Last night was the Kauai Chorale Chamber Choir’s concert at Lihue Union Church, and as you can see, there was a good crowd despite it being a Thursday night. I would call this true dedication to choral music, the Kauai Chorale and to Morris Wise, their Director.

The 15-voice ensemble sang from the balcony where the organ console is located, with the audience listening below. Some people were disappointed to only hear the choir instead of also seeing them, but I think this was intentional on Morris’ part. He wanted people to imagine that they were in an English chapel and experiencing the fine choral music from England

I opened the concert with Ralph Vaughan Williams lovely setting of “ Greensleeves,” also known as the tune for “What child is this.”

Here is the program. You can see that the organ (that’s me!) is used in every single piece!

I told Morris about my last experience playing Gustav Holst’s “Christmas Day,” which was a total nightmare in 1973. I was the organist-director at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church where the organ console was located across the chancel from the choir. We were performing this piece when I turned the page too fast and the music fell onto the pedals! I tried desperately to pick it up with my left hand—all the while improvising an interlude with my right hand.

At one point the choir must have looked up to see that I had disappeared from view, because Father Charles Crane said in a loud stage whisper, “SHE DROPPED HER MUSIC!” and sent an acolyte scurrying across the chancel to help pick it up. Well, the acolyte managed to get the music back on the rack but it was upside down! And still, I kept improvising with my right hand!

To be sure, it was an unforgettable nightmare and I have not heard or thought of this piece in 46 years!

Talking about the old days, I was glad to see Lois Ricciardi, the former longtime director of the Kauai Chorale. It was all the way back in 1981 that Carl Crosier was engaged to sing the alto solo in the Bernstein Chichester Psalms with the Kauai Chorale and the Honolulu Symphony, Donald Johansson conducting.

By far the most challenging piece for both the choir and organist was Philip Moore’s “ All wisdom comes from the Lord.” I had the dickens trying to learn this piece because of the tricky syncopations, multiple meter changes, number of pages (so many page turns!) and a huge number of registration changes. I made my own edition, cutting and pasting mostly the organ part with some choral cues, and still the page turns turned out to be perilous. At one point Morris offered to turn a page for me, but alas, he turned it about five measures too early, and by the time I got the page turned back I was momentarily lost. Luckily we got back on track pretty quickly.

Here’s a recording of the piece for you to hear:

I had a lovely, relaxing time at the ISO Hotel (Island-Sky-Ocean) during my brief stay.

Thank you, Kauai Chorale and Morris Wise, for a wonderful two days in Kauai!