The Choir
Our History
Vox Humana (Latin for human voice) is the name given to the organ stop that tries to emulate certain qualities of the singing voice.
It is appropriate, then, that the name was first given to our choir by an organist and choral conductor, Sarah MacDonald. Now a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Director of Music of the choir there, Sarah gave Vox Humana its name and its start as a project choir in Victoria in the 1990s, in the hope that someone would continue the choir once she left her native Canada. That continuation started in 2002, when Garth MacPhee, then Director of Music of the Church of Saint John the Divine, produced the first season of concerts under the name Vox Humana. From 2004-2010, the group was led by soprano and conductor Wendy McMillan, from 2010 to 2020 by Brian Wismath, and since 2022 by current Artistic Director David Stratkauskas.
Vox Humana has gone from a relatively small group of no more than sixteen voices singing a cappella repertoire to a group of approximately twenty-four singers that frequently collaborates with soloists, small groups of instruments, other choirs, and full orchestras.
Since 2004 they have been frequent guests of the Victoria Symphony. Their first two appearances were on the symphony’s very popular Christmas Pops programme, where they showed their versatility in performing everything from Praetorius to Britten to popular Christmas standards. Their collaborations with the symphony continued to include works such as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, and Benjamin Britten’s powerful War Requiem, where Vox appeared alongside the Victoria Choral Society. The Victoria Symphony has also included Vox as a partner ensemble in two of their New Music Festivals; Vox presented its own programmes as part of the festival in 2014, featuring the music of Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti, and in 2015, featuring the music of Irish composer Gerald Barry.
New music has taken a more central place in Vox’s repertoire; the group now commissions works annually from both recognized and emerging Canadian composers.
Their most recent commission in 2015 was from Vancouver-based composer Rodney Sharman, a setting of a text by Oscar Wilde called Requiescat. Each of Vox’s programmes now include either a world premiere or a Canadian/BC/Victoria premiere. These premieres not only include brand new music, but also music that has been firmly established in the repertoires of other choral communities but not yet heard in Canada.
Vox released its first CD in September 2011, entitled Summer Rain. The title track is a composition by Estonian composer Toivo Tulev. The remainder of the CD features the music of Canadian composer Jeff Enns, and French composer César Geoffray.
Currently, Vox produces six to eight programs per season. Two of these have become popular annual traditions.
The first concert of the season, Vox in the Stars, takes place in one of Victoria’s most beautiful settings, the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, high atop Observatory Hill in Saanich, BC. The choir sings inside the large steel-structured dome that houses the famous Plaskett Telescope. As the sun sets, the choir sings under the open roof of the dome with the heavens in full view. The other event that has become an annual tradition is A Child’s Christmas in Wales, a concert of seasonal music centered on a dramatic reading of Dylan Thomas’s beloved childhood recollection. In addition to traditional Christmas favourites, Vox has commissioned brand new carols and arrangements from local composers for inclusion on this programme.
David Stratkauskas
Artistic Director
David Stratkauskas was appointed Artistic Director of Vox Humana Chamber Choir in February 2022, succeeding long-time director Brian Wismath.
David Stratkauskas is a native of Vancouver, where he completed his MA in Music Theory at the University of British Columbia, working under the notable theorist, Dr William Benjamin. During and after his university studies, he was active as an organist and choir director, collaborative pianist and accompanist (working with such choirs as the Surrey Children’s Choir and the Vancouver Bach Children’s Choir), a jazz pianist, and a conductor of new music, appearing in festivals such as Sonic Boom. In 2003, inspired by his particular love for organ and choral music, David moved to London, where he was organist at St Michael’s Battersea and St Mary Stoke Newington. Several of his choristers from St Michael’s went on to organ and choral scholarships at Cambridge colleges. In London he also worked as a choral conductor of community and children’s choirs, a jazz pianist, and a teacher.
David returned to Canada in 2010 to take the position of Organist at the Church of Saint John the Divine, Victoria, where he has helped build a vibrant music programme with several choirs and a thriving Choral and Organ Scholarship programme, performing works from the sacred choral canon, alongside new music, such as works by Michael Finnissy, Jonathan Harvey, Tamsin Jones, and Kimberley Farris-Manning. David has directed the St John’s Chamber Singers and the Victoria Baroque Players in numerous performances of great Baroque works, including several of Bach’s cantatas and motets, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Durufle’s Requiem, and Bach’s John Passion. He has worked with the Victoria Children’s Choir since 2011, as conductor of the intermediate-level Recital Choir for many years, and most recently, as Artistic Director and conductor of the Concert Choir and Youth Choir divisions.
As an organ recitalist, he has played concerts in Vancouver, London (UK), and Victoria, including as a featured performer in Organ Festival Canada Online in July 2020, and on the Summer Organ Series at Christ Church Cathedral, which featured pieces by Canadian composers Tony Genge and Jocelyn Morlock (the latter, Premonition, commissioned in 2012 for David by Hugh Davidson).
David is married to Soile Stratkauskas, a baroque flutist.
2024/25 Choir (TBA)
Char Hodgkins
Assistant Conductor
Char Hodgkins has sung in many choirs including The Elora Festival Singers and The Ottawa Bach Choir. They are the founder and music director of Octet Victoria, a group of eight professional singers who perform choral music from all time periods. Currently, Char enjoys their job at St. John the Divine Anglican Church where they sing and conduct. When not doing music, Char tree plants and works at a coffee shop. They are excited to be assistant conducting for Vox Humana, and look forward to spending the season working with the choir.
Soprano
Laura Andrew
Kristen Birley
Laurie Brennan
Mandy Bryant
Olivia Digby-Pryce
Louise Friesen
Gina Johnson
Brittany Macdonald
Dominique Ryser
Robin Sudbury
Jennifer Turner
Rebecca Whitmore
Alto
Kelsey Cox
Rachel Mitten
Katherine O
Rebekkah Patriarche
Deanna Sills
Grace Vermette
Lindsay Wakelin
Amy van Wensem
Tenor
Micah Brush
Peter Dueck
Bob Fraser
Tim Marks
Ian Silk
Bass
Eric Allen
Colby Earnhart
Ben Groom
Julias Hocking
Finn McCarthy
Mike Sasges
Chris Sivak
The Organization
Board of Directors
President: Eric Allen
Vice-President: Kristen Birley
Treasurer: Robyn Greentree
Secretary: Peter Dueck
Member-at-Large: Timothy James Marks
Member-at-Large: Rachel Mitten
Member-at-Large: Michael Sasges
Member-at-Large: Robin Irene Sudbury
