One constant in our Hawai’i Chapter American Guild of Organist concerts is the “spiel” given by Karl Bachman at intermission to encourage people to give offerings. I always look forward to hearing these little “sermonettes” — filled with humor, and sometimes I’ve gotten a shout-out.
Here is an excerpt from yesterday’s concert with Adam Pajan:
… today we are taking another leap of faith. We are making the transition from an annual organ concert to a Hawaii Organ Concert Tour. Mr. Pajan will leave Honolulu to give a concert in Hilo on Thursday and in Kula, Maui, on Saturday.
Since there is only one AGO Chapter in the state it didn’t seem right that the annual concert would only be held in Honolulu; hence, the decision to make this transition. As we did fourteen years ago we are asking your support now to help make possible this transition from an annual organ concert to a Hawaii Organ Concert Tour.
Seven years ago The John McCreary Concert Fund was established to help ensure the future of the annual concert series. It still does to this day. This year Mr. Robert Alder and Mr. Jude Oliver of Church Organs Hawaii voluntarily stepped forward and are providing inter-island airfare for this three-island concert tour which makes them our corporate sponsor. And they did this before the arrival of Southwest Airlines. And of course, we are trusting in your ongoing appreciation and support of fine organ music and we are asking your help to bring rising star artists to the rest of the state of Hawaii.
You are all very akamai so I know that you already asking yourselves the question, “How much is needed to support three concerts instead of one?”
Since you asked: How much would you be willing to spend for a ticket for the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra or one of the fine operas produced by Hawaii Opera Theatre? More importantly, how much did you spend for that ticket to the Bruno Mars concert last November?
Aim high and make your checks payable to the Hawaii Chapter—AGO. Cash is always acceptable, especially in large denominations. Thank you!
Earlier in his speech here was the shout-out:
Many of you may recall the first concert in this series where we took a huge leap of faith and invited Paul Jacobs to come to Hawaii at the suggestion of Katherine Crosier who heard him on the mainland and was so impressed that when she returned to Hawaii she simply said, “We have to get him here.” And if you don’t personally recall that concert, the whole history was recently reviewed by Kathy in her blog, “Another Year of Insanity.” If you don’t read her blog, you just don’t know what is happening in Honolulu and in the world of music. After all, Kathy is the musician’s Wayne Harada.
Hahaha! Wayne Harada is the entertainment and gossip columnist of the local newspaper.
The truth is, our Hawai’i Chapter AGO is taking a HUGE leap of faith in presenting THREE concerts, especially considering that the neighbor island venues are smaller and cannot accommodate as big of an audience as we can in Honolulu.
If you would like to help, you can send your tax-deductible donations to:
Hawaii Chapter AGO
P. O. Box 23432
Honolulu, HI 96823-3432
You can also donate via the Hawai’i AGO website.
