Even though I set my alarm for 3:45 am, when I woke up and looked at my phone, it said 3:22 am. Yikes! Who needs sleep anyway?
I had requested a 4:30 am taxi to the airport, and this time I didn’t forget anything important, like my phone or credit cards which I did when I left Amsterdam in April.
My 7:00 am flight from Prague to Amsterdam went like clockwork. My goal was to make the Sunday mass at St. Nicolaas Basilica in Amsterdam which I had visited in April. I had it in my mind that the service was at 11:00 am, so when my flight arrived at 8:30, I thought I would have plenty of time to take the train to Centraal Station, then a taxi to the hotel to drop my luggage, then a tram to the church.
I arrived at St. Nicolaas at 10:50 am and was dismayed to find out that the service had started at 10:30 am and all the doors were locked!
Within a few minutes, though, the door opened and a man asked, “Are you a tourist? The church is closed to tourists.”
“No, I want to go to the mass.”
“You are very late.”
“I know.”
“If you come in, you can’t leave for an hour and have to stay for the service.”
“Okay.”
As it turned out, I arrived in the middle of the sermon. I was quite surprised to see that the church was extremely full and there were only a few places left.
There was a small chamber choir which sang chants and a Baroque polychoral anthem. The organist, Michael Hedley, waved at me on his way back after communion. However, I looked for him after the service but couldn’t find him.
I did take a small video of his organ postlude, which you can view below.
Meanwhile, 7243 miles away (11,656 km) in Honolulu, former soprano soloist of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu choir, Debbie Behnke, is in Hawaii having a vow renewal service at LCH with her husband of 40 years, Hal Behnke. I am sorry that I missed being there, as we have kept in touch over these many years since they moved away in the 90s. Hal and Debbie met in the LCH courtyard and married one year after we did. I understand that Rich and Carol Capps, former LCH members who now live in Washington, are also in Honolulu to share in the festivities. I helped Debbie engage the services of Jieun Newland as the organist so the Behnkes are in good hands!
Congratulations, Hal and Debbie, happy anniversary!
Today I also received official word that my former student, Joey Fala, will be one of the featured artists at next year’s 2019 regional convention of the American Guild of Organists in Orange County, California! You can read the announcement and Joey’s bio here. (Several years ago, I gave a workshop at the regional convention in Bakersfield and discussed Joey’s development as an organist. Wonder if the regional planners got the idea about contracting Joey way back then?)
Woo hoo, Joey!