It’s Day 10 after returning from Iceland, and I’ve been so incredibly busy that I can hardly keep up with myself! This is Concert Week — on Saturday, there’s an Early Music Hawaii concert called “The Musical Journey: From New England to Honolulu,” with director Scott Fikse conducting music described as:
The Early Music Hawaii Chamber Singers star in an exciting new venture, presenting the fascinating works of the early American singing schools alongside some of the earliest surviving compositions of Hawaiian hīmeni and mele. American composer William Billings (1746–1800) and his contemporaries firmly established a uniquely American style. Through the subsequent journeys of New England missionaries to Hawai‘i and in collaboration with the aliʻi, this music was reinvented in a new cultural context with Hawaiian harmonizations and in the cadence of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. Join us as we explore the history and beauty of this remarkable repertoire, connecting our island community’s past with the present.
It took me over six hours to format the program, which you can view here.
I am hosting one of the guest singers from Seattle, Egija Claire from Latvia, who met Scott at the University of Washington in the Master’s Degree choral conducting program. She’s been with me for three nights but will move to another singer’s house tonight because my next houseguest will be coming on Friday morning, organist Lukas Hasler, who will be playing a concert at Central Union Church on Sunday afternoon, March 30th at 2:00 pm. I will at least have one day to wash the bedding and towels and clean the bathroom.
Lukas Hasler (born 1996) currently lives and works as a doctoral student at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he studies with Cherry Rhodes. He graduated with distinction in 2022 from his organ studies under Ulrich Walther at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria. In 2020 he spent a year abroad at the Académie Supérieure de Musique de Strasbourg in France under the tutelage of Johann Vexo. Further stays abroad also took him to New York City. Lukas completed his studies in cultural and media management at the University of Hamburg, Germany, where he finished in 2019 with a Master’s degree. In addition to his participation in the opening ceremony of the Salzburg Festival, he has for instance also performed at the Tyrolean Festival Erl, organ summer at the Saint Florian Bruckner Organ, at the Methuen Memorial Music Hall in Boston, at the International Organ Festival in Düsseldorf (IDO) as well as at the Russian music festival of the Volgograd Philharmonic.
He will be performing works by Mendelssohn, Buxtehude, Saint-Saëns, Mozart, Beethoven and Bach, and “With more than 80,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, he is one of the world’s most successful organists on social media.“
=====
On Saturday morning Marsha Walker and I took a taxi from our Reykjavik hotel to the bus station where we then rode the Flybus shuttle to the airport. Our flight didn’t leave until 4:30 pm, but since we had to check out of the hotel by 11:00 am, we just stayed at the airport and looked for last-minute souvenirs. I have to say that our flight to Washington DC was pretty uncomfortable because we were wearing our heavy winter clothes and the temperature in the Icelandair plane was very warm.
My sister Doris met us at the IAD airport and we spent one night at her house before I flew on to San Francisco and Honolulu while Marsha transited through Denver and then arrived in Salt Lake City. Both of our flights were delayed because of bad weather, and I didn’t walk in the door of my apartment until almost midnight Sunday night. What a long journey it was from Iceland to Honolulu, but what a fabulous trip it was!
The next morning, I had an 8:10 am appointment with my retinal specialist for my monthly eye injection for macular degeneration, and my car went to Pacific Honda for a strange noise that I postponed getting looked at until my return from Iceland. $2700 later the car is as good as new … but ouch! coming back from expensive Iceland and being hit with a big car bill — this had to hurt!
On Wednesday night, March 19th, I played a high mass for the feast of St. Joseph, followed by the usual Thursday night choir rehearsal at St. Mark’s. Last night was a high mass for the Annunciation, including Herbert Howells “Magnificat” from the St. Paul’s service — which has required a lot of practice on my part! This coming Sunday the choir will be singing Gerald Near’s “Missa Orbis Factor,” also taking up a lot of my practice time. I’m also practicing Jessica French’s “Transformations,” which will be my postlude for Easter at St. Mark’s. Meanwhile, back at Nuuanu Congregational Church, I’ll be playing trumpet and organ music with Russell Ishida. No rest for the wicked!
On Sunday night after Lukas Hasler’s concert, I’ll be hosting a dinner party for Collin Boothby and his fiancée, recently named Director of Choral Activities at Hawaii Pacific University. I actually met Collin at the AGO Convention in San Francisco — my former student, Joey Fala introduced us. In June 2024 Collin received a doctorate in organ performance at the University of Southern California — my alma mater (!) and has taken on leadership of the music program at Church of the Crossroads in addition to his HPU responsibilities. Collin is also on the American Guild of Organists National Council, and serves as Councillor for Conventions.
Meanwhile, I’m still trying to keep up with my daily Spanish classes and conversations, plus I’m also re-learning French …
Sleep … what’s that?