Capella Regalis Men & Boys Choir
Report for the King’s Chapel AGM 2016
Nick Halley, Artistic Director
Vanessa Halley, Manager
Capella Regalis continues to experience the challenges of a small, young non-profit doing counter-cultural work. But in many ways, the challenges of this year have made us stronger and we feel we’ve seen real progress in some key areas.
One update this year is that in the fall of 2015, Capella Regalis moved its weekly Tuesday Choral Evensong to All Saints Cathedral. This weekly Evensong at the Cathedral is becoming an increasingly significant connector between the Chapel and the Cathedral. The choir continues to rehearse in the Chapel every Friday and sing for special services in the Chapel such as Candlemas. Fr Thorne remains the Chaplain to Capella Regalis and continues to play an important role in the lives of the choristers.
Another update this year is that Dominique Saulnier, a Chapel Choir choral scholar, has joined the Capella Regalis staff to run the Probationers’ Programme, and she has been doing consistent and wonderful work.
In the last few months, we’ve also brought in another addition to the Capella Regalis workforce. Irene Wilkinson, a stalwart member of the Chapel community, is helping Vanessa with many administrative tasks and working hard behind the scenes to help make things happen.
Capella Regalis lost one boy just recently to the Vienna Boys’ Choir (yes, one of the Capella Regalis senior choristers was inspired to audition for the Vienna Boys’ Choir, was accepted, and moved to the choir school in Vienna last weekend). On the other end of the spectrum, we lost a different chorister due to politically incorrect scripture readings!
The Young Men’s section continues to grow with boys whose voices have changed. The newest member of the Young Men’s section, Ryley Buffett (age 14), was recently baptized in the Chapel, at the Easter Vigil.
Capella Regalis sang its final Evensong of the term on April 5 at the Cathedral, and is looking ahead to a number of concerts over the course of May and June, including performing in the Monteverdi Vespers with the Chapel Choir, and with the King’s Chorus in its concerts with the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra later this month. In May, the choir will visit 10 area elementary schools to do free and interactive mini-programs, and will also host the Men & Boys Choir of Christchurch Cathedral, Ottawa for a weekend of joint singing and camaraderie. Capella Regalis will go on tour in June within the Maritimes, most likely to Cape Breton.
We are grateful to the Chapel community for all the support it shows the choir, and especially to Fr Thorne for his ongoing leadership and assistance. We would also like to thank Dean Paul Smith and the Rev. Helen Ryding for their support of Capella Regalis at the Cathedral.
Submitted April 5, 2016
