Chorus Angelicus - What Child Is This

Paul Halley's renowned choirs Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus pair up for another spectacular offering. The choirs sing with precision and clarity while incorporating a warmth and immediacy to the performance of each song. What Child Is This? comprises a selection of the new, adventurous, and less familiar sacred Christmas repertoire, much of it performed in recent years in the choirs' annual Christmas Angelicus concert series (now in it's sixteenth season and broadcast annually by National Public Radio.) More than half the arrangements on the CD are Halley's work, which adds a refreshing, new sound to this mix of Christmas music. Halley's arrangements and compositions, written for these choirs and previously unrecorded, deliver the adventurous harmonies and captivating lyricism for which he is celebrated. As Absolute Sound magazine observed in an earlier CD review 'Halley's descants soar above ... fresh, audacious, and thrilling, lifting a familiar carol into realms of glory." About Chorus Angelicus: CHORUS ANGELICUS (The Angelic Choir) the internationally acclaimed children's choir, has impressed audiences with the best of choral music, both sacred and secular, since it's founding in 1991 by Paul Halley. Artists-In-Residence at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington, CT, the ensemble comprises fifty boys and girls who hail from towns throughout southwestern New England In an annual season of twenty-five concerts the chorus performs a large and varied repertoire, from the classics of choral literature to contemporary and newly commissioned compositions. Performances have included collaborations with Gaudeamus, the Battell Chamber Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony, and the Paul Winter Consort in venues such as Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Boston's Symphony Hall, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, and The Battell Stoeckel Music Shed, Norfolk, CT. Chorus Angelicus has toured to Florida, the Pacific Northwest, Nova Scotia, and Ireland, and is frequently invited to perform at international choral workshops and music festivals. Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus were selected to perform at the 1999 inauguration ceremony of the Governor of Connecticut, and the choirs were featured in a documentary by Connecticut Public Television to highlight the choirs' extraordinary, inner-city concert series Music For A Great Space, free concerts in the architectural splendor of Connecticut's most notable urban churches. NBC's news special of the choirs' beloved Christmas Angelicus concerts has resulted in the annual broadcast of the live performances of this Christmas concert series by National Public Radio. About Gaudeamus: GAUDEAMUS (Let us rejoice), a chamber choir of twenty-five professional and semi-professional singers, was formed by Paul Halley in the spring of 1992 to join Chorus Angelicus in the presentation of such choral masterworks as the "St. John Passion", the "B Minor Mass", Handel's "Dixit Dominus", and Britten's "Saint Nicholas". Gaudeamus and Chorus Angelicus together have developed a large following through their three principal concert series: Christmas Angelicus, Salute To America and Music for a Great Space. The Passiontide concerts by Gaudeamus alone have introduced it's audiences to choral works of a more intimate, sacred nature, and it's explorations of world music have resulted in exciting collaborations with musicians from around the globe. Gaudeamus participated with folk legend Pete Seeger on his Grammy Award-winning CD Pete, and subsequently won high praise from Billboard Magazine, Pro Audio Magazine, and high-end audiophiles the world over for it's album of a cappella masterworks, Sacred Feast, recorded in surround sound for Sony/Pioneer. About Paul Halley: PAUL HALLEY, M. A. Cantab, FRCO, ARCT, Paul Halley was born in Romford, England in 1952 and received his early musical training in Ottawa, Canada. At the age of sixteen, he was made an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. Having been 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. Via a circuitous route involving two years teaching in Jamaica, W.I., Halley became Organist and Choirmaster at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City where he served for twelve years, from 1977 to 1989, transforming the Cathedral's music program into a rich combination of classical and contemporary music. Concurrent with his tenure at the Cathedral, Halley became a principal member of The Paul Winter Consort, and earned six Grammy Awards for his contributions as featured writer and performer on many Consort recordings. Following his departure from the Cathedral in 1989, Halley settled in rural northwestern Connecticut and founded Joyful Noise, Inc., the non-profit organization which administers the activities and tours of 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 the Choral and Organ Scholars program in conjunction with Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music. In 2007, Halley relocated to Nova Scotia to become Music Director at St. George's Anglican Church, the Chapel of the University of King's College, and Atlantic School of Theology. Halley's choral and instrumental compositions are distributed internationally by Pelagos Incorporated, the recording, music publishing, and arts management company for which he acts as Creative Director. Halley's compositions have been performed and licensed by many notable artists and organizations including Sony Entertainment, Windham Hill/BMG Music, the New Jersey Symphony, John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra, The Louisville Symphony, Canadian Brass, Margie Gillis, Jennifer Muller and The Works, and numerous international band and choral festivals. Halley has received an ASCAP Composer Award each year since 1998, and his recordings and performances are frequently aired on NPR and CBC. Halley creates three to four new, commissioned works per year, and performs frequently as a guest artist in venues throughout North America. Halley lives with his wife and business partner, Meg Race, on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. They enjoy exploring the islands of Mahone Bay in a traditional Cape Cod catboat which rejoices in the name, "Magnificat". REVIEWS from Gramophone Magazine 'The heartfelt cry from John Steane as he considers twelve Yuletide CD offerings that actually provide cheer.' from Focus/Christmas Discs 'Tis The Season To Be Jollier' "If like myself you find that such insistent authenticity induces, after a while, not the most charitable of feelings, you might find further relief in the combined efforts of Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus under Paul Halley in "What Child Is This?". These singers use their voices more naturally and sound less as though enjoying themselves to order. Halley's own arrangements are pleasingly inventive, and there are others by Kenneth Leighton, Simon Preston and Vaughan Williams. It's a well ordered programme ending gently with Watts' Cradle Hymn after an exhilaratingly liberated Go, Tell It on the Mountain."- John Steane from The Choral Journal 'Depending on their tastes, you can safely choose one of the four discs listed above and please nearly every choral aficionado on your holiday gift list. If I could afford to order these by the dozen as stocking stuffers, I'd do it. Each is special in it's own way. Paul Halley's fresh but tasteful arrangements invigorate the latest offering from his groups Chorus Angelicus (a children's choir) and Gaudeamus (a professional-level chamber choir). Spiced with inventive harmonies and textures, pieces like 'Jesus Jesus Rest Your Head' and 'Good King Wenceslas' take on new life. Recording and performances are superb, with the sweet, transparent so