Paul Halley

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Paul Halley (* 1952 in Romford , England) is a Canadian organist , keyboardist , choir director , singer and composer . From 1977 onwards he was organist and cantor of the important Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City for 13 years .

He became known beyond church music circles in the 1980s and 1990s through his participation in the Paul Winter Consort . His piece Winter , composed for a string quartet , formed the soundtrack for Christopher Kezelos ' award-winning short film The Maker in 2011 .

life and work

Halley was born in a suburb of London into a Baptist family, which he himself characterized as working-class intelligentsia ("worker intelligentsia "). The father had received a pianist training at the Royal College of Music and also introduced the son to this instrument.

In 1957 the family moved to Ottawa . Halley received piano lessons there from the organist of St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Gerald Wheeler, and joined the community's male and boy choirs in 1960 as a singer. This important choir, led first by Wheeler and from 1969 by Brian Law, produced talents such as Gerald Finley , Daniel Taylor and Matthew White . Around 1970 Halley began accompanying church services as an auxiliary organist and learned a lot from Ian Barber, an organist who often accompanied the choir. Since then, music and faith have been an inseparable unit for Halley.

At the age of 16 years Halley gained an organ scholarship and was able to three years at Trinity College of the University of Cambridge study where Richard Marlow became his teacher. He turned down an offer to do his doctorate there in order to work as a development worker for the Canadian organization CUSO International , which initially let him study English as a second language for a year in Ottawa . He was then deployed for two years (1974-1976) in Jamaica , where he taught English at a high school and worked part-time as a church musician.

1976–1977, Halley studied economic development at the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada). Under Beal Thomas he also worked as an auxiliary organist at Christ Church Cathedral. Jim Morton, Dean of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, heard him play the organ there and invited him to become cantor and organist at his church . Halley stayed for 13 years. At the end of the 1970s, he met Paul Winter , who had directed the Paul Winter Consort since 1967 , a band that combined jazz with ethnic elements and later found world music and new age music . In 1979 Halley joined the band as a keyboardist and organist and performed with her frequently in the Cathedral of Saint John le Devine, but also accompanied her on tours through North America, Europe and Asia.

Around 1990 Halley left New York and went to Connecticut , where he and Margaret ("Meg") Race founded the non-profit organization Joyful Noise , the Gaudeamus choir and the Chorus Angelicus children's choir . In 1998, Halley and Race also founded a sheet music and music record company, Pelagos . In 1999 Halley separated from the Paul Winter Consort and began a solo career.

In 2007 Halley moved to Halifax , where he has held several positions since then, including university musician at the Atlantic School of Theology , music director at St. George's Anglican Church and choir director at the University of King's College .

Halley has six children and lives in Halifax with his second wife, Meg Race. His son Nick Halley is also a choirmaster.

Discography and awards

Paul Halley composed a large part of the following works himself.

As organist and keyboard player:

  • 1982: Paul Winter: Missa Gaia / Earth Mass (Living Music)
  • 1986: with Eugene Friesen: New Friend (Earth Music Productions)
  • 1987: with Paul Winter: Whales Alive (Living Music)
  • 1990: Paul Winter: Wolf Eyes. A Retrospective (Living Music)
  • 1991: Paul Halley with the Paul Winter Consort and Friends: Angel on a Stone Wall (Living Music)
  • 1993: Paul Winter Consort: Spanish Angel (Living Music)
Grammy Award for Best New Age Album (1994)
  • 1995: Paul Winter Consort: Concert for the Earth. Live at the UN (Living Music)
  • 1995: Paul Winter Consort: The Man Who Planted Trees (Living Music)
  • 1998: Nightwatch (CD Baby)
  • 1998: with Theresa Thomason: Sound Over All Waters (Pelagos)
  • 2000: Triptych (CD Baby)
  • 2000: Paul Winter: Journey With the Sun (Living Music)
  • 2003: Mozart, Mendelssohn, Howells, Willan, with the Choir of St. John's (Elora, Ontario), Noel Edison: Faire is the Heaven: Hymns and Anthems (Naxos)
  • 2016: with the King's College Chapel Choir: Let Us Keep the Fest (CD Baby)

As a pianist:

  • 1986: Piano song (Living Music)

As choir director:

  • 1994: Chorus Angelicus: Voices of Light (Joyful Noise, Paul Halley)
  • 1996: Chorus Angelicus, Gaudeamus, The Battell Brass: Wondrous Love (CD Baby)
  • 1999: Gaudeamus: Sacred Feast
  • 2000: Chorus Angelicus: Untraveled Worlds (Pelagos)
  • 2006: Chorus Angelicus & Gaudeamus: What Child Is This? (Pelagos)

Chamber music:

  • 2013: The Halley Quartet (Musicians: Adrian Keating, Sarah Moir, Joanna Landstra, Ilir Merxhushi; Producer: Paul Halley)
Includes the pieces Angel, The Hand of Fate, Midnight, Cello Fantasia, Autumn, Adagio in F, Winter
  • 2013: The Halley Quartet II
Includes the pieces A Spring Morning, Song of Love, The Storm, Summer Night, The Fury

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Maker. Retrieved January 6, 2017 (video on the production company's YouTube channel).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Paul Halley: The Examined Life. Retrieved January 5, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Halley, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian organist, choir director and composer
DATE OF BIRTH 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Romford , England