Paul Halley,
M.A. Cantab., FRCO, ARCT
Paul Halley is a Grammy Award-winning composer, choral conductor, and organist. He is currently Director of Music of The Cathedral Church of All Saints in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Creative Director at Pelagosmusic, the company which manages the entirety of his music catalogue.
Born in Romford, England in 1952, Paul Halley was raised in Ottawa, Canada where he received his early musical training as a chorister and assistant organist with The Men and Boys Choir of St. Matthew's Anglican Church. At age sixteen he was made an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. Awarded the organ scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, Halley received his M.A. with prizes in composition and performance and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, winning first prize in the College examinations. Following four years of post-graduate work as a church musician and teacher in Montreal, QC, Jamaica, W.I. and Victoria, BC, Halley was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at The Cathedral of St. John The Divine in New York City where he served for twelve years from 1977-1989, transforming the Cathedral's programme into an enlivening blend of global, contemporary, and classical music. During his tenure at St. John the Divine, Halley collaborated with The Paul Winter Consort, contributing as principal writer and keyboardist to multiple Grammy Award-winning albums released in the 1980's and 1990's.
Following his departure from the Cathedral in 1989, Halley settled in rural Connecticut and founded the children’s choir, Chorus Angelicus, and the adult ensemble, Gaudeamus. In 1999, Halley became Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church, Torrington, CT where he inaugurated a Choral and Organ Scholars program in conjunction with Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music. In 2007, Halley relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia to become Director of Music at both the University of King’s College (retired December 2021) and St. George’s Anglican Church (to 2011), as well as University Musician at Atlantic School of Theology (to 2015). In 2015 Halley was appointed Director of Music at The Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax, a position he held in conjunction with his work at King’s, providing many opportunities for collaboration between the two institutions. At the Cathedral of All Saints, Halley continues to direct a top-notch choir of sixteen young singers, professionals and choral scholars alike, who have worked with him on numerous concert, touring, and recording projects since his arrival in Halifax in 2007.
Halley’s choral and instrumental compositions are distributed internationally by Pelagos Incorporated, the recording, music publishing, and arts management company which he established with his wife, Meg Race in 1998. Halley’s compositions have been commissioned or licensed by such organizations as Sony Entertainment, John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra, CBC, The Toronto Symphony, and Canadian Brass. In addition to a regular output of liturgical music, Halley composes three to four new, commissioned works per year.
Among the Pelagos recordings which feature compositions and arrangements by Paul Halley: 'Nightwatch', a reissue of Halley’s landmark 1982 organ improvisation album, recorded on the Great Organ of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; 'Sound Over All Waters', a compilation of Halley’s choral works and arrangements for gospel singer, Theresa Thomason, and Keramion Singers; 'Triptych', Halley’s keyboard works for the unique trio of piano, pipe organ, and harpsichord, recorded at Spivey Hall in Atlanta; 'Untraveled Worlds', a compilation of world music repertoire presented by Chorus Angelicus; 'What Child Is This?', comprising a curated selection of new and less familiar Christmas repertoire, and 'In The Wide Awe and Wisdom', a two-CD set comprising sixteen of Halley's commissioned choral works, with Keramion Singers directed by Paul Halley. 'In The Wide Awe And Wisdom' was a finalist for the Nova Scotia Lieutenant Governor's Award in 2017.
Paul Halley and his wife, Meg Race, an artist, live on the South Shore of Nova Scotia where they enjoy exploring the waters of Mahone Bay in a traditional Cape Cod catboat which rejoices in the name, "Magnificat", as well as a dinghy, "Nunc Dimittis", a Rangeley Lakes guide boat, "Dragonfly", and two canoes - which, at this point, remain nameless.
Career
Paul Halley, MA(Cantab.), FRCO, ARCT
Award-winning composer, choral director, and keyboardist
Current MUSIC APPOINTMENTs:
Co-Founder and Creative Director (1998 -)
Pelagosmusic, Norfolk, CT
Director of Music (2015 - )
Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax, NS
Past music appointments:
Director of Music (2007 - 2021)
University of King's College Chapel, Halifax, NS
University Musician (2007 - 2015)
Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax, NS
Director of Music (2007 - 2010)
St. George's Anglican Church, Halifax, NS
Director of Music (1998 - 2007)
Trinity Episcopal Church, Torrington, CT
Founder and Artistic Director (1991 - 2007)
Joyful Noise, Inc, Torrington, CT
Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus
Principal Composer and Keyboardist (1980 - 1998)
Paul Winter Consort, Litchfield, CT
Director of Music (1977 - 1990)
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, NY
Chorister and Assistant Organist (1961 - 66)
St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Ottawa, ON
