When I retired from my position as organist at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu at the end of 2012, I thought that for the first time since I was 15 (!) that I would have my Thursday nights back. You see, it was our good friend and business partner, Peter Hallock, who said, “God made Thursday nights for choir rehearsal!” Indeed, ever since I got my first church job at age fifteen, I have had to attend a midweek church choir rehearsal. That’s a whole lotta years and a boatload of rehearsals!

So now it is the year 2020, and it has been seven years since I have retired, and seven years since I’ve gone to a Thursday night rehearsal. Last night, though, I broke the streak when I was invited to play the organ and harpsichord for Monday night’s concert, “The Court of Weissenfels,” featuring some delightful music of Bach, Handel and Johann Philip Krieger.

What I was very pleased about is the whole new generation of both singers and instrumentalists I am going to be working with in this concert. I am definitely “the old lady” in this bunch and nearly every singer and player is young enough to be my child—in fact, director Scott Fikse at age 36 is younger than my son! It is so gratifying that these young people have achieved this level of musicianship at this age, and we can look forward to many years of fine performances in the years to come.

The program includes:

Heilig, heilig, heilig ist der Herr (Johann Phillip Krieger, 1649-1725)
Träufelt, ihr Himmel von oben (Krieger)
Singe, Seele, Gott zum Preise, HWV 206 (George Frideric Handel, 1685-1759)
Concerto for viola and orchestra in G major (Georg Philipp Telemann, 1681-1767)
Meine Seele hört im Sehen, HWV 207 (Handel)
Sonata in D minor, op. 2, no. 2 (Krieger) ** Watch out for fireworks in this piece!
Können nicht die roten Wangen, BWV 205 (J. S. Bach, 1685-1750)
Lebe, Sonne, dieser Erden, BWV 208 (Bach)