In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

Chorus Angelicus

Group.

Chorus Angelicus is comprised of four choral ensembles, involving more than seventy children who hail from towns throughout southwestern New England. The Artistic Director is Grammy-nominated composer and conductor, Nicholas White, and the choirs are in residence at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington, CT.

The choruses perform a large and varied repertoire, from the classics of choral literature to contemporary and original compositions. There is a strong emphasis placed on musical education, as well as performance, for all the age groups and ability levels.

The youngest singers enter through the Training Choir and Advanced Training Choir (Karen Sovak, Director), and progress through the Junior Choir (Julie Bickford, Director), with the ultimate goal of joining the Senior Choir. Each group maintains an increasingly demanding rehearsal and performance schedule, and each plays its part in the organization producing more than 25 concerts each year. Recent engagements for Chorus Angelicus have included concerts at Music Mountain (Lakeville, CT), Infinity Hall (Norfolk, CT), and a tour to Cape Cod. In conjunction with the adult choir, Gaudeamus, programs featuring Brahms' A German Requiem, Finzi's Lo, the full final sacrifice, David Briggs' Requiem (CT Premiere) and the Magnificat, Missa Brevis and In Sure And Certain Hope by Nicholas White have been presented to enthusiastic audiences throughout Connecticut. The annual presentation of Christmas Angelicus continues to be an audience favorite, with concerts given in many local churches and chapels during the month of December.

This 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. Performances have included collaborations with the Hartford Symphony and the Paul Winter Consort in venues such as Boston's Symphony Hall, the Music Shed in Norfolk, CT, the Warner Theater in Torrington, CT, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Chorus Angelicus has toured nationally in Florida and the Pacific Northwest, and internationally in Nova Scotia, Vancouver, B.C., and Ireland.

The choir is frequently invited to sing at workshops, on concert series, and at music festivals, and Chorus Angelicus with Gaudeamus was invited to perform at the 1999 inauguration ceremony of Connecticut's Governor. Connecticut Public Television crafted a feature program on Chorus Angelicus, focusing on the choir's accomplishments, in the recent Music For A Great Space series. Christmas in Connecticut, a book by Diane Smith of The Morning Show (WTIC-AM), highlights the choir's beloved Christmas Angelicus concert series, also televised in a news special with NBC in New York and Hartford, and broadcast on WFCR and WNPR. In 2006, the CD What Child Is This? featuring Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus was recorded and distributed on the Pelagos label. Chorus Angelicus is featured in a millenium compilation of its most vibrant repertoire, from Serbia and Russia to South Africa and the Dominican Republic. Entitled Untraveled Worlds, this Pelagos release has garnered rave reviews and significant airplay from WNPR stations throughout the country. The choir was also featured on a Telarc release, Dance On A Moonbeam, with world class artists Frederica von Stade, Dawn Upshaw, Meryl Streep, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

Discography

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Chorus Angelicus : Christmas Angelicus

Review: This CD is a lovely assortment of familiar Christmas carols. The opening carol, "Once in Royal David's City" with soloist Maribeth Diggle is especially nice as voices are gradually added until the full choir is singing. Most pieces are a cappella with a few accompanied by organ. Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus are both directed by Paul Halley. The combination of the children's and adult choirs creates a beautiful sound. This is a delightful treat for Christmas.

Songlist: Once In Royal David's City, Torches, Jesus Christ The Apple Tree, Joys Seven, Huron Carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, The First Nowell, Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day, Nativity Carol, The Twelve Days Of Christmas, Lo, How A Rose E'Er Blooming, Personent Hodie, There Is No Rose Of Such Virtue, O Come, All Ye Faithful, I Sing Of A Maiden, Sussex Carol, In The Bleak Mid-Winter, Sir Christmas, Hark The Herald Angels Sing

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Chorus Angelicus : Untraveled Worlds

Review: The well-known children's choir Chorus Angelicus (the Angelic Choir), founded in 1991 by three-time Grammy Award-winning composer, Paul Halley, is administered by the unique and inspiring choral organization, Torrington, CT's Joyful Noise. They transform the lives of 90 children from more than 15 towns in Northwest Connecticut and the Berkshires. The 45 mixed-voice Chorus members, ages 8-15, travel twice weekly to receive training in the art of singing, reading and understanding music and music theory, and adhere to a rigorous schedule of rehearsals and concerts. "Untraveled Worlds" is a musical world tour, beginning with the US and a Halley original, the title tune, and later we hear another Halley original, "God Be Merciful Unto Us." England's "Drop, Drop Slow Tears," Finland's "Who Can Sail," Russia's "Gladsome Light," South Africa's "Mbiri Kuna Mwari" and Scotland's "The Grey Selchie" are particularly nice, as is Serbia's lilting "Niska Banja." Ireland's "The Song of Wandering Aengus," Lithuania's "Nepusk, vejeli" and Canada's heart-tugging folk tune "Away From the Roll of the Sea" round out the collection of 20 songs. Through hard work and dedication these young singers learn to blend their voices to create the unique sound that is Chorus Angelicus, one of the best children's choruses in the world! Some light accompaniment.

Songlist: Untraveled Worlds, Drop, Drop Slow Tears, Who Can Sail?, Gladsome Light, Mbiri Kuna Mwari, Ave Maria, The Grey Selchie, Pie Jesu, The Cherubic Hymn, Improperium, The Song of Wandering Aengus, Niska Banja, Nepusk, vejeli, God Be Merciful Unto Us, Misa Pequena Suite, Away from the Roll of the Sea

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Agnus Dei

Chorus Angelicus : What Child Is This?

Review: 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 its 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.

Songlist: What Child is This?, Angelus ad Virginem, Angelus ad Virginem, Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head, O Leave Your Sheep, The Blessed Son of God, I Saw Three Ships, O Magnum Mysterium, Agnus Dei, The First Nowell, Bogoroditse Devo, Tis Winter Now, Good King Wenceslas, A Nativity, The Holy Boy, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Lullaby My Jesus, Beannact Leat, Infinite Light, Go, Tell it on the Mountain, Watts' Cradle Hymn

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Chorus Angelicus : Wondrous Love

Review: Paul Halley directs his acclaimed choirs in spirited performances his choral works of with organ and brass accompaniment, from the popular suite Love Songs for Springtime, and the magnificent setting of the Appalachian hymn Wondrous Love.

Songlist: Love Songs for Springtime, The Maypole, The Bailiff's Daughter, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?, The Despairing Lover, The Lover's Arithmetic, Gloria In Excelsis Deo, Christe Qui Lux Es Et Dies, Jesu, The Very THough of Thee, Verbum Caro Factum Est, What Stood Will Stand, Wondrous Love

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