“Christmas Angelicus” features acclaimed children’s choir, Chorus Angelicus, and adult chamber choir, Gaudeamus, in the presentation of holiday choral works under the direction of Paul Halley. This joyous celebration includes such traditional favorites as The First Nowell and The Twelve Days of Christmas as well as the more unusual Huron Carol and Torches. Grammy Award-winner Paul Halley featured as director, composer, and organist. Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus paired up for this beautiful Christmas offering in 1995 just four years after the choirs' founding in 1991 by Grammy-winning artist and composer, Paul Halley. The choirs sing with precision and clarity while incorporating a warmth and immediacy to the performance of each song. This album comprises a selection of traditional British favorites in the Christmas genre, much of it repertoire performed in the early years of the choirs’ annual Christmas Angelicus concert series (begun in 1991 and now in its twenty-fourth season under current Artistic Director, Gabriel Lofvall). Several of the arrangements and four descants on this recording are Halley's work, which adds a refreshing, new sound to this mix of Christmas music. from The American Organist Magazine “Christmas Angelicus features traditional carols in settings primarily by British composers of the 20th century. Several of the selections feature arrangements and descants by Paul Halley, and it is here that his background in jazz becomes apparent, as the warm and occasionally surprising harmonic progressions lend a fresh and contemporary air to some of the more familiar tunes. From the opening solo of “Once in royal David’s city” – performed processional style a la Kings College Choir, Cambridge – to the closing rendition of “Hark, the herald angels sing”, these lovingly performed and recorded treasures are likely to find a home near the top of just about anyone’s stack of holiday favorites.” - Jennifer Kolmes from The Absolute Sound “This is my favorite Christmas record of the last several years, which I got too late to make last year’s list. This label is part of Pelagos, a kind of Paul Halley boutique that publishes sheet music as well as recordings. Halley is the former organist of St. John the Divine in New York and a key member of the Paul Winter Consort; this record features the children’s and adult choirs he now leads in the Berkshires. Christmas Angelicus includes such classic modern carols as John Joubert’s “Torches”, Elizabeth Poston’s “Jesus Christ The Apple Tree”, and Harold Darke’s “In The Bleak Midwinter”, as well as modern arrangements of traditional tunes. It is all nicely sung, aside from a slight tendency to stress downbeats more than a subtle English choir would allow, and splendidly recorded in appropriate spaces. What earns it a place in the Pantheon, though, are the descants Halley wrote for four carols, in particular the one for “The First Nowell”, which soars above not just the last chorus but the entire last stanza, fresh, audacious, and thrilling, lifting the familiar carol into realms of glory (to borrow a phrase from another carol).” - Michael Alan Fox from The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians "Diction and intonation are superb. The children and adults sing not only with coherence but with an admirable freshness of sound. Paul Halley’s descants and imaginative harmonizations are refreshing." - Victor Hill 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 its founding in 1991 by Paul Halley. Artists-In-Residence at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington, CT, the ensemble comprises seventy boys and girls who hail from towns throughout southwestern New England. Upon his move to Nova Scotia in 2007, Halley was succeeded as Artistic Director of the Joyful Noise choirs by Nicholas White. The current Artistic Director of choirs is the Argentinian pianist and singer, Gabriel Löfvall. In an annual season of twenty-five concerts Chorus Angelicus 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 and this joyous concert has truly become a 'New England tradition'. 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 its audiences to choral works of a more intimate, sacred nature, and its 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 its album of a cappella masterworks, Sacred Feast, recorded in surround sound for Sony/Pioneer. About Paul Halley: PAUL HALLEY was born in Romford, Essex in 1952 and six years later emigrated with his family to Ontario. He received his early musical training in the Choir of Men and Boys of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Ottawa, under the direction of Gerald Wheeler and Brian Law, and at the age of sixteen 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, over a twelve-year period, he transformed 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 five Grammy Awards for his contributions as featured writer and performer on dozens of Consort recordings. Following his departure from the Cathedral in 1989, Halley settled in rural northwestern Connecticut and in 1991 founded the not-for-profit arts organization, Joyful Noise, Inc., the acclaimed children’s choir, Chorus Angelicus, and the adult chamber choir, Gaudeamus. Halley also 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 Halifax, Nova Scotia to become Director of Music at both the University of King’s College and St. George’s Anglican Church (through 2010), as well as University Musician at Atlantic School of Theology. The semi-professional Chapel Choir of the University of King’s College, comprised of lay clerks and choral scholars in the British tradition, is gaining a reputation under Halley’s direction as one of the best choral ensembles in North America, receiving airplay of concerts in the “King’s at the Cathedral” series on CBC. Halley’s choral and instrumental compositions are available from 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 receives annual Composer Awards from ASCAP, and his recordings and performances are frequently aired on NPR and CBC. Halley is often engaged as a guest artist by organizations throughout the United States and Canada, and is commissioned to write three to four new works per year. Halley lives with his wife and business partner, Meg Race, on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Together with their combined family of six children, singers and sailors all, they enjoy exploring the waters of Mahone Bay in a traditional Cape Cod catboat which rejoices in the name, “Magnificat”.