Today I had the opportunity to not only see but to play the new Rosales organ at All Saints Episcopal Church in Kapa’a, on the island of Kaua’i. I set my alarm for 5:00 am to get ready for my morning flight to “The Garden Island,” parked my car in the inter-island terminal and took an Uber to the church upon my arrival. To my surprise, as I walked up to the church, I heard snippets of the Cortège et litanie! No, it couldn’t be my student, Hank Curtis — it was Adam Pajan, the organ recitalist who played Sunday’s inaugural concert! He won’t leave Kaua’i until tomorrow so we made plans to meet for lunch.

As you may remember from my post, “Commuter organ teacher,” the parish of All Saints Episcopal Church, when they were planning for a new pipe organ, budgeted money for organ lessons for their music director, Henry “Hank” Curtis. And because there are no organ teachers on the island of Kaua’i, they flew me over every two weeks starting in September 2019 until the pandemic stopped all such travel. Back then our lessons took place at the United Church of Christ in Lihue, since All Saints’ old pipe organ was decommissioned and they only had a piano until now.

Ever since May 11th, however, fully-vaccinated Hawaii residents may travel inter-island without taking a Covid test or undergo quarantine. Hank and I plan to see each other about once a month until he feels more comfortable playing the organ. Today we spent our entire two hours discussing organ registration and setting up 20 different combinations which Hank can use for hymn playing and organ voluntaries.

I was also able to meet Kevin Cartwright, the new owner of Rosales Organs since May 2020, who was responsible for voicing on this instrument. Even though it is officially named Rosales Organ Opus 41, it’s also referred to as Opus 2 which is the 2nd instrument since Kevin Cartwright took over. Kevin took me on a little tour of the organ chamber.

In case you missed seeing the livestream of the dedication concert, you can see it here.

https://fb.watch/5Aj_br_RPn/

There was one funny moment during intermission, at -47.03, when Alfonso Murillo commented, “Don’t know what’s going on at -47:03 !!!!” to which Morris Wise explained, “That is John and Christina M. Alderete. They are showing the world how much they care for one another!  Now it’s preserved for posterity!

I would have to say that Opus 41 is a fine instrument, and will certainly prove to be a versatile and useful instrument not only for the church, but for the community. It has a big sound, but is not overly aggressive, in addition to having some very lyrical solo stops. I certainly wouldn’t mind playing that organ every week, and I know that the parishioners are very happy to have it. Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick was in attendance during this important weekend in the life of the parish, and his wife, Bea, told Morris Wise that she was very impressed with the instrument.

After the lesson, Adam picked me up and we drove to Lilikoi Bar & Grill where we met Morris for lunch. The food was delicious and I would heartily recommend it! We had a great time!