Pioneer Valley Cappella is an auditioned forty-voice chamber chorus based in Northampton, Massachusetts that has been performing locally for more than forty years. We are thrilled to announce our first season under the baton of local cellist and composer Scott Halligan. For more details, visit our About page.
On Friday, November 20 and Saturday, November 21, PVC will perform a program featuring choral settings of British poetry. Highlights include Fern Hill by John Corigliano (setting Dylan Thomas), Untraveled Worlds by Paul Halley (setting Tennyson's “Ulysses”), and Three Elizabethan Part Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (setting Shakespeare & George Herbert).
Rehearsals are Thursdays 7:30-9:30 pm at the Northampton Community Music Center. Scott will hold open auditions for all voice parts on September 3 and September 10.
2025-2026 was our final season with Geoffrey Hudson, who led our group for many years. His tenure is profiled in this lovely Daily Hampshire Gazette story.
We are thrilled to introduce our new artistic director, Scott Halligan. Scott is an active conductor, composer, cellist, and educator with a focus on leading school and community ensembles in Western Massachusetts. Choirs under his direction have won top honors at the MICCA Festival in Massachusetts and the Worldstrides Festival in New York City with performances distinguished by their energy, artistry, creative programming, and esprit de corps. In February 2021, his “Tiny Love Story” about the joy he witnessed while teaching choral music during the pandemic was published by the New York Times.
Scott also has extensive experience as a creative musician and a composer/improviser in the domains of theater and dance. He served as a dance accompanist at the Juilliard School, and as Music Director of Double Edge Theatre he composed, arranged, and performed music for high-profile international performances as well as summer spectacle shows at the theater’s 110-acre farm.
Scott is also devoted to supporting youth mental health through music. He is an Albert Schweitzer Lifetime Fellow, served as music program director for pediatric inpatient behavioral health at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and is currently a member of Advisory Board for Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre.
Scott holds degrees from the University of the Pacific and the New England Conservatory of Music, and is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association and the International Conductors Guild.