Nova Scotia to perform on P.E.I.

A mixture of young and adult male voices makes up Capella Regalis Men & Boys Choir

One of Canada’s few men and boys choirs in the European cathedral tradition will tour Prince Edward Island, June 8-11

Presented by Musique Royale, Capella Regalis Men & Boys Choir, based in Halifax, N.S., will tour Prince Edward Island with engagements in four venues over their four days on the Island. The tour program features the boy choristers (ages 813), young men, and men of Capella Regalis in favourite selections of sacred and secular repertoire.

The choir will perform concerts in Morell, Summerside and Indian River, as well as a choral evensong in Charlottetown.

Accompanied by five-time Grammy Award-winning composer Paul Halley on pipe organ and piano, the choir’s tour program features sacred and secular selections from across the centuries, including works by Purcell, Frank, Vaughan Williams, Howells, Paul Halley, Alistair MacGillivray and many others.

Capella Regalis Men & Boys Choir was born in Halifax seven years ago when jazz drummer/ keyboardist and choir director Nick Halley decided that Nova Scotia could help rejuvenate a tradition of men and boys choirs in Canada that had all but died out. Capella Regalis is now one of only a handful of liturgical men and boys choirs in Canada. The choir is ‘in residence’ in both the Cathedral Church of All Saints in Halifax and in the Chapel of the University of King’s College in Halifax. It offers a free music training program to boys ages six and up who pass an audition. The choir draws young singers from varied backgrounds and currently is comprised of 16 boys ages six

to 13, five young men ages 14 to 16, and a number of professional and semi-professional adult choristers from the university and church communities in Halifax.

Director Nick Halley is a firm believer in the educational model of the European-style men-and-boys choir resident at a cathedral, church or college chapel (the choirs of King’s College Cambridge, New College Oxford, Westminster Abbey, and St Paul’s Cathedral London are some of the most famous examples). In such a setting, the choristers sing weekly services, which means they must learn and perform a fresh slate of music each week. This not only helps to develop skills such as sight-singing; it also steeps the choristers at a young age in repertoire that Nick considers some of the most beautiful and profound music humankind has had to offer over the last eight centuries.

Visit www.capellaregalis.com to find out more about the choir.