This afternoon the choir had the first read-through on the Haydn “Lord Nelson Mass” which will be sung as the Ordinary for Carl Crosier’s last Sunday, August 21st. I was telling someone that when we heard it sung as the Ordinary as Christopher Robinson’s last Sunday at St. John’s, Cambridge, during most of the service everyone in the congregation stood. Carl assures me, though, that that’s not the way we will do it at LCH. What a relief! I remember having a sore back after standing so long at that service in England!

The choir also rehearsed the offertory anthem, “Tu es Petrus” for double choir by Peter Philips while the men practiced “To the supreme being” by Peter Hallock, all of which will benefit from further rehearsal. We will have one more choral rehearsal on Thursday night, and then meet the orchestra next Saturday afternoon.

Then it was time to party which we held in the courtyard. At LCH, we have excellent music, excellent preaching and spectacular potluck suppers! Such a wide variety of tasty dishes! I bet there must have been over thirty different dishes of every ethnic variety on the table.

After dinner Carl thanked and recognized the choristers who had been part of the group for many years. Those who have been here thirty years or more include Carol Langner (who actually was a fellow student at the University of Washington), Randy Castello, Larry Nitz (who was in the original Compline choir), Bud Klein (who joined the Compline Choir in the 2nd year) and Olivia Rambeck Castro. (Hey! And don’t forget me! I’ve been organist at LCH for 33 years!) Those who have been there twenty years or more are David Del Rocco and Jimmy Castro (with the 8:00 choir.)

Carl also recognized the “divas,” the sopranos who have sung solos over the years and have made the LCH choir so distinctive, yet have given up their vocal egos to blend with the choir’s sound: Diane Rose Tuthill Amidon, Bonnie Smith, Karin Brown, Debbie Behnke, Theresa Arluck, Sheldon Cullison, Melanie Fuhrmann, Georgine Duncan Stark, Mary Kubota, Vicki Gorman, Polin Ho, Naomi Castro, Rachel Lentz, Heidi Shimada and Chandra Peters.