Langley Ukulele Ensemble

The Langley Ukulele Ensemble is Canada's premier ukulele ensemble, establishing a reputation for excellence. It is based out of Langley, British Columbia, Canada. Composed of 20 young musicians, aged 13–21, the ensemble performs 50-80 concerts a year, in their community, regionally, as well as traveling across Canada, to Florida, Texas, California, the Pacific Northwest, Japan and Hawaii.

They travel to Hawaii every July as part of their annual tour. During their stay there, they are sponsored by the Sheraton Waikiki, one of Waikiki's premier beachfront hotels.

Their motto is "enriching lives through music" and they attempt to do so every time they perform.

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Alumni

The Langley Ukulele Ensemble is the starting point for many young and upcoming ukulele musicians. Its most famous alumnus, James Hill, is pursuing a career as a solo artist and has been dubbed by Stuart McLean of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the "Wayne Gretzky of Ukulele". Hill is currently considered to be among the world's finest, rivaling Hawaii native Jake Shimabukuro.

Other alumni include acoustic group Exit 58.

Recordings

The Ensemble has released thirteen recordings, demonstrating their versatility with the instrument. They showcase their ability to perform Hawaiian, Christmas, Classical, Jazz, Rock and Roll and other styles on a variety of CDs.

Their most recent CD "Our Hawaiian Heart - Anniversary Edition" was released in June 2009. This CD celebrates their 15th year of touring and performing in Waikiki. All of the music performed on the CD had been introduced to the Ensemble by their Hawaiian ohana (family) over the past two decades.

Also released in December 2008 was the "Greatest Hits" which is a compilation of the Ensemble's and audience favourites.

Miscellaneous

They were named Langley's Entertainer of the Year for 2005, and their musical director was controversially named Langley's Leader of the Year for the same year.

In addition to their annual tour to Hawaii, in October 2009, they were the headline performers at the 3rd International Ukulele Ceilidh in Nova Scotia, Canada http://ukuleleceilidh.ca/index.php].

In summer 2007, they participated in the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo and opened the Stratford, Ontario Summer Music Festival.

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