Dr. Nicholas Halbert is a versatile musician committed to artistry and excellence as an organist, conductor, vocalist, collaborator, and scholar.  As the Canon Precentor of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, he leads the Cathedral Choir, serves and principal organist, and regularly performs in recital. Nicholas has established a monthly service of Evensong and other major liturgical events including an All Souls Requiem, Advent Procession, and Christmas Lessons and Carols. He designs and produces the Music at Nativity concert series, which features chamber music recitals in the Cathedral's sanctuary. Additionally, he supervises the diverse musical life of the Cathedral's diverse liturgical offerings.

 

As an organist, Nicholas is dedicated to bringing passion and energy to the organ repertoire and creating dynamic and compelling interpretations. Recent performances have included solo recitals at St. Philip's Cathedral (Atlanta, GA), St. Stephen's Pro-Cathedral (Wilkes-Barre, PA), Trinity Episcopal (Princeton, NJ),  Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (Phoenix, AZ), St. James-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church (La Jolla, CA), Spreckels Organ Pavilion (San Diego, CA), the Organ Hall at Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ), and a series of solo recitals performed at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral (San Diego, CA) in the Spring of 2023. He has been heard at Christ the King Roman Catholic (Dallas, TX), the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration (Dallas, TX), the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation (Dallas, TX), the Southern Methodist University Canterbury House (Dallas, TX), Christ Church Episcopal (Rochester, NY), and Downtown United Presbyterian Church (Rochester, NY). Nicholas was a recitalist at the 2015 Western Regional AGO convention and a presenter at the 2019 Organ Historical Society conference, and will be a Semi-Finalist in the National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance at the AGO National Convention in July, 2026, in St. Louis, MS. He has appeared twice on NPR's Pipedreams. Several recorded performances are available on Nicholas Halbert’s Youtube page.​

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In demand as a collaborative keyboardist, he is the Pianist/Organist for the Allentown Camerata and has worked with the Bethlehem Bach Choir as a soloist and accompanist. He appeared with the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival All-Star Orchestra as harmoniumist for a chamber reduction of Mahler's Fourth Symphony and as the organist for Faure's Requiem. Nicholas was joined by soprano Michelle Pérez for a collaborative recital of voice and piano at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Erie, Pennsylvania, in July, 2024, and in St. Stephen's, Wilkes-Barre, in February, 2026. During his time at ASU, he performed with the University Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Concert Choir in concerts featuring works of Maslanka, Vierne, and Molly Joyce.

 

Nicholas is a published scholar. His thesis, Symphonies at the Johanneskirche: The Organ Sonatas of Hans Fährmann, is available on Proquest; a synopsis of that research was published in the November, 2024 issue of The Diapason. He is the Chair of the Editorial Resources Committee for The American Organist, the journal of the national American Guild of Organists. 

 

As a supporter of the musical arts, Nicholas has been instrumental in establishing new concert programming. In Dallas, he developed and administered the Grand-Orgue series on the Juget-Sinclaire at Christ the King Roman Catholic Church, which featured professional musicians from the Dallas-Fort Worth region along with organ students from leading conservatories across the state of Texas. In San Diego, he created the Op. 68 Organ Series, which celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Quimby organ and the St. Paul’s Chamber Music series, which featured leading San Diegan musicians and graduate students from music schools across the country. In Bethlehem, he has created and produced the Music at Nativity series.

 

Nicholas was the recording engineer and producer for organist Christopher Anderson’s album Max Reger: 52 Easy Preludes on the Most Common Protestant Chorales, Op. 67, released on the Centaur label. He recorded and produced two full-length concert films for the Southern Methodist University organ department, including a lecture-recital on Bach’s Orgelbuchlein. His recordings of the Arizona State University organ studio performing music of Margaret Sandresky were featured on NPR’s Pipedreams.

 

Nicholas has been ensconced in sacred music since the age of nine years old when he joined the Boy Choir at St. Paul's Cathedral, San Diego, where he served as one of the Head Choristers. At sixteen, he was appointed the Organ Scholar of the Cathedral, a position which saw him serve as the principal service player and accompanist to all of the Cathedral's choirs. Subsequently, Nicholas earned a Bachelors in Organ performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He studied organ with Nathan Laube, as well as harpsichord and fortepiano with Edoardo Bellotti. He then earned a Masters Degree and Performers Diploma in Organ at Southern Methodist University in the studio of Stefan Engels, holding the teaching assistantship during his final two years there. While at SMU, he also studied liturgical organ playing and choral accompanying with Scott Dettra. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Arizona State University in the studio of Kimberly Marshall, where he was the Organ Teaching Assistant during his first year. Nicholas has held organist positions at the Church of the Transfiguration, Dallas; Christ the King Roman Catholic Church, Dallas; St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, San Diego; and director positions at Christ Church of the Ascension, Phoenix, St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, Buffalo, New York, and the Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.