Music is an integral part of All Saints Cathedral’s rich liturgical life, and is expressed in a variety of ways each Sunday throughout the year. All Saints offers a variety of sacred to contemporary worship music that span the age, and differ according to the various services times. These are noted below.
All Saints hosts many musical groups from the Maritimes and further afield who take advantage of the Cathedral’s fine acoustics to present concerts throughout the year. Please visit our Events page for upcoming concerts.
The Cathedral Church is fortunate to have Capella Regalis Men & Boys Choir and its newly formed Girls Choir share their talents on a regular basis. This group sings Evensong regularly in the Cathedral’s Sundays at Four music series from September to June and several Capella Regalis members are a part of the Cathedral Choir. We are grateful to Nicholas Halley and Vanessa Halley, Directors of Music for Capella Regalis, for sharing their talent and that of their choirs with us.
Sunday Morning Music
The music at the 11 o’clock eucharist is led by The All Saints Cathedral Choir. The service features a sung setting of the elements of the eucharistic liturgy: a communion anthem, choral benediction, organ prelude and postlude and a selection of hymns, all under the direction of choir director, Paul Halley. The music chosen spans centuries of writing and reflects the service at hand. The choir also offers the “Sundays at four” series, offering evensongs and concerts.
The 9:15 Service offers a more contemporary approach led by Caitlin Strong on the piano with musicians from the cathedral congregation and beyond adding violin, guitar and other instruments. The music at this service is often diverse and may include both ancient and modern hymns, choruses, showtunes, chants, a capella singing, and more. For the 9:15 service, special effort is made to select hymns that invite full participation by the congregation. New hymns are introduced gradually. The chant tunes used at this service are from the Evangelical Lutheran Church – a denomination that is in full communion with the Anglican Church of Canada. These tunes, which are easy to sing, are based on tunes used in the Anglican Church of Canada. The intimacy of the physical location of this service and the less formal atmosphere add to the reverence, beauty, and strength of the congregational singing.
All Saints Cathedral Choir
The Cathedral Choir assists in leading worship and comprises an ensemble of professional singers, choral scholars, and volunteer singers, all known as Lay Clerks, from the city of Halifax and the area. The choir sings at the 11 am Choral Eucharist most Sundays from September through to early June, and offers services of Evensong, Lessons & Carols as well as concerts.
The Choir’s wide-ranging performing activities are rooted in centuries-old musical traditions, and its repertoire ranges from plainsong and Renaissance polyphony to contemporary masterpieces. The Choir has also sung services in a myriad of genres, such as “Missa Gaia / Earth Mass” for the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and a “Jazz Easter,” compositions by our multi-talented Music Director Paul Halley (who has won five Grammy awards for composition.) In addition to assisting in worship, the Cathedral Choir has played a role in many diocesan and provincial occasions that have taken place in the Cathedral.
Paul Halley, Music Director, is always pleased to hear from singers interested in auditioning for the choir. To learn more about Paul Halley, please visit the Cathedral Music Staff section found under Our Team. To listen or watch recordings of the Choir, click here.
The Cathedral is always happy to welcome visiting choirs to sing at choral services. The Cathedral building is among the most resonant acoustic spaces in Canada, and the organ is one of the finest of the Casavant company’s oeuvre.
Sundays @ 4 pm
The Sundays @ 4 series is an evensong and concert series that takes place from September to June. Evensong is a service lasting about one hour, primarily centered around the music, with liturgy from the traditional Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church of Canada. This service is free to attend and is sung by either the Cathedral Choir or Capella Regalis Men & Boys and Girls Choir. Sundays @ 4 showcases the choir at its best, celebrating music that would not typically be heard on Sunday morning. If there is no evensong, then in its place there is a Feature concert. These are ticketed events which take place at 4 and can be found under the Concerts tab.
Music Staff
Paul Halley
Paul Halley is a Grammy Award-winning composer, choral conductor, and organist. He received his early musical training in Ottawa, and at sixteen became an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. He received his MA from Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar, and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. He served as Organist and Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC from 1977-1989. Paul later settled in Connecticut and in 1991 founded the choirs, Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus, which are still active today. He relocated to Halifax and in the summer of 2015, Paul was appointed Organist and Director of Music at the Cathedral Church. Paul and his wife Meg live on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Learn more about Paul here. Paul can be reached by email here.
Nick Halley
Nick Halley is a drummer / percussionist, keyboardist, composer, and conductor. Along with being the Assistant Director of Music at the Cathedral Church, he is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Capella Regalis Men and Boys Choir. Nick founded and for 11 years (to 2021) directed The King’s Chorus, a choral society for members of the King’s and Dalhousie University communities in Halifax. For the 2013-14 season, Nick was the Host of CBC’s national radio program, Choral Concert. As a drummer and world percussionist, Nick performs and records internationally with a wide range of musicians and has taught in workshop venues around the world.
Caitlin Strong
Caitlin Strong is a pianist from the Annapolis Valley in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia). She received her Bachelor of Music in May 2022 from Mount Allison University, where she studied with David Rogosin. In June 2024, she received her Master of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Ottawa, where she studied with David Jalbert. While in Ottawa, Caitlin played for the Ottawa Choral Ensemble, taught at the École de musique Lachance, and played at the NAC Fourth Stage with cellist Vinci Chen and flutist Amanda Jansen. Now based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Caitlin is a collaborative pianist for the woodwind department at Dalhousie University and teaches piano and voice at Andrea’s Music Studio. Caitlin has joined PEI-based tenor Ian Soloman on tour in Charlottetown and Halifax performing the famous song cycle Die schöne Müllerin (“The Fair Miller’s Daughter”) by German composer Franz Schubert, took part in an evening of music with the Wyndrock Quintet at Halifax Central Library, and gave a concert in Caraquet, NB alongside three other skilled pianists as part of an artist workshop with Musique sur mer en Acadie. Caitlin loves exploring music old and new, and relishes in the joy and community that comes from sharing music with others. She is thrilled to be part of the music team at All Saints Cathedral. In her spare time, Caitlin enjoys reading, drawing, video games, tending to her plants, and spending time with her cats, Rhubarb and Boomer.
Concerts / Events
This tab will have links to buy tickets to shows and descriptions of the concerts and who it is. I also think it would be important to highlight some special services here. EX: All Saints, Christmas, Easter, etc.
Capella Regalis – Duplicate Content from Above
The Cathedral is fortunate to have Capella Regalis Men & Boys Choir and its newly formed Girls Choir to share their talents on a regular basis. In particular, this group sings Evensong regularly in the Cathedral’s Sundays at Four music series from September to June and several Capella Regalis members are a part of the Cathedral Choir. We are grateful to Nicholas Halley and Vanessa Halley, Directors of Music for Capella Regalis, for sharing their talent and that of their choirs with us.
Cathedral Organ
Built originally in 1910 by Casavant of St Hyacinthe, Québec, and rebuilt by the British firm of Hill, Norman, and Beard in 1961, the organ acquired a new Casavant console in 2011, one that has 250 memories for its pistons, is MIDI capable, can record performances to play later, and is moveable; some additional stops as well as an antiphonal section for the west end of the Cathedral are prepared for. Consisting of four manuals and seventy-five stops, the organ serves admirably for service-playing and is also an impressive recital instrument, which has been played by many local and international performers. Link to video of Paul explaining the organ.
