When Heidi Shimada called Carl Crosier nearly three years ago to ask about singing in the choir, she asked, “Can I bring a friend, too?” That friend was Nicole Masaki, and she has been a faithful member of the first alto section ever since.

Nicole says, “We were high school classmates, and remained friends after graduating high school and college.  I attended the University of the Pacific, and earned a degree in Business Administration in 2008.  After graduating, I moved home to Hawaii.  For a couple years, I drifted aimlessly.  I couldn’t decided what career path I wanted to enter.  I finally secured a job as a budget analyst for the Legislature.

As Heidi and I were driving home one day, we were talking about doing some type of community activity.  Many ideas came up during the conversation, but after belting out whatever song happened to be playing on the radio, the idea of joining a choir came up.  We were both in choir during high school, under the direction of Diane Koshi.  It was a class that I really enjoyed, and it allowed me to do something creative.  Not thinking anything would come of our conversation, I forgot all about it.  A couple weeks later, we were at LCH singing.

Time has flown by.  Although being a part of such an ambitious choir definitely tests my skills as a singer, it’s what keeps me going back.  I’m constantly amazed at what this choir can achieve in the short amount of time that we rehearse.

Tonight is our LAST Thursday night off, as Carl cancelled rehearsal because of this weekend’s Punahou Carnival. He says that this choir can read and learn music so fast that were it not for the concerts and special Vesper services, Thursday night rehearsals would be unnecessary! It’s amazing to think that the choir has sung the challenging music of Stravinsky, Cornelius, Pärt, and Schütz in the month of January, learning the music only on Sunday mornings before the service!