I eagerly thumbed through the latest issue of The American Organist, which contained a comprehensive review of the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists I attended, held in San Francisco this past summer.
Here’s what I was looking for:
In case you’re reading this on your phone, here’s what the review says:
Joey Fala, First Church of Christ, Scientist, Berkeley (1953 Austin). The Honolulu native and erstwhile architecture student offered a brilliant program for a church whose quirky Bernard Maybeck design might be described as American rococo. Howells’s Saraband for the Morning of Easter was a good match for the English-accented organ but suffered a bit from the dry acoustics.
Two contemplative American pieces, “Sweet Hour of Prayer” from William Bolcom’s Gospel Preludes and Dan Locklair’s In Memory—H.H.L., made an effective bracket in that both were written as memorials (the former for the French pedagogue Simone Plé-Caussade, the latter for the composer’s mother). A revelation to me was the minimalistic Light Within by the young Chicago musician Jack Langdon. Still the core of the recital was Chelsea Chen’s 2003 Taiwanese Suite, whose three short, programmatic movements sparkled in this environment.
Fala concluded with a masterly rendition of the Introduction and Passacaglia from Rheinberg’s late Romantic Sonata No. 8, its dancelike passacaglia mirroring hte Howells saraband. This organist’s combination of technique and flair marks him as a young talent to watch.
Wow, we are so proud of Joey Fala! In case you didn’t know, I was Joey’s first organ teacher and I taught him from age 10 to age 18.
I was a little surprised to see that my picture was part of the long 20-page review of the convention with many photos of the artists as well as those in the audience —I was seen with organist Katelyn Emerson. Woo hoo, I made the magazine!
Last Friday night was St. Mark’s Choir’s first ever concert and by all accounts it was a success. The church was full—and I was told some people drove around in vain for 25 minutes looking for a place to park until finally giving up and returning home. 😢
The choir sang a very challenging program, all a cappella (unaccompanied) except for Veni, veni Emmanuel with added percussion. The program was a mix of sacred and secular repertoire, sung in English, Latin, German and even Japanese.
Sicut cervus (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina)
Abendlied (Josef Rheinberger)
Os justi (Anton Bruckner)
Elijah Rock (arr. Moses Hogan)
Magnificat (Arvo Pärt)
Here is the little door (Herbert Howells)
Veni, veni Emmanuel (Michael John Trotta)
Organ—Music from Interstellar: Cornfield Chase (Hans Zimmer)
Organ—Prelude and Fugue in G minor, op.7, no. 3 (Marcel Dupré)
When you are old (John Kelley)
Eldorado (Andrej Makor)
Somon (Hideki Chihara)
A boy and a girl (Eric Whitacre)
Fare thee well love (James Quitman Mulholland)
Encore—Exsultate jubilate (Karl Jenkins)
Here’s the part of program where I played two organ pieces: Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar (Cornfield Chase) and Marcel Dupré’s “Prelude and Fugue in G minor, op. 7, no. 3.” (The entire concert can be heard at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXecgLlm4NY&t=497s).
Of course, at the time, I didn’t think I played well, but after listening to the video, it could have been a lot worse!
This morning, choirmaster Mike Dupre asked what my favorite part of the program was. Everyone laughed when I said, “when it was over!”