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This Friday, May 22, Capella Regalis Choirs will present a program of secular and sacred works for choir, organ, piano, and percussion, several of which are taken from their album *Songs of the Sea*, released in June 2025. We invite you to sway to the rhythm of these lyrical offerings, “a musical journey ranging from Gregorian chant to sea shanties,” as summarized in the official program of the upcoming Classica festival. This world-class choir is internationally renowned, and its founder, Paul Halley, has won several awards for his work, including prestigious Grammys. In the context of Classica, we caught up with his son—a singer, percussionist, and choir director—in Halifax to learn more about the program being presented in Boucherville, specifically at the charming Sainte-Famille Church.
PAN M 360 : We are with Nick Halley, a percussion player and also choir director for Halifax’s Cappella Regalis Choirs, a family affair : his father Paul Halley is playing the keyboards (organ and piano), his sister Vanessa is the main choir director and CEO of this choir established in Maritimes. Historically, it was a Men and Boys Choir and… Nick, can you explain what happened next?
Nick Halley : Just two things I would say. One is that the choir is going to be men and boys and girls, because we started a girls choir a number of years ago and we’re bringing on tour members of the girls choir and members of the boys choir and members of the men’s section, the professional men’s section. And in the second half of the concert, my sister Vanessa will be conducting and I’ll be playing percussion. But in the first half, I’m the director.
PAN M 360 : Okay, so you share the direction.
Nick Halley : Exactly. And Paul, our father, is always playing the piano or the organ.
PAN M 360 : Yeah, I understand that your father started this choir and you pursued.
Nick Halley : That’s right. My sister and I both grew up singing in a choir that was started by my father in the United States. And so, actually, she sang in the Cathedral Choir in New York City, where my father was the director of music at St. John the Divine in New York City. So, we come by it. It’s a slippery slope.
PAN M 360 : And when you were in the States, were you American citizen or Canadians living in New York at that time?
Nick Halley : We were born to Canadian citizens living in New York. So, I’m an American citizen as well as Canadian. And so, I just got back from there doing some work and things, going to that crazy land right now. And I’m very happy to be back here in Halifax and coming to Montreal!
PAN M 360 :Yeah!, Halifax is a beautiful city, has a beautiful community, excellent restaurants, beautiful sights, and the ocean is magic. I’ve been there. I really enjoyed Halifax and Nova Scotia in general.
Nick Halley : I couldn’t agree more!
PAN M 360 : So you’re going to present at the Classica Festival. You’re opening this festival the first night, with the program entitled Chants marins et hymnes sacrés, you are going to perform in Boucherville at the lovely Sainte-Famille Church. I suppose that this title’s program has something to do with the choir album’s Song of the Sea, released exactly one year ago. Right?
Nick Halley : Exactly.
PAN M 360 : And this album was recorded by men and boys, which is different from the ensemble touring this spring.
Nick Halley : Yes. So the girls choir is a new addition. And that recording we made with just the men and boys choir because the girls were then singing other stuff and the men and boys had learned some sea songs. But now the girls have learned the sea songs too. And so, we’ll take them on tour.
PAN M 360 : So, it’s going to be a little different. Well, not that little, because there will be a clear difference because of the feminine presence, which is very important in this choir now, if I understand.
Nick Halley : That’s right. And so, it’s a mixed choir now. We might sing something where just the girls sing, something where just the boys sing, just to change it up, keep it interesting for all of us. But they all know all of the music. And they really feed off of each other, all the singers. Even on a few pieces, I probably won’t be able to resist having Vanessa sing. My sister, she’s a beautiful singer. She’ll sing alto. And also, our training choir director, Hillary, will be on the road with us. So, probably have her sing. When there are beautiful voices in the room, it’s hard to resist having them, letting them sing. And so, they’ll cover some of the alto parts or they’ll help us out with alto parts. And then, the men sing tenor and bass. And I sing too. I sing tenor with the choir.
PAN M 360 : And how did you assemble those Songs of the Sea?
Nick Halley : Thank you for the question! It was a process. There are so many great songs that I would have liked to do. So, I was tempted to call that record Songs of the Sea 1, Volume 1. But I think that at some point, we’ll just come out with Volume 2, maybe 3, 4… I mean, we could go on and on.
