The University of King's College Chapel Choir presents
A King's Christmas - Halifax, 4pm
A feast of seasonal song and story with guest narrator R. Bruce Connelly. Directed by Paul Halley.
Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 4pm
The University of King's College Chapel Choir, under the direction of five-time Grammy award-winning musician Paul Halley presents its celebrated annual Christmas program in Antigonish, Lunenburg, and Halifax this year.
A King’s Christmas is a feast of seasonal song and story performed by the 24 choristers of the King’s Chapel Choir in a tour of Nova Scotian communities each year. Now an annual Christmastime tradition for many, performances in Halifax sell out in advance. The music features carols from the mediaeval to the modern, and readings are selected to pair with the music, including poetry, excerpts from novels, short stories, and other literary works. Often, the music or readings include original material written for the occasion by Halley or the narrator.
This year’s narrator is R. Bruce Connelly, a veteran stage actor in New York City who is known for his portrayal of the title roles in "The Man Who Came to Dinner", "Uncle Vanya", "The Music Man", "Snoopy", and "Scapino!" as well as countless other shows over 50 years. Connelly is also known to TV audiences as Barkley, Jim Henson’s Muppet dog in Sesame Street, a role for which he has been honoured 15 times at the Daytime Emmy Awards. Connelly has collaborated with Paul Halley as a director on a considerable range of productions in the past, from the great Boar’s Head Festival at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City to productions of the musical The Prince and the Pauper, based on a novel by Mark Twain with Halley’s music and lyrics.
The musical line-up this year includes chant from the 12th-century Hildegard of Bingen all the way up to contemporary carols, and, of course, four glorious hymn-carols with audience participation, accompanied by the great Cathedral pipe organ in the stunning acoustics of the Cathedral Church of All Saints.
Excerpts from past performances of A King’s Christmas may be heard at: www.youtube.com/kingschapelchoir
