2023-06-07

Capella Regalis choirs to perform in Liverpool and Mahone Bay

SOUTH SHORE - The Capella Regalis men and boys choir is returning to the South Shore this month with stops at Liverpool's Astor Theatre and Mahone Bay's St. John's Lutheran Church.

This time they are bringing with them the newly-formed girls' choir led by director Vanessa Halley, the sister of Nick Halley who started the men and boys choir in 2010.

Their June, four-concert tour will begin June 15 at St. George and St. Andrew Church in Annapolis Royal, followed by the two stops on the South Shore, both on June 17. The first is at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool at 2 p.m. followed by an evening concert in Mahone Bay at 7:30 p.m.

The final stop is their end-of-year event June 18 at their "home" church, the Cathedral Church of All Saints in Halifax, starting at 4 p.m.

For more information or to order your tickets online, go to www.musiqueroyale.com.

Janelle Lucyk, artistic and administrative director for the host Musique Royale, said she can't wait for the concert.

"I'm really looking forward to this concert and it's very exciting that they started this girl's choir," she said. "The choir itself, I think a lot about the music and how inspiring it is."

She said the compositions by Paul Halley that are worked into the program, are always very joyful and uplifting.

"After these concerts I have the music in my head for at least three weeks," she added.

Lucyk said that Nova Scotia is really fortunate to have a program like this, explaining that choirs like this is an Anglican tradition in England, where she studied and sang, while studying overseas.

"It is so exciting for us to have this in our province. I sang in choirs in England and they were amazing. They are the best sight readers. However, we don't have that tradition in Canada so much. It's very rare and it's a real treasure," she said. "The Halleys work so hard to make this possible and I really appreciate it."

Capella Regalis, a registered Canadian charity, is a free program and open to any child who passes a basic audition. The men and boys choir practise twice a week, while the girls' choir practises once a week. They perform in schools and have led workshops for other choirs. They have released three recordings as well and some music is available on YouTube. The program also offers young choristers a summer choir camp.

Vanessa is the director of the newly formed girls' choir and executive director of the Capella Regalis organization.

"At the time Nick started the choir, he noticed boys, in particular, weren't getting involved in singing activities and it was viewed more of a girls thing," she said, adding that boys in particular seem to thrive in an environment where they can be mentored.

She also said that in a mixed choir situation, it may start that way, but it ends up being mainly girls because the boys kind of drop out as they get older.

"Nick started the men and boys choir to help address that and encourage the boys," she said.

Fast forward to 2022, Vanessa said starting a girls' choir is something they've wanted to do for several years.

"We finally decided that it was now or never. During last season we started planning and in July began a major, crowdfunding campaign and we had some donors who would match what we raised," she explained. "In just that one month we raised enough money to start the new choir in September."

The choir consists of 23 girls between the age of seven-to-13 years of age. About half of them will be performing at the South Shore concerts.

Vanessa said this has been a good year for the choir. They have performed at four evensong services at their home at All Saints Cathedral in Halifax. Some of them participated in the Christmas midnight mass and the Easter morning mass as well.

During their stops in Mahone Bay and Liverpool, they will perform some music from their evensong repertoire, as well as more contemporary music and folk songs. They will also perform a song written for them by Nick to celebrate the choir's inaugural season.

"The text for the piece comes from an excerpt from the oldest surviving text written in English by female author Julian Norwich, a 14th century anchoress (one who lives in seclusion, usually for religious reasons) from England," said Vanessa. "Nick is very versed in Brazilian music and so he put harmonies and rhythms to the text. It's so unique and so joyful, we can't wait to perform it."

The men and boy's choir will include about 13 children with the youngest being just seven years old, along with eight-to-10 men.