Paul Halley's music


'Halley’s mellifluous tone and subtle harmonic shifts sent many in the audience home in a state of musical rapture. '
- The Washington Post


'It was Halley’s own arrangements that transformed this event into a genuinely moving and often heart-rending tribute to the best that the American spirit has to offer.' 
- The Berkshire Eagle 


'Halley draws upon (an) eclectic vision, including elements of classical and Celtic music, folk songs, and fantasies in his compositions. Playing music that is at once vibrant and intricately contrapuntal, he deploys the instruments with a symphonic sense of coloration.
- Billboard Magazine 
 

'Halley composed much of the music, setting poetry and other selections to majestic,
graceful melodies and arrangements. Halley (and Thomason) present a seamless unity
of passion and praise, blending the old and the new in a CD replete with respect for the content … an enriching experience regardless of your belief system;
there is a universality in the musical expression that transcends denomination.'
- Rambles Online


'Halley has a strong sense of melody and harmony, a boundless range of technique
and an irresistibly affirmative point of view.'
- Tower Records 'Pulse'


'…a powerhouse of ingenuity, creativity and soulfulness. Halley’s mastery of styles from French Impressionism to Jazz and New Age is nothing short of absolute brilliance.'
- The Living Church


'Halley eschews sectarian ritual, instead creating a kind of supernatural realm
for acoustic and emotional interplay.'
-The American Organist


'What earns this recording a place in the Pantheon are the descants Halley wrote for four carols, fresh, audacious and thrilling.'
- The Absolute Sound


'Halley’s vision of a world without boundaries is powerfully conveyed in a work that will continue to delight, inspire, and amaze after many repeated auditions.'
-  The American Organist Magazine 


'The melodies he [Paul Halley] wrote for his solo piano/pipe organ LP, Pianosong, are so tuneful Barry Manilow would become an axe murderer just for the chance to say "I wrote them."’ 
- Cincinnati Enquirer 


'Halley has managed to banish murkiness altogether from his playing. Perhaps it’s his clarity that’s most outstanding, or maybe because of his clarity
he can accomplish so much more than ordinary mortals.'
- Kitchener/Waterloo Record



 

Are you interested in engaging Paul Halley for an organ recital? Would you like to arrange for our Pelagos Artists to participate with you in a special performance or to commemorate a special event?


For performance information in PDF format, click on the links below.

PDF Performances General Information
PDF Performances Schedule of Rates
PDF Paul Halley Biography
 

 
About performances

1) Dates and Availability: Paul Halley is available for concert performances throughout the year except the month of August. Concert dates other than Saturday evenings are preferred since Paul is Director of Music at St. George’s Anglican Church, Halifax, NS and therefore engaged early on Sunday mornings.

2) Repertoire and Duration: Concert performances usually comprise two forty-five-minute halves with a fifteen-minute intermission. A solo keyboard concert by Paul Halley may include classic organ repertoire and/or piano repertoire as well as Paul’s new keyboard works and improvisations.

Other performance possibilities include Paul Halley and The Nick Halley Band performing repertoire from the “Angel On A Stone Wall” recording, or Paul Halley and two associate keyboardists performing repertoire from the “Triptych” recording for piano, pipe organ, and harpsichord. Sound and or audio/visual equipment may be required for these performances.

Paul Halley and The Nick Halley Band are also available to perform repertoire from the “Sound Over All Waters” recording, or “Missa Gaia/Earth Mass” with your own resident choir. These concerts require a sound system and sound engineer/mixer to ensure a quality performance for the audience and the artists.

Choral performances and/or worship services sung by Keramion, directed by Paul Halley, comprise choral repertoire in sacred and secular genres, with organ accompaniment or a cappella.

3) Rehearsal: For organ and piano concerts, Paul Halley prefers to arrive at the venue at least one day prior to a concert performance, to familiarize himself with the instruments and to rehearse repertoire in the venue. Those concerts involving other artists, choirs, or sound equipment may require one to two rehearsals and sound checks in the venue prior to the concert. 

4) Fees: Updated September 2008. For a solo concert appearance by Paul Halley, the fee is $3200 US. For “Sound Over All Waters”, “Missa Gaia/Earth Mass”, “Triptych”, or “Angel On A Stone Wall” programs with Paul Halley and other artists, the package performance fees range from $4200 to $16,000 depending on the number of band members, soloists, and professional choir members requested. Please see the enclosed schedule for details. Please see PDF Performances Schedule of Rates 

5) Additional Expenses: Travel, accommodations, and incidental expenses are additional. A per diem for meals is requested.

6) Terms of Payment: A twenty-percent non-refundable deposit, due with the signing of the Performance Agreement, is required to secure the performance date with the Artists. An additional thirty-percent of the performance fee is due no later than 90 days prior to the performance date, with the remaining fifty-percent balance of the performance fee due at Pelagos no later than the performance date. 

7) Promotional Materials: Pelagos will provide publicity photos and biographical materials about the artists for use in promoting and publicizing the contracted performance. 

8) CD Sales: Pelagos requests permission to set up a booth for the sale of the artists’ recordings at the performance, with no venue or sales commission payable to the concert producer. If a representative of the concert producer is engaged to administer sales of the recordings at the performance, a sales commission of 15% may be retained by the concert producer. 

9) Options:
Choirs: The resident choir of the venue or concert producer (church, community, or college) may play an integral role in the contracted performance. Consultation on repertoire by Paul Halley and the Choral Music Director is recommended, and published scores of Paul Halley works selected for the performance may be purchased from Pelagos by the concert producer at preferential discounts.

