The Victoria Philharmonic Choir is an auditioned, mixed-voice ensemble with a wide-ranging repertoire of choral masterworks from the Renaissance to the 21st Century. Here performing Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Victoria BC, June 2024.

Special Event

Our next concert is part of a week-long arts and education exhibition within the 2026 Celebrating Gaia series sponsored by the Gail O'Riordan Climate & the Arts Legacy Fund through the Victoria Foundation.

The Seasons

by Joseph Haydn

Saturday June 6, 2026

7.30 pm Christ Church Cathedral

6:50 pm Pre-concert talk: Robert Holliston

The Victoria Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Peter Butterfield, presents Joseph Haydn's magnificent and rarely-performed secular oratorio, The Seasons. This work, first performed in 1801, paints musical pictures of the joys and sorrows of human endeavours, and of nature itself, in the colours of our planet's natural cycles. (Listen for the sounds of croaking frogs and an approaching thunderstorm!).

Along with an orchestra, there are three soloists who represent archetypal country folk: soprano Jennifer Turner (Jane/Hanne), tenor Isaiah Bell (Lucas), and bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus (Simon).

Tickets are $36 regular & $11 student, plus fees, and free for children under 13, from vpchoir.tickit.ca

On concert night, be sure to check out the Fire and Ice exhibition of photography by Sam Baardman, in the main entrance of Christ Church Cathedral.

FOR THE SEASONS

a visual arts exhibition by Siobhán Humston

Siobhán Humston's art installation, inspired by The Seasons, will be open to the public from May 30 - June 7 in the Chapel of the New Jerusalem (upstairs) at Christ Church Cathedral. The week's events will include artist workshops & talks, and conversations with Rick Kool (Naturehood Victoria), Patrick Lucey (Aqua-Tex Scientific Consulting Ltd), and Andrea Careless (South Island Climate Action Network), who will be interacting with Siobhán's artwork in creative ways. For more about Siobhán Humston visit siobhanhumstonart.com

More info on these events and links to free tickets for the art exhibition (space is limited) will be posted over the next few weeks here and at climateandthearts.org

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The Choir

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Music Director

“It is a pleasure to sing with our Music Director Peter Butterfield because of his choice of repertoire, his sense of humour, his musicality, his expectation that we can always do better and his ability to bring the choir up to a high standard of performance.”

— Bass Chorister

“Thank you for an excellent performance of St. Matthew’s Passion last night. Thanks be to Peter Butterfield for a superlative job in approximating the heavenly host in a way that all listerners could truly understand. The principals were lovely and affecting, and the orchestra played with elan. An inspiring and enchanting evening!”

— David B. Audience Member, April 21, 2019

“When you achieve oneness with a composer, even for a few bars, everything disappears. Everything: the individual, the conductor, the music itself. It can all disappear in a flash of perfection.”

— Peter Butterfield