”You mean, you would play your concert for only one or two people?”
Indeed we would, and in fact, Jieun Kim Newland and I actually gave the Dueling Bach concert a total of five times (!) and luckily it has gotten easier each time. We did two run-throughs (in front of a few people) before the first public concert on January 18, then decided to offer an encore concert on February 1. In addition we played the whole program for two out of town visitors (my friend, David Lawrence from Cleveland plus his mom, Cathy) who missed the January 18 concert and were going to leave before our February 1st redo—so we did the whole concert for the two of them on Thursday.
I was truly surprised to see that we had 26 people attend our encore concert last Saturday, which included a number of people we didn’t know. We both wondered how they found out about the second concert—word of mouth most probably.
Also we learned that there were several out of town organists were in attendance at the encore concert, one of whom was a graduate of Westminster Choir College—my Alma Mater!—and a guest of Charles and Maria Coldwell. Another guest was a retired Lutheran organist, Nancy Swingle from the Washington, D.C. area, with her husband, Albert, a retired Lutheran pastor.
Here are some comments we received:
Thank you so much for this concert, it was truly enjoyable! (H. E.)
I just want to thank you and Jieun for the repeat concert. I enjoyed it even more than the first time around and I think because I was not distracted by the videos heard more. Three fantastic Saturday concerts, wow! (V.G.)
Your two-organ concert was deeply moving. It was a wonderful experience to sit between the two organs and hear such beautiful music so skillfully played. Many thanks for such a gift. (M.M.)
We are so glad that A. told us about the second round of Dueling Bach Sunday evening. We had not arrived yet for the first performance. We thoroughly enjoyed each of the Bach numbers and were intrigued by the way you transformed them into duets. You both are amazing organists. I’m so glad I was able to capture the photo of the two of you after the concert. I am sure that Dueling Bach will be one of the high points of our three-week visit in Honolulu. [We] worshiped at the Lutheran Church on January 26 when you were organist for the service. We enjoyed your music that day as well. (N. S.)
Most importantly, between the two public concerts, we raised over $2,000 for the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists, and for that we are most grateful. We didn’t even mention anything about collecting donations at the Encore concert, and still people gave!
These past two weeks have been super busy, because in addition to giving all these Dueling Bach performances, I also hosted two sets of houseguests: the German organ builders, Hans-Ulrich Erbslöh and Bernd Becker, and David Lawrence, whom I met initially on my trip to Greece last summer and then reunited with him in his hometown of Cleveland last October. This being David and his mom’s first trip to Hawaii, I played tour guide for several days and drove them around the island.
Then, of course, I received the new organ for my condo, which was an adventure in itself. (See photos here)
On Saturday night, January 25th, was the Early Music Hawaii Chamber Ensemble concert, which I attended, of course, in addition to formatting the concert program and sending out the promotional email blasts.
Then tonight was the Stark Duo (Darel and Georgine Stark) First Mondays concert which featured vocalises for soprano and violin by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Darel Stark, David Diamond, György Kurtág, and Wallingford Riegger plus a violin solo by Eugène Ysaÿe. Probably the most moving piece of the night was a traditional spiritual, “Lord how come me here?” with a violin cadenza by Darel Stark. As is typical for Stark Duo concerts, the virtuosity of both performers was on display through contemporary music.
Now that Dueling Bach is over, I’m going to have to find something for myself to take on as another project, as I won’t know what to do with myself!