25th Anniversary Celebration Artists

King’s College Chapel Choir

The Chapel Choir of the University of King's College, modeled on the Chapel Choirs of Cambridge and Oxford, comprises twenty choristers selected through annual auditions held in September, which are open to all students at King's College and Dalhousie University. The choir's primary function is to sing at the weekly Evensongs and Eucharists, as well as other major services throughout the academic year. The choir had its beginnings in the early 1970s when Dr. Robert Crouse put together a group of singers to lead the worship at the Thursday Eucharists at King's. Since that time the choir has expanded its role, having sung under the direction of several notable conductors including Helen Roby, David Buley, and most recently Dr. Walter Kemp.

In July 2007, Paul Halley was appointed Director of Music of the Chapel and since then has built the group into a fine ensemble which now includes touring and recording amongst its activities. Halley says of the choir: “It is my hope that over time, prospective students will view the Chapel Choir as one of the reasons to attend university in Halifax. There's really nothing quite like the training a fine collegiate chapel choir can offer. You get through so much first-rate music, just in one week - all the anthems, motets, mass settings, canticles, psalms and hymns - that your musical literacy increases at a phenomenal rate.”

Paul Halley, Director

Paul Halley was born in Romford, England in 1952 and received his early musical training in Ottawa, Canada, where he studied piano, organ and singing. 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 under Dr. Richard Marlow, he 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., and the study of Development Economics at the University of Victoria, BC, Halley became Organist and Choirmaster at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City where he served for thirteen years, 1977 to 1990, 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 four Grammy Awards for his contributions as featured writer and performer on many Consort recordings.

Following his departure from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1990, Halley settled in rural northwestern Connecticut and founded Joyful Noise, Inc., the non-profit organization which administers the children's choir, Chorus Angelicus and the adult ensemble, Gaudeamus. These choirs continue to bring their celebrated sound to audiences throughout North America and Europe through an annual concert series of classical masterworks and contemporary repertoire, tours and recordings. In 1999, Halley was appointed Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church, Torrington, CT and established the Joyful Noise choirs there as Artists-In-Residence. At Trinity, Halley conducted a 30-voice, semi-professional choir, developed the Organ Scholar programme with students from Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music, and introduced the monthly Vespers services, as well as founding the Trinity Arts Series, a forum for the work of professional musicians and artists in a sacred space.

In July 2007, Halley assumed the music directorship of three historic and venerable institutions in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. At St. George's Anglican Church (known as the Round Church), Halley directs a semi-professional choir of twenty-five at the weekly Holy Eucharist as well as monthly Choral Evensongs and services for Feast Days. Halley has the distinct pleasure of accompanying worship services on the beautiful mechanical action instrument built by Orgues Letourneau (Opus 76) which was installed in the chancel in October 2002. Halley is also Director of Chapel Music at the University of King's College, where he has assembled a choir of twenty young choral scholars drawn from the student body at both King's and Dalhousie University. Services of Evensong and the Solemn Eucharist are held weekly throughout the academic term, and the Chapel Choir has already embarked on a schedule of concert tours. A programme for organ scholars is also underway. At Atlantic School of Theology, Halley holds the position of University Musician involving musical accompaniment for services for the graduate theological students as well as coaching in liturgical music and vocal production. Halley hopes to develop a School of Sacred Music in conjunction with these new appointments.

Halley and his wife and business partner Meg Race recently moved from the mountaintop farm in northwestern Connecticut, where they raised their combined family of six children, to the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Summer days, which now extend from late April to late November, continue to be spent messing around in a growing fleet of boats: an endearing Cape Cod catboat which rejoices in the name, 'Magnificat', a lovely Rangeley Lakes guideboat, a handmade curricle, and two canoes. And, a new community of spectacular individuals - writers, boat-builders, sailors, chefs, and artists - is the icing on the cake.

Halley's compositions and recordings are produced and distributed by Pelagos Incorporated for which Halley acts as Creative Director. Among Pelagos' celebrated recordings are: Nightwatch, a reissue of Halley's landmark 1982 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 the professional choral ensemble, Keramion; Triptych, Halley's keyboard works for the unique trio of piano, pipe organ, and harpsichord, recorded at Spivey Hall in Atlanta; and Untraveled Worlds, a glorious compilation of world music repertoire presented by Chorus Angelicus.

Halley is frequently commissioned to write new works in a range of genres, voicing, and instrumentation. Compositions have been commissioned, performed and licensed by many notable artists and organizations including Sony Entertainment, Windham Hill/BMG Music, Hal Leonard, the New Jersey Symphony, John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra, The Louisville Symphony, Canadian Brass, Margie Gillis, and Jennifer Muller and The Works. Halley receives annual Composer Awards from ASCAP, and his recordings and performances are frequently broadcast on National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Recently commissioned works include the song cycle 'Evening Songs' for Louise Winter and Gerald Finley the choral/orchestral work 'In Sideribus Domi: At Home In The Stars' for the Clay Center of Science and Art, Charleston, WV, a setting of the Evening Canticles for Lichfield Cathedral Choir, England, and 'Eternal Gifts' in celebration of the recent fiftieth anniversary of the Choir of Men and Boys of St. Matthews Anglican Church, Ottawa, of which Halley is an alumnus.

