organist superhero

noun

organist su·​per·​he·​ro ˈsü-pər-ˌhir-(ˌ)ō  -ˌhē-(ˌ)rō : someone able to play the organ for church services
: a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers, namely playing organ voluntaries such as preludes and postlude; accompanying congregational hymns and chant by cantors; improvising as necessary to connect various parts of the services; providing music during distribution of Holy Communion; also : an exceptionally skillful or successful person  compare SUPERHEROINE, SUPERVILLAIN

It’s Jieun Kim Newland to the rescue!

It was way back in January of this year that Father Paul Lillie and I were discussing my vacation schedule and what the possibilities were for finding a substitute for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. Local organ substitutes who could play the organist-dependent service seemed out of the question and Father Paul suggested that we look to the mainland for a person who would be willing to come to Hawaii. I immediately texted Jieun to find out if she would be interested. I asked her to check with her husband, Ben, to see what he thought about it before giving me an answer.

As it turned it, I used my many miles on United Air Lines to bring Jieun to Hawaii and this afternoon I’ll be picking her up at the airport, to stay in my condo, drive my car, and play the organ for the 11:00 am Solemn Mass at St. Mark’s!

While she’s here, Jieun will also be getting together to play continuo with Charles Coldwell (recorder player from Seattle) and Lindsey Macchiarella (viola da gamba and musicology professor at University of Texas at El Paso) to perform music by Marini, Telemann and Purcell on Wednesday, July 17 at 2:00 pm at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu.

You may recall that while I was at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in San Francisco, a woman introduced herself to me as Karen Billings, the person who will be subbing for Jieun at Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces, NM. Without Karen, Jieun would not be able to come to Hawaii to sub for me!

On Sunday, BIll Potter and I will take a very early flight to San Francisco, and from there, fly to London Heathrow for a six hour layover before flying to Stockholm, Sweden. We’ll have one free day in Stockholm where we’ll visit the Stockholm Cathedral (Storkyrkan) which was built in the 13th century and has a Marcussen organ from 1960.

We also will find the Uppenbarelsekyrkan Church where there is a Gerhard Grenzing organ (2022) there. You may remember Bill and I were very fortunate to visit the Grenzing pipe organ factory in Barcelona last April! See my post, Organ Factory in El Pápiol.

We will then join the EFGoAhead tour called “Highlights of Scandinavia: Sweden, Norway & Denmark” before spending two days in Cambridge, England and then a week at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester.

Last weekend, right after arriving home from San Francisco, I did my laundry, only to repack it immediately for my Scandinavia and England trip.

We’re on the road again!