It was only a couple of weeks ago that I received a phone call from Nicholas Lee, Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, asking me to play today’s two choral Eucharists in which Orlando Gibbons’ “This is the record of John,” was scheduled as the anthem.

He had called me to ask whether I knew any organists who could play, and I could not come up with a single name of anyone who was available in Honolulu. Our town is not alone, though, in having a dearth of substitute organists—it’s a problem all over the nation!

As it turned out I had to call 12 different pianists with the hope that one of them could cover my duties at Nuuanu Congregational Church while I helped out at the Cathedral. I finally reached a former organ student of mine, Daryl Akamichi, who was willing and able to sub for me today.

There was a Thursday night choir rehearsal, and I was thinking that it’s been YEARS since I attended a Thursday night choir rehearsal! It all seemed so familiar, and it brought back memories of my years and years of playing Thursday night choir rehearsals with my husband, Carl, as the director. One memorable performance I remember was when we performed this piece way back in the 80s with Lasinga Koloamatangi singing the tenor solo.

Today’s version of “This is the record of John,” was the one arranged for alto, sung superbly by Anna Young, a new alto who has moved with her husband, a basso profundo, to Hawaii.

For both services, I decided to play two of Bach’s great settings of the Advent hymn, “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland,” BWV 659 and BWV 661, as the prelude and postlude.

Later in the afternoon, I was at the Hawaii Theatre for the Hawaii Symphony concert with Jory Vinikour conducting and playing movements from Handel “Messiah,” when I received an email from Anne Murphy at the Cathedral. Anne has been heading up the organ restoration committee and sings in the choir. She passed on an email she had received, and wrote: Your admirers are in accord! I hope you don’t mind my sharing this. Thanks again for playing so beautifully today.

It was an email signed by Richard (Dick) Houghten, who was listening to the livestream from the mainland! Dick was one of the experts who was consulted on the organ restoration at St. Andrew’s and was also the person who installed the multiple memory system on the Beckerath organ at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

I watched the live stream of this morning‘s service at the Cathedral and was quite impressed by the liturgy, even though I don’t speak Hawaiian, and the music that was of the highest quality.

I am writing to say what an epiphany it was to hear Cathy (sic!) play Bach on the Aeolian Skinner. We’ve been talking about the nuts and bolts of this instrument for years, but to hear how magnificent the Bach sounded, in spite of dead notes and out of tune mixtures put it all into perspective. The sound was clear, coherent, and well balanced. This organ has good bones and must be preserved!  Had I the means, I’d write a check today.

Please, please continue restoration efforts.

Anne promised to keep me informed as to the progress of the renovation.

This afternoon’s performance of the Hawaii Symphony was absolutely fantastic! I mean, the Hawaii Symphony, even though it was playing with modern instruments, sounded like a baroque orchestra under the harpsichord playing and directing of Jory Vinikour. The tempos were very lively and the string playing crisp and light.

My friend, Mark Russell, was right when he said that Jory could make the harpsichord sound truly beautiful. Having struggled with the Cammack harpsichord myself, (the Symphony borrowed the harpsichord from the Lutheran Church of Honolulu) I really appreciated Jory’s exquisite technique and his ability to make the harpsichord really sparkle.

The soloists all were equally fantastic: Sherezade Panthaki (soprano); Leon Williams (baritone), Ignace Jang (violin), Claire Starz Butin (flute), and Scott Janusch (oboe).

I really enjoyed the movements from Messiah, and hearing “our” orchestra sound so exquisite. I’m afraid I’ve mostly heard pick-up orchestras play this work, and when the professionals are playing, it makes a huge difference! The pièce de resistance, of course, was Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in which the harpsichord is the star. And boy, Jory was definitely the star! I’m looking forward to his recital tomorrow night at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Tickets are still available on the Early Music Hawaii website.

While I was at the Symphony concert, I received a text from Clay Logue, who you may remember had his briefcase stolen on Thanksgiving with all his Advent and Christmas music in it. (See my post, “Roasting, baking, … scanning?” for this story).

Found! Soaking wet, but found . Glasses and keys are missing. A couple of pieces were wet and dripping, but the rest of the music was salvageable. Unfortunately the thief did not return Clay’s glasses and keys, but luckily he had one readable business card in the bag which the neighbor found.

Another treat I had this weekend was watching the livestream of Manoa Valley Theatre’s production of “Joy Luck Club.” I bought a ticket because my former organ student, Miki Yamamoto, was in it—and thinking it had been made into a musical, I thought she was providing musical accompaniment. Nope, she was one of the daughters, and did an excellent job of acting.

This week I also found out that I am in the top .1% of Duolingo learners—I have spent the last three years trying to learn Spanish. Unfortunately now my grandson spends most of his day speaking English at preschool—yet he can still speak Spanish with his Mexican mother and grandmother. Christmas is less than two weeks away, and I’ll be able to see them all in person.