Kings College Chapel

Kings College

Les Voix Baroque

Les Voix Baroques is an ensemble specializing in vocal works from the Renaissance and Baroque in formats ranging from traditional concerts to fully staged operatic productions.

Past collaborations include Bach's St. John and St. Matthew Passion with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Bach Cantatas with Ensemble Les Boreades, a German tour of Antonio Caldara's Oratorio Il Conversione di Clodoveo with IConfidenti Berlin and a 2007 Juno Nominated and Opus award winning Atma recording of Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri with Les Voix Humaines and conductor Alexander Weimann. Les Voix Baroques have appeared in concert for Festival Vancouver, the Boston Early Music Festival, Houston's Mercury Baroque Orchestra, Montreal Baroque, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Sackville Early Music Festival, Domaine Forget, the Elora Festival and in two Opus Award winning concerts produced by CBC for their McGill Concert Series Upcoming highlights include collaborations with the Portland Baroque Orchestra under Monica Huggett for a US tour of Bach's St. John Passion, concerts and a recording of the St.John Passion with Ensemble Arion for the Montreal Bach Festival, a summer tour of Nova Scotia for Music Royal, a 4 concert tour in Colombia of Spanish Baroque Repertoire and the release of the ensemble's recording of Latin Oratorios by Carissimi.

Matthew White, Director

The Canadian counter-tenor, Matthew White, graduated in English Literature at McGill University and currently studies with Jan Simons. He has recently won the Canada Council Grant for Emerging Artists and is a recipient of the Adams Vocal Fellowship at the Carmel Bach Festival.

Matthew White has already gained an enviable reputation for excellence in a young career and his ever-expanding career includes appearances woldwide. In Europe, he sings with the Netherlands Bach Society (with whom he sang J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, BWV 244, the Utrecht Early Music Festival, Le Parlement de Musique and Le Concert Spirituel. In the USA he sings regularly with the Portland Baroque Orchestra and the Four Nations Ensemble and has traveiled as far afield as New Zealand to appear with the Christchurch City Choir in Georg Frideric Handel’s Messiah. In opera, his roles include Ottone in L'lncoronazione di Poppea for the Houston Grand Opera and the Toronto Consort, Monteverdi's Orfeo for the Toronto Consort, Hercules in G. F. Handel’s The Choice Of Hercules for Modem Baroque Opera and the title role in Gluck's Orfeo for the Festival International de Musique Baroque de Lameque. Matthew White tours, records and performs frequently with Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Ensemble, and other leading early music ensembles. A proven performer in Canada, he has also appeared with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, the Edmonton Symphony, Thirteen Strings of Ottawa, the Chamber Music Festival and Symphony Nova Scotia, among many others. He is a founder member of Montreal's Ensemble Les Voix Baroques.

Matthew White has recorded G.F. Handel's Messiah with Tafelmusik/Ivars Taurins for CBC Records; Carrissimi's Jepthe and Jonas with the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montreal for Analekta; His recordings include Messiah with Tafelmusik and Bach Cantatas with Aradia Ensemble.

Matthew White's future engagements Messiah with the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra/Brian Law, G.F. Handel with the Portland Baroque Orchestra/ Paul Goodwin, Dido And Aeneas with Les Concerts Spirituel/ Hervé Niquet in France with a recording for Naxos, Bach Cantatas with Tafelmusik, J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass, BWV 232, with the Orchestre Symphonique de Laval/ Jean-Francois Riveste, J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, BWV 244, with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra /Robert Cooper, and with the Netherlands Bach Society/Jos Van Veldhoven. He will extend his opera work singing Gluck's Orfeo Ed Euridice at the Festival International de Lamèque and roles in Poppea for Houston Grand Opera.

