May 24, 2013
Dear Donor,
Capella Regalis has had an excellent year. We started out last summer by adding a Managing Director, Vanessa Halley, to our staff, and a new Operating Board Chair, Barbara Butler, who has overseen the choir’s development as an educational outreach programme of Musique Royale. In August we held our first annual summer choir camp for the boy choristers at a rustic and beautiful camp in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. (Photos and a lively day-by-day account of the fun at choir camp can be found on our website at www.capellaregalis.com/2012/10.) Continuing through the fall and winter, the choir sang 24 Choral Evensong services in the King’s College Chapel and performed seven concerts in six venues, including a concert hosted by the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, a performance of Carmina Burana with the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra and the King’s Chorus, and performances of the choir’s Christmas programme, To Bethlehem With King’s, in Lunenburg, Windsor, and Halifax. Our transportation programme, by which we provide free transportation to and from rehearsals for boys who otherwise would not be able to participate, continued unabated, and our junior chorister programme expanded.
In February, our director Nick Halley received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contribution to Canada and Nova Scotia through the arts, and particularly for his work with Capella Regalis Men & Boys Choir.
The choir topped off the 2012-2013 season with two tours. The first was a run of no less than ten “school shows” over the course of three days, in which we brought members of the choir (boys and men) into Halifax-area schools to provide free performances of this wonderful music for an estimated total of 1,000 elementary-school children. Then on May 17th we embarked on our Nova Scotia Tour 2013, with performances in five communities (details are on our website at www.capellaregalis.com). Our tour itinerary included not only rehearsals and performances in new places but also sight-seeing activities focusing on Nova Scotian heritage, history, and culture. Our final concert of the season will take place on Sunday, May 26th, at 3:00 p.m. at St Andrew’s United Church, Halifax.
As we near the end of our third year in existence, we would like our friends and donors to possess a clear sense of where we are, and how we operate, financially. A spreadsheet is included with this letter showing our budget for 2012-13, including our year-to-date expenses and income. The numbers show that Capella Regalis continues to extend its mission of superb musical education to boys of all backgrounds, free of charge. They show that we are the happy recipients of extraordinary amounts of volunteer time and energy. They show that our staff is committed to the organization through thick and thin. And they show that, while concerts generate significant income for the choir, it is through the generous support of our growing base of donors and sponsors that the Capella Regalis programme has been and will continue to be possible.
There is much we wish to accomplish next season – starting with increased recruiting – and we hope you will consider extending your support. You can do so by mailing a cheque to the address at the top of this letter. Cheques should be made payable to Musique Royale with Capella Regalis in the memo line. A charitable donation receipt will be issued.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact Vanessa, our Managing Director, at her personal number: (902) 531-2517. We would be happy to hear from you.
Thank you,
Nick Halley, Artistic Director
Vanessa Halley, Managing Director
