James Fankhauser, 1939-2025

The Vancouver Cantata Singers’ longest serving Artistic Director (1973–2000), James Fankhauser, became the outstanding musician he was in a somewhat roundabout manner. He grew up in Kansas, where he began his musical training as a lyric tenor and trombonist. An ill-fated year studying engineering at university convinced him that his talents lay elsewhere, and he switched to the study of music.

He earned a degree in performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and pursued postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at Oxford University on a Fulbright Scholarship. After returning to the United States, Fankhauser received his Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of California.

In 1972, Fankhauser was granted a Rockefeller Fellowship to attend the Aspen Choral Institute as a Conducting Fellow. His excellence in these studies led to his return a year later with an Assistant Directorship. At this time, Fankhauser made the pivotal decision of his career: instead of remaining at the renowned Aspen Institute, he chose to come to the University of British Columbia. In doing so, he immensely enriched the Canadian choral scene, and his legacy has influenced many of the city’s choral conductors.

James Fankhauser has been the recipient of several awards, including the University of British Columbia’s 75th Anniversary Outstanding Teacher Award in 1990. His choirs, which have included the University Singers, the Cantata Singers, and a short-lived chamber group called Chrysalis, have won several prizes in both national and international competitions.

“Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomine tuo da gloriam” — Psalm 115:1