Les Voix BaroqueChapel

Boxwood Workshop, Chris Norman, Director

Born in Halifax, NS into a music loving family, Chris' influential work as a performer, composer, recording artist and teacher has done much to bring the simple wooden flute to the forefront as an alternative voice to the modern orchestral instrument and redefined the flute in traditional Canadian & Scottish traditional music. His busy performing schedule includes solo engagements and concerts with a variety of ensembles, appearing frequently as soloist with orchestra and touring with his own Chris Norman Ensemble. In years past Chris has also appeared worldwide as a member of the international folk trio, Helicon, the all-star Celtic fusion group, Skyedance, the acclaimed early music group, The Baltimore Consort and across Europe with Concerto Caledonia

Norman's flute playing can be heard featured on the Oscar winning soundtrack of Titanic, the Hollywood films, Soldier, and the forthcoming Stone of Destiny. His solo CD releases have received unanimous praise from critics and audiences alike and appeared on Billboard's crossover charts. He's presently producing and hosting a program on connections between food & music for Inside the Music broadcast nationally on CBC Radio One in Canada and worldwide on Sirius. Through his work as founder and artistic director of the Boxwood Festivals and Workshops taking place in Canada, New Zealand & Europe, Chris has inspired thousands of musicians of all ages abilities.

Boxwood

Chris Norman

Les Boreades

Founded by Francis Colpron in 1991, Les Boréades de Montréal focuses on early music. The ensemble has chosen an interpretative approach in keeping with the spirit of the Baroque era, by adhering to the rules of performance practice of the past and playing on period instruments. Critics and audiences alike in Canada and abroad have been unanimous in hailing the group’s energy and spontaneity as well as its theatrical, expressive and elegant playing, indicative of a unique flair for Baroque aesthetics.

Each year, Les Boréades gives a series of concerts at Montréal’s historic Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours chapel with international guest artists, many of whom have been picked up and broadcast by the national broadcasting corporation. The group has received many grants from the Québec and Canada governments and has toured extensively in Canada and abroad, taking part in several renowned festivals. The musicians also performed at the Frick Collection of New-York, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Vancouver Festival, Musikfest Bremen and at the Alter Musik Regensburg.

Les Boréades won the Prix Opus for best performance of the 1998-1999 season, bestowed by the Conseil québécois de la musique in December 1999, and the same prize a year later for best recording of the year in early and classical music. The ensemble boasts fifteen recordings on the Atma Classique label featuring renowned artists such as Hervé Niquet, Skip Sempé, Manfredo Kraemer, Alex Weimann, Eric Milnes and Karina Gauvin. In 2006, Hyver, with Karina Gauvin, has been nominated as Juno’s best Classical album of the year: Vocal or Choral performance and has been also nominated for an award at the ADISQ gala. Purcell, recording with Karina Gauvin, has been nominated as Juno’s best Classical album of the year: Vocal or Choral performance.

Francis Colpron, Director

He has been recognized these past few years as one of the most talented instrumentalists of his generation. His qualities and his capacity to innovate both in the artistic and interpretative spheres have been acclaimed by the public, the critics, and the cultural authorities alike. In 1991, he founded his own ensemble, of which he is the artistic director: Les Boréades de Montréal, running a successful series in Montreal, touring in North America and Europe, and recording many CDs on the ATMA label.

Besides teaching at the Université de Montréal, he is a regular guest of prestigious summer music camps such as Amherst in the United States as well as Cammac and Lanaudière in Quebec. He is first flautist of the Portland Trinity Consort and he is also a regular guest of other ensembles such as the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Opera Atelier, Les Violons du Roy, and the Nova Scotia Orchestra.

Les Boreades

Laura Pudwell, Mezzo Soprano

Laura Pudwell's reputation as a superb vocalist has been well-established as a result of her performances in London, Paris, Salzburg, Houston, Vienna and Boston. Her vast repertoire ranges from early music to contemporary works. Ms. Pudwell is equally at home on the opera, oratorio or recital stage, and has received international acclaim for her recordings.

A frequent guest of many national and international presenters, Laura has had the privilege of working with many outstanding conductors, including Hans Graf, Hervé Niquet, Andrew Parott, Ivars Taurens, David Fallis, Brian Jackson, John Sinclair, Bernard Labadie, Lydia Adams, Howard Dyck and Robert Cooper.

On the opera stage, Ms Pudwell has performed across Canada with such companies as Opera Atelier, the Calgary Opera, Vancouver Early Music and Festival Vancouver, as well as with the Houston Grand Opera and the Cleveland Opera. Her many roles include Cornelia (Giulio Cesare), Marcelina (Le Nozze di Figaro), Nerone and Arnalta (L'Incoronazione di Poppea), Mrs. Quickly (Falstaff), and Dido/Sorceress (Dido & Aeneas), which also was an award-winning recording performed by Ms. Pudwell in Paris.

Laura appears regularly with the Toronto Consort, and is a frequent guest soloist with Tafelmusik, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Toronto Chamber Choir, Symphony Nova Scotia, the St. Lawrence Choir, Le Concert Spirituel, Chorus Niagara and the Menno Singers.

Ms. Pudwell lives in Kitchener-Waterloo with her husband and two children. She is a Professor of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Terry MacKenna, Lute

Terry McKenna enjoys performing a wide range of musical styles on period and modern guitars and lutes. He’s a member of the Toronto Consort, Ensemble Polaris and the Toronto Masque Theatre and guests with I Furiosi, Musica Franca and Opera Atelier, among others. The McKenna Ramessar Guitar Duo performs on modern, 19th century, and baroque guitars.

