Last night was the opening Welcome Dinner for the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists, and look at the big crowd we had! People literally came out of the woodwork—and for some people, it’s been DECADES since they have attended a meeting of local organists.
(By the way, not everyone was in the picture! Some people were shy, others just wanted to play photographer!)
Of course, not everyone who came was an organist—they may have been friends of an organist, or a spouse of an organist, or the parent of an organist.
What was great that we had the gamut of denominations represented: Lutheran, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Christian Scientist, Latter Day Saints, and organists from Punahou and Iolani School.
I’ve been trying to rack my brain as to what was our secret of bringing together so many people who are interested in the organ! Maybe it is because organists are a dying breed and we feel compelled to stick together—like the last dinosaurs on earth!
No, seriously … !
Perhaps it was the fact that we were giving away organ music from the library of Donald Matsumori, a former member who died last spring. Seems like everybody took home a goody packet of music! Go back and read my post about forgetting a piece of music at home and being saved by the load of Donald Matsumori’s music in my car trunk ! (“That sinking feeling…”)
Perhaps it was because we offered a free catered dinner from Buca di Beppo. No one had to bring or cook anything for a potluck, and hey! Everyone loves Italian food!
The choices were Mixed Green Salad, Bread and Butter, Chicken Parmesan, Eggplant Parmesan and Baked Ziti. Desserts were brought by Karl Bachman (Homemade Brownies), Elizabeth Wong brought Seedless Grapes, her friend Eleanor brought her famous Chocolate Mochi (yummy!) and I baked Blueberry Cookies.
We began the program part of the evening with an Installation of Officers, administered by Pastor Christian Rasmussen of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. Officers include: Dean (Katherine Crosier), Sub-Dean (Margaret Lloyd), Secretary (The Rev. Paul Lillie), Treasurer (Steven Severin—was not able to make it last night; had a conflict), Concert Chair (The Rev. Karl Bachman), Scholarship Chair (Elizabeth Wong), Members at Large (Jieun Kim Newland and Miki Yamamoto).
We heard a presentation by Miki Yamamoto on her upcoming Orgelkids demonstration at the Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate School where she is the music teacher.
We also announced the rest of the year’s programs, which you can find on the Hawaii Chapter AGO website: agohawaii.org/programs. We are excited to announce that this year we will have two visiting artists: Adam Pajan will play two dedication recitals at the new Rosales on November 23 and 24, and Monica Czausz will give three concerts, statewide: March 15 at Central Union in Honolulu, March 18 at All Saints Kapa’a in Kauai, and March 20 at Holy Apostles in Hilo on the Big Island. Local concerts will include “Organ Plus” with myself and Jieun Kim Newland playing with other instrumentalists on December 2nd at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. And on January 18, 2020, the two of us will perform a program of Bach concerto transcriptions for two organs, called “Dueling Bach.”
Most of all, we just had fun! Margaret Lloyd started us off by telling us two of her travel adventures, and we had to guess whether her statements were true or false. She then invited people at each table to share their own experiences which may or may not have been known by others. The best stories from each table were shared with the entire group. There were many peals of laughter which rang out throughout the room, and it was more like a party!
I had so much fun with my organ peeps!
