Last night’s “From Venice to Dresden” Early Music Hawaii concert was advertised as music from Heinrich Schütz and his contemporaries, and how they brought the Venetian polychoral music tradition to Germany. What we didn’t advertise, though, was that it was Scott Fikse’s last EMH concert before leaving Hawai’i to attend graduate school at the University of Washington where he will pursue a Master of Music in choral conducting. Scott was heard as a bass singer, as a harpsichordist, and of course, he conducted the whole concert, in addition to preparing all the performance editions. He would have played the organ, too, had he not bailed at the last moment, and asked me to play the “Echo ad manuale duplex” by Samuel Scheidt with violinist Darel Stark.

It’s hard to believe that it has almost been SEVEN WHOLE YEARS that I first met Scott and he and I have had many collaborations together. Who can forget that I asked him to conduct the monumental Frank Ferko world premiere, “Missa O Magne Pater,” at the memorial concert held on All Saints Day, November 1, 2015 in memory of Carl Crosier. Scott rose to the challenge of the difficult music with its changing meters and tricky rhythms. Read my post “A taste of heaven” for some of the reactions to the concert.

Over the years he has conducted many Early Music Hawaii concerts, including:

Kings and Queens, February 19, 2017
Henry Purcell, September 16, 2017
Treasures of the French Baroque, Sept. 15, 2018
Musical Mavericks, January 19, 2019
Rise of Italian Opera & Oratorio, Sept. 14, 2019
Renaissance Inspiration, January 25, 2020
Masters of the English Reformation, October 23, 2020; January 22-31, 2021
Josquin Despres: A 500th Anniversary Celebration, April 1-8, 2022

and I have played under his direction in all but the Renaissance concert in January of 2020.

I even gave Scott a few organ lessons and he and I played a duet at a recent Early Music Hawaii concert:

Here’s what Ian Capps wrote to the singers and players of last night’s concert:

Dear All,
Thank you all for making our return to live concerts at LCH such a great success – and singing with masks to boot! The audience loved every part of it, as did I as a member of the audience. As expected from our regular supporters, the large ensembles sparked the most enthusiastic response, especially the Jauchzet and final Magnificat, but all the duets and instrumental pieces were excellent and emphasized the value of variety in texture which makes for good programming. 
Special thanks to Scott for his intelligent programming, outstanding leadership and conducting, as well as singing in that wonderful bass duet. We wish him all success in the next stage of his learning and long career.
My personal thanks also to all of you who stayed on to help with the monumental task of returning the sanctuary to the order for Sunday services!
With best wishes to you all,
Ian

If you’d like to see the program, you can click here.

Here are some pictures of last night’s concert. (Thanks to BIll Potter for taking most of these photos).

Oh, Scott, we will miss you!

UPDATE: Here are some comments some people posted online or have sent in:

Tonight was the first live concert of Early Music Hawaii in two years!! Chamber Live music comforts my ears and soothes my soul! Thank you Scott Fikse for directing EMH and bringing beautiful music! Good luck for your next endeavor!! (Yoko Kokuni Kessner)

Congratulations on a wonderful concert. There were so many interesting gems. I loved the instrument combinations. I loved the artistry of your registration, a wonderful example of which is your organ solo. So varied and moving. Especially memorable was the antiphonal choir piece, of which you were a part. 
I’m blown away by your work on the ground bass. What an obstacle course to pass through in order to play a piece. Thank you for your many contributions to delightful evening. (Janet Sharp)

…you played excellently (Kaleb Barrett)

Congratulations on an absolutely superb concert of works from my favorite period and composers!  Superbly produced, superbly directed, superbly performed, and even superbly stage managed.  Further superlatives fail me at this point.  Ian, the next EMH season promises to be even more spectacular if you continue to feature the Early Music Hawaii Ensemble. (Paul Schwind)

I just watched From Venice to Dresden from London and really enjoyed it. As they say around here, well done! In addition to the programming and the performance, I was pleased and in fact proud to see that the singers too were wearing masks. The sound didn’t suffer in the least! (Esha Neogy)