This coming weekend is the Early Music Hawaii season opener, called “Portuguese Polyphony,” Saturday night, Sept. 19 at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, 7:30 pm.

The Early Music Hawaii Ensemble presents a rare opportunity to experience the luminous sacred music of Renaissance Portugal in a program of richly expressive polyphony by some of the Iberian Peninsula’s finest composers.

Our fearless leader, Scott Fikse, assigned three different choral conductors to direct the rehearsal at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church: Erica Glenn, Bowe Souza, and Nicholas Lee. Under their direction, the choir is already sounding fantastic! And the music is absolutely sublime and beautiful.

As usual I have been busy practicing (I will be playing four solo organ works, in addition to a duet with Philip Gottling on tenor recorder), going to rehearsals, as well as working behind the scenes, preparing the season brochure, postcards, and the program booklet, which this season will also include advertisements from supporters.

Click here for a sneak peek at the program.

You can buy tickets at the Early Music Hawaii website.

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It’s been a week since the Wedding of the Year between Michael Dupre and Yuko Nakagawa, and my heart is still warm from the beautiful and elegant ceremony and music. I think what made the biggest impression on me was how the present and former St. Mark’s choristers (maybe 30-40 people) rose from their seats to sing Palestrina’s “Sicut cervus,” certainly one of the most sublime musical compositions ever. This followed Elina Hamilton’s reading of the first lesson in Japanese (I learned that she grew up in Japan and attended a regular Japanese school.)

In Father Paul Lillie’s homily, he recounted that the parish had followed their entire romance, which began years and years ago, and how the church is finally rejoicing in their marriage!

I also liked the choice of hymns: Es ist ein Ros ensprungen (Lo, how a rose e’er blooming), Ubi caritas, and Land of Rest. With all those choristers in attendance, the singing was rich and full, and I especially liked hearing all the singing in parts on “Lo, how a Rose.”

My former student, Steven Severin, and his wife, Erin, came to Hawaii for the wedding from their present home in Delaware. Steven was formerly the organist of St. Mark’s and it was a pleasant surprise to see them.

Congratulations to the happy couple!