There are these collections of sea songs from this part of the world, from the Maritimes, Nova Scotia especially, that were put together by Helen Creighton, the Creighton collection of songs. They’re just folk songs. They’re not all Songs of the Sea. But I mean, there are so many, so many songs in there. And so, we just picked a few of our favorites. Some songs from Newfoundland, there’s a couple songs from England, and then a song or two from Nova Scotia. And then my father did most of the arranging. I also did a little bit of arranging. And we would arrange a song, and then teach it to the choir, and then we recorded it. And we didn’t have a lot of time. At that time, we didn’t tour it until it was already recorded. And so, it’s nice now to get to perform it live.
PAN M 360 : All those songs from the Maritimes have Irish roots, Scottish roots and English roots.
Nick Halley: That’s right. If it comes from Newfoundland, it has an Irish sound to it. If it comes from Cape Breton, it sounds Scottish. And then there’s the sort of English mixed in there. I mean, there’s, for instance, the leaving of Liverpool, which, of course, for us means Liverpool, Nova Scotia. But it probably comes from England.
PAN M 360 : Yeah, it’s always very present in your own legacy of songs in this area of Canada.
Nick Halley : That’s right. It just feels right to sing that music here. I mean, I’m a minute away from the North Atlantic, the open ocean. So, it really felt appropriate for us to sing those songs in foggy Halifax.
PAN M 360 : This is popular music. It’s folklore, traditional music. And you’re also trained as classical players and singers. So, it’s an encounter between classical heritage and folkloric or traditional heritage.
Nick Halley : That’s exactly right. And that’s very compelling. It’s a beautiful marriage when it works well.
PAN M 360 : Yeah. We must acknowledge that It’s hard to achieve, I mean maintain the qualities of the folk song way of singing and also perform with operatic skills. So, you have to be somewhere between both.
Nick Halley : Young people, children, have a natural ability to do that. So, my job is just not to mess it up! Because they will communicate the story the same way a person would in a pub in Ireland, where it’s just, okay, it’s time for a song. And then you hear those and you’re telling a story. The first track on that record is Petty Harbour Bateskip, it’s a very sad story from Newfoundland. But you just have to lean into it and tell that story. But I think it’s in the arranging that one’s skills are really tested that way. Because to keep it interesting for all of us, the listener included, but not lose the character. And I think that in my unbiased opinion, my father, Paul, is a bit of a genius at that. So, the arrangements are quite beautiful.
PAN M 360 : So, your father write most of the arrangements for the choir?
Nick Halley : Yes, in this case. And we’ll even do some pieces of his, just fresh compositions of his, especially in the second half. In the first half of the concert, the sacred anthems, we are also singing a piece of his that I love, which is just choir and organ and very much in the classical tradition. But the second half with the folk songs, it’s largely his arrangements. It’s sort of built around that. I arranged a Sky Boat song from Scotland, and I play percussion, and he plays piano.That’s unusual, I’m learning, because I grew up with this sound, which is piano and organ, piano and pipe organ. So, you have the percussive quality of the piano, but the wind instrument of the organ. And something about that combination of piano and organ with choir is magical. But the piano and the organ need to be in tune with each other. So, that’s always an interesting challenge, because very few people do that. Usually, you sing with piano or organ.
PAN M 360 : So, you pick songs from this recent album, and you also pick in your large repertoire
Nick Halley : That’s right. Throughout the year, we’ve been singing all of these, the sacred anthems part of the program. It’s just picking and choosing from the services and concerts that we’ve sung throughout the year.
PAN M 360 : Is the choir touring a lot? Anywhere in Canada and the world?
Nick Halley : We have not traveled so much with this choir, but we did a lot of touring in the Maritimes. As a percussionist, I’ve traveled all over the place, but the choir has not. And I’ve always said, even when I go somewhere, even if I go to Europe, I still want to do a Nova Scotian tour, because it’s an amazing place to tour. That being said, we’ve always wanted to go to Montreal and try to get as far as Toronto. And this time we’re finally doing it!
PAN M 360 : So, it’s very, very exciting for us music lovers to have you for the first time at Classica Festival, to enjoy this choir and also enjoy the Maritimes singing experience, which we know more, as we said, more about the folklore, the traditional music, but not about this approach, which is an excellent blend between classical and popular music.
Nick Halley : Oh, thank you! We’re so excited to share.
