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 a conductor, composer, educator, and eclectic cellist whose work spans classical, folk, and North Indian classical music. He has performed extensively—from the Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco to the Grotowski Center in Poland—and appeared with artists including Fred Frith and Dave Brubeck.
Scott has served as Music Director for Double Edge Theatre and as a dance accompanist at the Juilliard School. He is an Albert Schweitzer Lifetime Fellow and a member of the Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre Advisory Board. Scott holds degrees from the University of the Pacific and the New England Conservatory of Music and is an active member of multiple national music education organizations.