About the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir
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Conductor: David Millard (since 1996)
The Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir was founded at the Peretz Institute (now the Peretz Centre) in 1979 by Searle Friedman. We are an eclectic and friendly choir of about 25 members. Our ages range from 20s to late 70s, and we have Jewish and non-Jewish members. The choir has a long history of overlapping with the LGBTQ+ community, and has many queer/trans members. We also aim to be a neurodivergent friendly and anti-ableist space. We stand with the long revolutionary Yiddish history of advocating for peace.
We are committed to three core missions:
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Providing an open, welcoming place to sing for all levels of ability;
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Maintaining Yiddish and other Jewish languages;
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Contributing to a progressive vision of what Jewish culture can be.
Today, the Choir sings mostly Yiddish pieces ranging from traditional folk and Yiddish theatre songs to newly-composed and arranged pieces of greater complexity, plus Hanukkah and Pesach repertoires in Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino and English.
We have performed at numerous venues in the Vancouver area, including the Peretz Centre, South Granville Lodge, Louis Brier home, Cityfest Vancouver, Vancouver Public Library, VanDusen Gardens, Cavell Gardens, Orpheum Theatre’s Parade of Choirs, the Vancouver Planetarium, Victoria’s Emanu-El synagogue, the Israeli Street Festival, and more.
You can read more about the history of the Choir, and its predecessors, here (written by Victor Neuman).
Mir Zingen:
The Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir Turns 40
In 2019, The Vancouver Jewish Museum and Archives created an online exhibit for the Choir's 40th anniversary, dedicated to the memory of Sylvia Friedman, whose contributions to the choir and to progressive Jewish life in Vancouver were endless.
Our Repertoire of Jewish Folk Music
Many of our songs are in Yiddish, and some are in other Jewish languages (English, Ladino, Hebrew, etc.). We often get to sing music arranged or composed specifically for the choir, and most of our music is in beautiful minor keys. All text is in transliteration, so no knowledge of Yiddish is required.
Major works in our repertoire from recent years include Rozhinkes mit mandlen, Yomervokhets (Jabberwocky), In Amerike, Benyomin der driter, Ikh bin a Yid, Oyb nit nokh hekher, and excerpts from Di yam gazlonim (Pirates of Penzance, translated into Yiddish by Al Grand). In 2013, the choir performed a piece written by one of it's members, Victor Neuman, The Family Naiman, which told in narration, song and video, of his family's journey to freedom during the World War II years.
Choir Performances
Sun, Apr 06Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish CultureApr 06, 2025, 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture, 6184 Ash St, Vancouver, BC V5Z 3G9, Canada
Past Performances
Join the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir
The Choir welcomes all new members throughout the season (Sept. through June),
no audition necessary.
The vision of the choir has always been as a community choir open to all. You don't need to know how to read music (though it helps). We do sing from sheet music and in 4-part harmony, but also have paid section leads in each voice part to make things easier. Some beginner-level training is very helpful. We create recordings of voice parts to help newcomers learn the music.
If you'd like to drop by our next rehearsal, you can reach out to us at
Started Sep 17