Langley Ukulele Ensemble

Picture a hotel lobby in Waikiki on a July evening. The band on the little stage is a row of teenagers in matching shirts, and they are from Langley. That has been the scene most summers since 1985, when the Langley Ukulele Ensemble first took its annual Hawaii trip, and the association says its nightly run at the Sheraton Waikiki is now in its 28th year.

It is an odd thing for a suburb in the Fraser Valley to be known for, and a good one.

How it started

The ensemble goes back to 1981, when Peter Luongo, then a Langley school administrator, built a group around the ukulele teaching method that Nova Scotia educator J. Chalmers Doane had spread through Canadian schools in the 1970s. Luongo directed the group for 32 years and retired as musical director in 2013; he still teaches and leads adult and alumni groups, and he is president of the association today. His son Paul, a former member and soloist with a music degree from the University of Victoria, has directed the ensemble since.

Along the way the group has played the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, the Stratford Summer Music Festival, the Canadian National Exhibition and festivals in Japan, Oregon and Nevada. In January 2020 it opened for Bobby McFerrin at the NAMM Show’s music education rally in California. It has put out about twenty recordings, and it turns up in the 2008 documentary Mighty Uke. Its best-known graduate is James Hill, the ukulele player a CBC host once called the “Wayne Gretzky of ukulele.”

The ensembles

The Senior A Ensemble is the touring group: middle and high school students aged 12 to 18, who the association says have played as many as 80 dates in a single year. Beneath it sits a ladder.

• Junior Ensemble (Junior 1 and 2): children aged 6 to 12 with little or no experience. No audition. Tuesdays, 4:00 to 5:30pm, Yorkson Creek Middle School, from mid-September to May.
• Intermediate Ensemble: by audition, usually after a year in Junior or a summer camp. Same Tuesday slot and school.
• Senior B: audition required. Tuesdays 6:00 to 8:00pm, Yorkson Creek.
• Senior A: audition required. Wednesdays 5:00 to 7:00pm, Willoughby Elementary.

Registration for the 2026–27 season was listed at $795 for Junior, $815 for Intermediate, $900 for Senior B and $950 for Senior A, plus a small equipment fee and a $10 individual or $15 family membership; families with more than two kids registered can ask for a discount. Everything is on the registration page, and that is where to check before you count on any of it. The association also offers private lessons and summer camps, and runs a twice-monthly drop-in get-together for players of all ages in Burnaby.

Seeing them play

The ensemble plays locally all year, from galas and the PNE to community events, and the association hosts the Fort Langley International Ukulele Festival with Friday and Saturday evening concerts (this year’s were listed as sold out on the site). Performances are announced through the association’s newsletter and social accounts; local dates land on our events list when we see them.

Nearby

For lessons on just about anything else, the Langley Community Music School is down the road in the City. For stage work, Langley Little Theatre.

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