By Tabitha Brasso-Ernst for Bachstage Pass

For someone who has become such a familiar presence across the Vancouver Bach Family of Choirs, Cathrie Yuen’s path into conducting wasn’t exactly planned.

In fact, she laughs about it.

“Honestly, it’s an accident. That’s how I got onto the podium.”

Yuen wasn’t a choral singer first. She was a band kid. A percussionist. Someone who happened to see a need in her church community and thought she might be able to help. “I started being in a choir as a conductor, not as a singer,” she says. “I was a band kid and I never sung in a choir before.”

What began as helping out eventually became something she couldn’t imagine leaving behind. Looking back, she sees two things that continue to draw her to conducting: creativity and discipline.

“I just really enjoy being on the podium,” she says. “It’s the creativity on the podium and the discipline that is really appealing to me.”

That balance shows up in almost everything she talks about. Yuen now serves as the Associate Conductor of Vancouver Bach Symphonic Choir, Conductor of Cantabile Choir, Chair of Music at the Trinity Western University music department, Artistic Director of Gloria Dei Chorale, and the Artistic Director of the MGV Lyra men’s choir.

 

 

Two Musical Communities

Today, Yuen moves regularly between Vancouver and Hong Kong, two musical communities that continue to shape each other in her work. “We have a huge Asian demographic. So that kind of influenced my choice of repertoire.”

While many musicians in both places share similar training backgrounds, she points out that each community brings its own musical priorities and cultural influences.

In Hong Kong, she’s observed growing interest in Asian repertoire, particularly Cantonese works that are deeply connected to the language itself. That experience has informed how she approaches programming in Vancouver, where she looks for opportunities to introduce singers and audiences to new musical traditions while also reflecting the communities already in the room.

“If I have a singer who speaks Japanese,” she says, “I would pick a Japanese piece. We can learn the language, learn about the culture, and then bring something new to the audience.”

That same desire to connect people through music is a big part of her work with Cantabile.

 

 

The Friendship, the Connection, the Experience

As conductor, Yuen has helped build partnerships with senior communities, schools, and other organizations throughout the Lower Mainland. Performances at places like Elim Village and Crofton Manor have become regular stops on the choir’s calendar, creating opportunities to bring music directly into communities that might not otherwise attend a concert. “It’s bringing Cantabile to a different community,” she says.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive, “They keep asking us to go back.”

It’s easy to hear how much these relationships matter to her. Whether it’s a care home audience singing along to familiar Christmas music or young students seeing choir members perform in their own school, she speaks less about outreach and more about connection.

“It’s not just about the singing,” she says. “The friendship, the connection, the experience.”

That focus on community comes up again when talking about Symphonic Choir and her work alongside Leslie Dala.

 

 

Leslie Dala’s Influence

Yuen is quick to credit Dala’s influence on her own growth as a conductor. She speaks admiringly about his preparation, efficiency, and ability to bring large groups of singers and instrumentalists together.

“He sets the bar really high for himself and for everybody else,” she says. “He never walks in without preparing to the max.”

It’s also clear that she values the ambition behind the programming choices she has helped bring to life in recent seasons. New works and contemporary stories sit alongside cornerstone choral repertoire, creating space for both tradition and exploration.

And ultimately, that’s where Yuen seems most at home: balancing the familiar and the new, the artistic and the practical, the podium and the people standing in front of it.

“Choir friends are lifelong friends.”

 

 

Always About Community

Yuen talks about singers who spend hours every week rehearsing after full days of work. She talks about friendships that last decades. She talks about new choirs emerging across Vancouver and the conductors supporting one another behind the scenes.

It’s a reminder that while conductors stand on the podium, the work has always been about community.

And for Cathrie Yuen, that community seems to be at the centre of everything.

Auditions for Cantabile are something Cathrie talks about in a really grounded way. She says she’s genuinely excited to meet new singers, even if she knows the process can feel intimidating.

“For auditions, I find it exciting to see new people coming in… nobody loves auditions.”

At the same time, she’s clear that the point isn’t exclusion at all. It’s about maintaining the ensemble while still keeping people in the room and supported, not pushing them out, “The purpose is not to kick people out. It’s to keep people in and keep the quality.”

A lot of it, for her, comes back to just taking the step, and trusting that the space is meant to be welcoming.

“It’s important to just make that one step… it’s a very friendly community, it’s encouraging as well.”