If you have been reading this blog for some years now, you may know that the Hawaii Chapter of the American Guild of Organists sponsors a yearly organ recital by rising stars in the organ world. Earlier in the year (pre-COVID), we brought Monica Czausz to Hawaii and as to the history of this program, I wrote:

Whether it’s picking the Grammy or the Oscar award winners, or even guessing how many jelly beans are in a bowl, some people have all the luck in knowing which movie is going to get Best Picture, or guessing the correct number on “The Price is Right” in order to win a dream vacation.

You might not know that our Hawaii Chapter of the American Guild of Organists has consistently picked winners for our Annual Organ Concert series. Starting in 2006, we took a chance and invited Paul Jacobs, chair of the Juilliard School organ department, to play a concert in Hawaii. It was a leap of faith for a small chapter, to sign a big name artist but who might not be known in Hawaii. 

Other names on the roster of our Annual Organ Concert series have included Chelsea Chen, Aaron David Miller, Christopher Houlihan, Isabelle Demers, Nathan Laube, Michael Hey, Hyunju Hwang, Gregory Zelek, Joey Fala, Yuri McCoy, and Adam Pajan.

In 2012, we brought organist Namhee Han—unfortunately I was away for this concert and didn’t hear her play in person. Her parents came from Korea to Hawaii to hear her concert—it was the first time that they had ever heard her play the organ, as she learned to play the instrument as an adult.

So you can imagine the shock and sadness we felt when we learned of her death earlier this year. Her obituary appeared in this month’s issue of The American Organist, as printed below.

Namhee Han, 49 years old, March 27, 2020. after unexpected complications following a two-year-long battle with cancer. A native of South Korea, she studied the piano from age eight, After earning a bachelor of arts in English education from Seoul National University, she came to the U.S. to pursue graduate studies in linguistics. It was then that she encountered the organ and became immediately fascinated with its “limitless tonal and expressive possibilities.” She began organ study with Thomas Harmon in 1999 and completed MMus and DMA degrees in organ performance at UCLA, working Christoph Bull. In addition, she earned MA and PhD degrees in applied linguistics from UCLA.

Han continued to hone her naturally-sensitive and fluid, technically robust organ playing, coaching with Marie-Claire Alain, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Jean Guillou, Guy Bovet, and Louis Robilliard. She participated in masterclasses with such eminent teacher organists as David Craighead, Frederick Swann, Marilyn Keiser, Christopher Herrick, Paul Jacobs, Todd Wilson, Kimberly Marshall and Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin.

Hans was elected to the Los Angeles AGO Chapter executive committee as member-at-large last year and was active on several chapter committees. She was featured in the Walt Disney Concert Chorale on several occasions. Also featured in many concert series of area organs, Han played often at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and was featured during the AGO national convention in San Francisco at Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light. She also occasionally played concerts nationally and internationally, most recently in New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine and in the cathedrals of Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

Han was the resident organist at Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles for the last 20 years and associate organist at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple for the last seven. She was a sought-after, enthusiastic piano and organ teacher, keenly interested in contributing to the music community in southern California, and regularly collaborated with instrumentalists, orchestras, and choral groups. A versatile keyboardist, Han performed with L.A. Master Chorale, the Pacific Symphony and Colburn orchestras, Southwest Chamber Music, and Musica Angelica, and collaborated with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Martin Haselböck, Grand Gershon, Donald Neuen, and Carl St. Clair. Her creative grace, technical virtuosity, and imaginative attention to detail endeared her to ever-growing audiences.

Han is survived by her fiancé, Xavier Quintana of Los Angeles, and two sisters and a brother in South Korea. Her premature death is a great loss to the organ world.