Tonight the people of Honolulu celebrated the 10th anniversary of the passing of John McCreary with a special memorial Evensong. A publicity flyer described him like this:

John McCreary was a musical force of nature. During his five decades in Hawai‘i, he served as Organist/Choirmaster and Canon Emeritus at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, taught music at ‘Iolani School and St. Andrew’s Priory, built an enormous theater organ for his home, and helped to launch the musical careers of some of Hawai‘i’s most enduring performers. 

Ten years ago I made this observation in my post, Celebration John McCreary:

If a bomb had struck at St. Andrew’s Cathedral April 27th at 11:00 am, there would be no more church music in Honolulu! That is because every church musician in town was there to celebrate the life of Canon Organist Emeritus John McCreary.

I could have said the same for tonight’s Evensong, and extra chairs had to be brought in to accommodate all the people who attended this musical extravaganza of John McCreary’s music. You could have also called it an Oahu Choral Festival, because of the participation of so many local choral groups:

The Choir of The Cathedral of St. Andrew; Central Union Church Choir; Church of the Crossroads Choir; First PresbyteryChurch Choir; Hawai‘i Pacífic University Symphony Orchestra; Hawai’i Pacific University International Vocal Ensemble; Hawai‘i Vocal Arts Ensemble; Holy Nativity Church Choir; Honolulu Chorale; Kawaiahao Church Choir; Kona Choral Society; Lutheran Church of Honolulu Choir; Oahu Choral Society; St. Christopher’s Singers; Windward Choral Society.

Wowza, a cast of thousands!

The 56-page program contained all of the choral music meant to be sung by all—much of it composed by John McCreary. Included was Tu es Sacerdos; Na ke akua ‘oe e kia‘i; Magnificat; Nunc dimittís; and Prayer of St. Francis.

The offertory was Divinum mysterium by John McCreary and played by concert organist Ken Cowan, who flew especially to Hawaii to be part of the extravaganza. You may remember that in January 2012, Ken Cowan with his wife, violinist Lisa Shihoten, gave a fundraising concert to kickoff the John McCreary Concert Fund of the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists and received four separate standing ovations! Go back and read the post about how the Governor of Hawaii sat in the front and publicly pledged $500 to the fund!

The program was also full of the McCreary family members’ names who participated in a big way: Susan McCreary Duprey, conducted the opening Tu es sacerdos and the choral postlude on Rubber Ducky (more on that later!); Teresa McCreary conducted Mack Wilberg’s “Come, thou fount of every blessing;” Jordan McCreary read from Ephesians; and Kendall McCreary read the Prayer attributed to St. Francis. And I was sitting directly behind Savannah McCreary! I was so sorry to hear that John McCreary’s widow, Betsy, was too ill to attend.

And speaking of “Rubber Ducky,” and why such a piece defined the unique personality of John McCreary, you’ll have to go back and read some of the posts I wrote at the time of John’s funeral:

Remembering John McCreary – John’s funny and unique expressions
Guessing and groping – I completely forgot that I was one of the organists to play John’s funeral
Celebration John McCreary – Observations at John’s funeral
Pie Jesu – John was buried with Fauré’s “Pie Jesu”, remembrances of the viewing and burial
Sesquipedalian circumlocution – John Alexander’s brilliant eulogy

And now, a word about the postlude. But before that, Canon Heather Patton-Graham had to explain that even though this is Lent, she was giving us a pass on not saying Alleluias. I mean, you just can’t have a Celebration John McCreary without singing Alleluias! And so we did in the opening hymn, “When in our music God is glorified.”

As the program explained in a comprehensive biography, John was not a “highbrow,” as he was the Staff Organist at the Hawai‘i Theatre where he enjoyed playing pop tunes before the shows. He built a three-manual fourteen-rank theater organ in his Nu‘uanu home. “Great for parties,” he said.

“Rubber Ducky” is described as “outrageous variations … for a glorious conglomeration for chorus (“of at least a hundred”), full orchestra and, or course, an organ.”

John, we miss you!