TORONTO TOUR UPDATE

Hi CC families,

As most of you know, we have been working for months to get our exchange with the Toronto Bach Children's Chorus approved through Experiences Canada.  We are delighted to let you know that we got our official approval last week so we are a GO!  

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Please mark your calendars:

Wednesday March 4 - Tuesday, March 10, 2026

VCC choristers and staff travel to Toronto

Wednesday, May 13 - Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Toronto Bach Children's Chorus travels to Victoria

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They are a very similar choir to us, mostly 12-16 years in age, with a high standard of repertoire.   Because we are doing this through Experiences Canada, costs will be quite low.  Experiences Canada pays for all the airfare and ground transportation, and the Toronto families will host our children, feed them, and the Toronto Bach Children's Chorus will cover the cost of all of the activities we do in Toronto.    They are busy planning a robust week for our singers, including a feature concert on Sunday, March 8th, and our inclusion in the full day Ontario Treble Choir Festival on Saturday, March 7th.  There is talk of attending a musical, the CN tower and much more!

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We will in turn reciprocate when they come to us in May.  Our families will host the Toronto choristers, feed them, and we will cover the cost of all activities that both groups participate in when they are in Victoria (examples may be: whale watching, Fisherman's Wharf, WildPlay etc.)  There is a non-refundable fee of $250 per child that must be paid to Experiences Canada before they can begin to book our airfares.  We anticipate the total cost to our families to be approximately $500.  We will request payment in two parts - half ($250) in the next couple of weeks and then the other half in February.

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A reminder that all CC choristers have the opportunity to fundraise to directly off-set any Tour costs through the Night of Lights raffle in November, and through our own VCC raffle (after the first mandatory book is sold) in February.  

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We know you will have lots of questions, so we plan to have a tour meeting in the next few weeks.  With respect to hosting, we hope to pair the kids up with Toronto choristers of a similar age, and we are flexible if some would prefer to be hosted in pairs.  Ideally, VCC children would host the same child that they stayed with in Toronto.

We are very excited to be able to offer this amazing experience to our choristers.  We have already had two calls with the Toronto choir and they are just as excited.  It is an excellent match.