In addition to historical-based repertoire Terry welcomes opportunities to perform contemporary scores by composers such as James Rolfe, Omar Daniel, Peter Hannan, John Beckwith and Harry Freedman.

Terry has participated on many recordings and broadcasts and has recorded his own feature project: Throw the House Out of the Windowe (and Other Damn Fine Dance Tunes) on the Marquis Classics label.

Recently Terry organized and performed at Guitar-a-thon 2006, a fundraising event for the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra. Amazing guitarists from all genres gathered for 12 hours of non-stop music-making.

Terry gets great satisfaction from teaching guitar and lute at Wilfrid Laurier University. He also enjoys composing and performing music for the Playmakers! youth theatre project (www.play.makers.ca).

Terry lives in Stratford, Ontario where he performs with the Stratford Festival Orchestra.

Toronto Consort

The Toronto Consort is Canada’s leading chamber ensemble specializing in the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Formed in 1972, the Consort presents an annual series of concerts in Toronto, and performs throughout Canada, the United States, Great Britain and Europe. It has performed and collaborated with many leading early music specialists, including Paul O’Dette, Julianne Baird, Colin Tilney, Paul Agnew, Ann Monoyios, Suzie LeBlanc, The King’s Noyse, La Nef and Les Sonneurs de Montréal. The Toronto Consort has appeared with the Toronto Symphony under Andrew Davis, the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit, and the North German Radio Orchestra.

"Since the founding of the Toronto Consort in 1972, Canada can boast a world-class early music ensemble worthy of the attention of any musically literate ear... Their closely matched phrasing, intonation and tonal shading was worthy of the finest string quartet."

Chronicle Herald, Halifax

In its Toronto series, the Consort is constantly exploring new repertoires and new ways to bring early music to the modern audience. The Consort often works in collaboration with other artists, such as actors, dancers and visual artists, to produce concerts which have dramatic as well as musical appeal. Recent projects have included all three Monteverdi operas performed in concert; a fully-staged production of a new transcription of The Play of Daniel; A Celtic Christmas with Puirt a Baroque; evenings of Renaissance dance with the Ken Pierce Dance Company; From Medieval to Millennial, a multi-media evening with video projections and Inuit throat-singers; An Elizabethan Entertainment with Veronica Tennant. The Toronto Consort has also recorded music for film, most recently the sound track for Academy Award-nominated The Sweet Hereafter directed by Atom Egoyan.

David Fallis, Director

David Fallis has been a member of the Toronto Consort since 1979 and its Artistic Director since 1990. He has led the ensemble in many critically-acclaimed programs, including The Praetorius Christmas Vespers, The Play of Daniel, all three of Monteverdi's operas in concert, Cavalli's La Calisto and Carissimi's Jephte, among many others. He has directed the group in its many recordings and tours, and has conceived and scripted many of their most popular programs, such as The Marco Polo Project, The Queen, and The Real Man of La Mancha. He is also one of Canada’s leading interpreters of operatic and choral/orchestral repertoire, especially from the Baroque and Classical periods. He is Music Director for Opera Atelier and has conducted major operatic works by Mozart, Monteverdi, Purcell and Handel in Toronto and on tour to Japan, Korea and Singapore. He has conducted for Houston Grand Opera, Cleveland Opera, Wolf Trap Theatre, Utah Opera, Orchestra London, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Windsor Symphony, Festival Vancouver, the Singapore Festival, the Seoul Arts Centre (Korea), the Elora Festival, the Guelph Spring Festival and the Elmer Iseler Singers. Currently he teaches in the Graduate Department at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto.

Toronto Consort

John Grew, Organist

John Grew is University Organist and chair of the Organ & Church Music Area of the McGill Schulich School of Music where he has taught since 1973. He collaborated with the organ builder Hellmuth Wolff in the planning of the French Classical organ for Redpath Hall. In Canada he is a frequent recitalist on both the English and French networks of the CBC, and has appeared as soloist with numerous chamber orchestras. He was unanimously awarded the First Medal at the Geneva International Competition in 1970, and subsequently has concertized extensively in Europe.

He has recorded for the RTBF (Belgium), Radio-France, and German Radio,  and his concerts from  European  Festivals have been heard on Radio-Canada's "Festivals du monde". He has served on international competition juries, and given master classes at European Conservatories and North American Universities. The art of John Grew is best summed up by a London music critic, who wrote in The Daily Telegraph that "... it takes an artist of Mr. Grew's exceptional quality to stress the scale, variety and eloquence of Couperin ... he relished the music's gravity and boldly-questioning manner."

John Grew