I just finished the postcard for the upcoming Early Music Hawaii concert and thought I’d give you a sneak peek while it is at the printshop.

Just in case you didn’t recognize the scene, it’s a drawing of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. While this program will not have a single piece of Johann Sebastian Bach (whose music is associated closely with the Thomaskirche), it will have several works which will feature polychoral music, that is, music sung by several small ensembles placed strategically at different places in the room — in other words, music in “surround sound,” as we now call it. Years ago Carl Crosier and I went to a spectacular concert of Praetorius and Schütz at the Thomaskirche, and we happened to sit in the gallery and could see and hear music coming from us on all sides.

The Early Music Hawaii brochure states: For this program of contrasting grand and intimate music from Germany, we return to the fine ambience of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, honoring a great musical tradition and its long-time architect and director, the late Carl Crosier.

Dana Marsh, a personal friend for nearly 30 years, will be coming from Indiana University where he is the Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Historical Performance Institute. He will be bringing four guest artists from Indiana who play sackbuts and cornetto.

Taking over one of Carl’s responsibilities, last night I assigned all the parts to the various singers for music by Kittel, Praetorius, Scheidt, Johann Bach (J.S.’s great uncle), Schein, and Tunder.

The handpicked choir members include: Georgine Stark, Mihoko Ito, Emily Haswell, Naomi Castro (sopranos), Karyn Castro, Diane Koshi, Padraic Costello (altos), Mike Dupre, Karol Nowicki, Jeremy Wong (tenors), Keane Ishii and Simon Crookall (basses).

Wow! What a group! Mark your calendars now for a fabulous concert.