One event the Hospitality Committee kept pushing for was a reception for the artists, especially those who had come from the mainland for the Monteverdi concerts. The biggest proponent of this idea was Carl Crosier, and if you know Carl, every production always has food associated with it.

So immediately after we had cleaned up St. Andrew’s Cathedral, all the performers and volunteers were invited to a reception in the nearby Von Holt room. This was a chance for everyone to celebrate together and get to know one another a little more fully outside of the music-making.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the Hospitality Committee for all the great work in organizing the ushering and ticketing. We received many compliments like “Wow, you guys are really organized!” and this was all due to Carol Langner and Nedra Walker. We decided to “go green” and not print up tickets. Instead everyone who called in a reservation or paid online had his or her name on a post-it on the program booklet.

The Friday Hospitality crew included: Susan Burns, Yvonne Hsieh, Chuck Pearson, Carol Langner, Jay Gibson, Raquel Gibson, Carol Jenkins, Cathy Tokishi, Audrey Keller, and Fred Benco. The Sunday crew included: Gail Kiefer, Ruth Merz, Rudy Riingen, Carol Langner, Ulrike Scherer, Susan Burns, Fritz Fritschel, Bill Potter, Jay Gibson, Raquel Gibson, Jimmy Castro and Rusty Walker.

When Carl Crosier finally arrived at the reception, John Renke proposed a toast “to the bravest man in Honolulu.” Either that, or the most insane!

In the “long time, no see” department, Joe Pettit met up with a college friend whom he had not seen in 26 years!

Cecily Murdock just moved to Honolulu with her family and happened to see a notice about the Vespers in the newspaper, and recognized Joe’s name in it. They used to sing in the Choir of the West at Pacific Lutheran University together.

Last Sunday when two of the tenors arrived, Derek Chester and Matthew Tresler, we invited them to our condo for a small dinner party. That was when Derek revealed how much of a Bach lover he is, when he showed us his tattoo of the Bach family crest. Wow, that’s devotion!