on our ability to pivot, we are currently planning to have in person rehearsals - though they may not look like they used to. We are requiring all members to be fully vaccinated to sing in person. An online option will be given to those who are not comfortable to sing in person. Masking, distancing, and other measures will be in place to keep us safe during rehearsals.

Things will continue to change and we are prepared to make the necessary adaptations. Keep an eye on this space to see our latest updates on how we plan to move forward through the 2021 fall choral season. We hope you will join us!

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August 2021