The Crosier Bed and Breakfast aka The Marble Palace is now back again in operation as I have been hosting Paul Leenhouts and his wife, Monika Ruusmaa Leenhouts.

They had originally only planned a vacation on Kauai but it was mezzo Jennifer Lane who persuaded them to spend a few days teaching on Oahu at the Enchanted Isle Vocal Workshop which she directs. This summer the workshop is being held at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. This year was the belated 10th anniversary of the Enchanted Isle Vocal Workshop, reconvening after a 2 year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. This summer’s workshop participants studied the florid music of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. During these centuries, listeners were enamored of duets, trios, and other ensembles for treble voices. Courts in Florence, Rome, Miland and throughout Italy have left wonderful repertoire for such vocal combinations.

I actually met Paul Leenhouts in 2011 when there was a huge contingent from the University of North Texas at the Boston Early Music Festival, and he conducted a concert of the UNT Baroque Orchestra and Collegium Singers, along with our friend, choral conductor Richard Sparks.

[UPDATE: I originally wrote that it was 2013 that I first met Paul Leenhouts at the Boston Early Music Festival. However, Jennifer Lane convinced me that it was actually in 2011 that I was introduced to Paul. At both festivals, there was a faculty concert by the University of North Texas as well as a Baroque Orchestra and Collegium Singers concert. The rest of the post deals with my recollections of the 2013 appearance of the UNT musicians at the Boston Early Music Festival.

Jennifer sent me this photo of herself and Carl Crosier from 2011 as proof that it was this year and not 2013.]

The first event I attended was the University of North Texas Baroque Orchestra and Collegium Singers. (Paul Leenhouts and Richards Sparks, directors), Musica Bohemia. Exploring the rich repertoire of Bohemia, the program with the UNT Baroque Orchestra and Collegium Singers, led by Paul Leenhouts and Richard Sparks, will include works by Tolar (ca. 1620-1673), Capricornus (1628-1665), Michna z. Otradovic (1600-1676), Benda (1709-1786), and Zelenka Miserere in C minor and Magnificat in D with the Collegium Singers. Sanctuary, First Church Boston.

In any event, he and his wife have been my houseguests!

Here is a partial bio from Wikipedia:

Paul Leenhouts is a Dutch recorder player, composer and conductor.

Leenhouts studied music at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. Together with Daniël Brüggen, Bertho Driever, and Karel van Steenhoven, he founded the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet in 1978.^[1][2] He is a composer and arranger of several works for recorder. In 1986 he started the Holland Open Recorder Festival in Utrecht, and has been director of the International Baroque Institute in Boston. He has taught recorder at the Sweelinck Conservatory, is the Director of Early Music Studies at the University of North Texas, and holds master classes in different countries. His interest in music of the Renaissance led him to collaborate with different ensembles recorders, including being the founder and artistic director of The Royal Wind Music from 1997 to 2010.

I found this short video on YouTube which introduces Paul Leenhouts.

I went back and re-read the post I wrote about Paul’s ensemble, “Recorders Galore,” whose concert I heard at the 2013 Boston Early Music Festival. At that time, I wrote:

The concert we heard was called The Royal Wind Music conducted by Paul Leenhouts, who was also the director of the University of North Texas orchestra program which we heard last Wednesday. There were altogether fourteen people, including Leenhouts, who played a wide assortment of Renaissance recorders, all the way from soprano to gigantic bass. I had never seen such big recorders before, several of which were as big as a bassoon, and one about ten feet tall requiring a stand! Some of the pieces were for the entire ensemble, and others were for trios, quartets and quintets.

What to me was so remarkable was everyone performed from memory! I guess this is the equivalent of hearing a choir concert with everyone memorizing their own parts, but for a keyboard person like myself who hears (and controls) all the parts together, this was truly amazing. What if someone had a memory slip — would there be a train wreck? A number of the pieces were contrapuntal, with independent parts. This group was very rehearsed, however, and the performance seemed flawless to me. I can’t imagine how much rehearsal time it must have taken to put this nearly two-hour program together.

Monika told me today that everyone memorized the music because they had intense rehearsals every Saturday and Sunday for a whole year from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm! She said that it was not just students who were so devoted to the ensemble—there were professionals as well.

This afternoon was the culminating concert of the Enchanted Isle Vocal Workshop, and you can see the pictures I took during the concert showing Monika Ruusmaa, Paul Leenhouts, Jennifer Lane with her husband, Jim Carr.

Here are a couple of videos with Monika, Paul and bass player Matin Boulos. Absolutely delightful!

And look what Taylor Ishida found at the Friends of the Library sale today! Our 1984 recording, “Tomorrow shall be my dancing day!” I thought for sure it would have been marked to 50¢, but no, Taylor said that she had to pay $5!