Commissions: Organizations sponsoring a performance may wish to commission a work by Paul Halley to be premiered at the concert or to commemorate a special occasion. Please contact Pelagos for details.  
Please see Commissions for more information.

Feel free to contact us with questions about the process of contracting Pelagos Artists for a performance.

Book one of these exciting performances!
 

Missa Gaia/Earth Mass
A Contemporary Mass to Celebrate the Earth
with
Paul Halley, Nick Halley and Keramion Band

"The Consort has achieved a distinguished triumph in combining divergent music styles and imaginatively wedding voices, instrumentation and recorded sounds of a tundra wolf, canyon and musical wrens, harp seals, a flight of loons and singing humpback whales."  The Boston Globe

Composed by Paul Halley, Jim Scott, Paul Winter, Kim Oler, and Oscar Castro-Neves Originally performed by the Paul Winter Consort and recorded on CD, Missa Gaia is a contemporary ecumenical and ecological Mass celebrating the Earth.  The work features Paul Halley and Jim Scott's lyrical melodies with Oscar Castro-Neves dynamic rhythms from African, Brazilian and American Gospel traditions.  The work incorporates traditional Mass and Biblical texts with the voices of wolf, whale and harp seal. The seven original choral movements are set for mixed choir and keyboard with instrumental parts for soprano saxophone, cello, oboe/English Horn, guitar, bass, organ and percussion, enabling Missa Gaia to be performed in both liturgical settings and concert halls. 

Missa Gaia (octavos available) follows the traditional structure of the Mass and comprises an opening canticle, Canticle of Brother Sun, Kyrie (with Alaskan tundra wolf), Beatitudes (from the Gospel of St. Matthew), Sanctus and Benedictus (with humpback whale), Agnus Dei (with harp seals), 
The Blue Green Hills of Earth, and closing canticle, a reprise of Canticle of Brother Sun. Other choral works by Paul Halley such as Ubi Caritas, Adoro Te Devote, Sound Over All Waters, Laudate Dominum, and Freedom Trilogy, as well as instrumental and improvisational interludes, are frequently included in both worship services and public performances of Missa Gaia.

Brian Law and Christchurch Choral Society
with Maori Dancers, New Zealand

Missa Gaia, whose name derives from the ancient Greek word 'Gaia' meaning ‘earth’, was commissioned by the The Very Reverend James Parks Morton, Dean of the Cathedral  of St. John The Divine in New York City as a contemporary, ecumenical Mass. Composed in 1980 primarily by Paul Winter, Jim Scott, and Paul Halley, who was then Organist and Choirmaster at the Cathedral as well as principal keyboardist with The Paul Winter Consort, Missa Gaia developed as a musical, liturgical celebration of the earth and the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is celebrated each year at the Cathedral on the first Sunday of October. Each year, some 5,000 people and their household pets of all sizes and descriptions fill the Cathedral’s huge gothic-style nave and join with The Paul Winter Consort, The Forces of Nature Dance Ensemble, visiting choirs numbering several hundred singers, the Cathedral clergy, world religious leaders, and celebrated environmentalists, in this dramatic and joyous service of worship.  In one of the high points of the morning’s celebration, voices hush as an elephant, camel, llama, and eagle, in the company of their handlers, enter through the huge west doors of the Cathedral and process down the center aisle.  As the music and service resume, the recorded voices of wolf, whale and loon mingle with choirs and Consort in this joyous, rhythmic, contemporary Mass to celebrate the earth.




 

Paul Halley

Grammy Award-winning
composer, conductor,
performer

Co-Founder
and Creative Director
Pelagos Incorporated


Director of Music
St. George's Anglican Church Halifax, NS


Director of Music
University of King's College Chapel Halifax, NS


University Musician
Atlantic School of Theology Halifax, NS


Co-Founder
and Artistic Director 1991-2007
Chorus Angelicus
and Gaudeamus
The Battell Chamber Orchestra and Brass, Joyful Noise, Inc., Torrington, CT

Director of Music (2007-2010)
St. George's Anglican Church Halifax, NS


Director of Music (1998-2007)
Trinity Episcopal Church Torrington, CT


Director of Music (1977-1990)
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine NYC


Principal Composer and Keyboardist (1980-1998)
The Paul Winter Consort Litchfield, CT


For Paul Halley's complete bio and more information...
 

A live concert performance of instrumental compositions featured on the recording Angel On A Stone Wall by acclaimed keyboardist and Grammy-winner Paul Halley, accompanied by the best new young talent from the New York jazz and classical scenes. With compositions ranging from intimate solo piano pieces to dynamic ensemble works of world music, Paul Halley explores the extraordinary range of his composing, arranging and keyboard skills, drawing on his roots in jazz, Gregorian chant, Jamaican dance, classical music, and popular song to create music that is vital and timeless. 


 

Triptych
A concert featuring an unusual trio
of piano, pipe organ, & harpsichord
with
Paul Halley
Renée Louprette
Andrew Henderson

"There has probably never been a trio like the one-man keyboard orchestra Paul Halley has created for "Triptych". Playing music that is at once vibrant and intricately contrapuntal, he deploys the instruments with a symphonic sense of coloration.” - Billboard  
 

 






Paul Halley with Renee Louprette and Andrew Henderson 

An unusual and exciting concert performance featuring the unique trio of piano, pipe organ, and harpsichord.  The Triptych repertoire, created by composer Paul Halley for his recent keyboard CD of the same name, comprises music in a range of style from classical to jazz, folk songs to broad 'symphonic' works, and gorgeous improvisations. The intricate weaving of the three keyboard parts is accomplished brilliantly in “live” performance by this inventive trio of acclaimed and accomplished recitalists.