Yesterday I thought I was drowning in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas—I was completely overwhelmed! You see, after flying home on Saturday night after 12 days in California to meet my first grandchild, I went to a choral rehearsal the very next day, where I picked up the music for next Sunday’s Hawaii Vocal Masterworks Festival concert. 

As director Tim Carney announced, my part for the Purcell is all written in figured bass, a musical shorthand—The bane of my existence! Tim said, “That means Kathy doesn’t know what she will be playing!” How right that is! It did mean that I had exactly one day to learn “to realize” 65 pages of Purcell’s chamber opera before today’s rehearsal with the continuo instruments—the bass accompaniment of which I am a part. Besides myself on organ, the other continuo players include Sachi Hirakouji (harpsichord), Karen Fujimoto (cello), and Luke Trimble (lute).

If all goes to plan, we continuo players will be joined by Juilliard professor, Daniel Swenberg, who is bringing his theorbo for another concert at the University of Hawaii next week. [June 27, the early music group Galileo’s Daughters performs for the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Astronomy.] Daniel agreed to join us for our concert—he flies into Hawaii on Sunday at 2:30 pm, rehearses with us from 3:00 to 4:00, then plays the concert at 4:00! Daniel sent along his marked up figured bass part which then I laboriously copied onto my score. It took me four hours yesterday to go measure by measure to compare his score with the full score from which I am reading. 

I am happy to report that today’s continuo rehearsal surprisingly went quite well! In the picture below, you can see Tim Carney seated at the left, with Luke Trimble with the guitar, Sachi on the digital harpsichord, and soloists Karol Nowicki, Jennifer Lane, and Naomi Castro. (Not pictured was Amy Johnson who is also singing a solo in the Purcell.) Karen Fujimoto is shown with her cello.

Yesterday, Naomi Castro came over to my condo where we rehearsed her solo in Haydn’s Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, “Little Organ Mass” which has an obbligato organ part. Luckily my part is all written out in this piece, in addition to the other two pieces I’m playing in the concert: Handel, Dixit Dominus: “De Torrente in Via” and Monteverdi, Dixit Dominus à 6. 

I must admit that I was pretty skeptical when for the concert Tim said I would be playing the organ stop on the Roland digital harpsichord. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the broad tone of its flute stop. More importantly it has a “Baroque” pitch setting which allows us to play at A-415, the lower pitch which is preferred by early music singers.

I’m actually having fun playing this little instrument!

We have two dress rehearsals on Wednesday and Friday with the chorus and orchestra to make for a wonderful performance on Sunday afternoon! Please come to the Mystical Rose Oratory on the Chaminade University campus, Sunday, June 25 at 4:00 pm for a fabulous concert!