After leaving the Sydney Philharmonic Choirs concert in Gloucster Cathedral, we drove directly to London Heathrow Airport where we said goodbye to Joan Ishibashi and waited for our FinnAir flight to Helsinki. Bill Potter and I went to use the facilities and both of us were so surprised at the choice of music — in the men’s room, they were playing excerpts of the opera Turandot, and in the women’s room, there was a recording of a beautiful men and boys’ choir singing Gabriel Fauré’s In paradisum from the Requiem! Not your everyday bathroom music!

I did want to say something about the exceptional place where we stayed in Cheltenham for one night. I had booked our stay around Gloucester shy of the last night and needed a place to sleep for the night before we left. I found this great 3-bedroom, 4-bathroom house in Cheltenham, about 10 miles away, which was extremely pleasant and comfortable for us three!

By the time we arrived at our hotel, the clock struck midnight when we checked in. This morning, after eating at the hotel breakfast buffet, we bought a one-day pass for all public transportation—the tram stop is directly in front of our hotel—and soon we arrived at the Helsinki Cathedral (Lutheran). The order of the service was very familiar (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) with the usual readings and holy communion. There are apparently three pipe organs: the main one as pictured in the slideshown below is a 57-stop Marcussen built in 1967, a 12-stop choir organ, and a 16-stop organ in the crypt. The organist played music by César Franck and Louis Vierne, and there was a male cantor. I was a little surprised by the number of people in church —a lot more than I expected, since I heard that the attendance is very poor in Scandinavian churches. I would guess that there were about 60 people, but of course, this building is huge, and could accommodate a lot more.

Signs of Hawaiian Life in the Universe: On our way back to the hotel, we saw a man wearing an Eddie Aikau T-shirt on the tram! For those who don’t know, Eddie Aikau was a celebrated Hawaiian surfer and lifeguard who lost his life when he was a member of the ill-fated Hokulea Polynesian Voyaging Canoe in 1978. Now they hold Eddie Aikau surfing competitions when the waves reach a certain height.

In the afternoon, we went to two museums: the first was a museum of money and the other a museum of Helsinki from its earliest days.

Tonight we attended a wonderful organ recital by Elke Voelker back at the Helsinki Cathedral, and she made the organ sound absolutely glorious. She opened the program with the Chromatic Fantasy of Bach, then followed it with works by Max Reger, Louis Vierne, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Felix Mendelssohn, Josef Rheinberger and Charles-Marie Widor. She had absolute command of the instrument and brought out many tone colors.

Elke Voelker has been a prizewinner in several international organ competitions including the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the “Internationaler Orgelwettbeweb Dom zu Speyer.” Since then her international success has established her excellent reputation as on fo the most demanded organists, which led to an extensive worldwide concert and teaching career.