In one of my earliest posts, I talked about our friendship with composer Peter R. Hallock going way, way back, and how, in 1986, we formed a company called Ionian Arts. The first (and biggest) project was the publication of the Ionian Psalter, a collection of 212 psalm settings for choir, organ and congregation which the Lutheran Church of Honolulu has used nearly every Sunday ever since. As far as we know, it is one of the most widely choral psalters used today in the United States and Canada. It existed only in paper form until 2009 when we converted it to a CD-ROM and licensed churches and other institutions to print out the copies they needed.

Recently we released five videos on YouTube to show samples of how the psalms can be performed in different ways. Click the link to play the video. The videography was done by Glenn Yoshida.

Psalm 72  This uses organ accompaniment throughout and is used during Epiphany with its reference to kings.
Psalm 118  This uses trumpet on the antiphon. We sing this psalm on Easter Day.
Psalm 23  The choral verses are “a cappella” and uses organ for the antiphon. I would say that this method is how we perform the psalms most often. I used the French cornet as the solo in this setting.
Psalm 98 Another example of “a cappella” verses and organ refrain. Here I used our German cornet as the solo.
Psalm 22 This psalm uses handbells for the antiphon. It’s how we perform this psalm on Good Friday when the organ is not used.