This is just a reminder that this coming Sunday, October 5th at 5:30 pm, Carl Crosier will be remembered at Evensong at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. He specifically requested that the Herbert Howells Gloucester service be sung.

I am also posting John Renke’s remembrance of Carl here (written shortly after he died):

Much has been and will be written about the life of Carl Crosier. I’d like to add my own personal account of a colleague and dear friend—Cantor at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu for thirty-six years, and comptroller and business manager of St. Andrew’s Priory for twenty-eight years.

When I arrived in Honolulu in 2007, I had already heard much about Carl’s years of faithful service at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. What really began to build our friendship was the annual combined Evensong with the Cathedral Choir and the Lutheran Church of Honolulu Choir. We chose music that would make the most of our two choirs, and fill the cathedral with glorious praise. The third of those Evensongs was on February 7, 2010. We performed Herbert Howells’ setting of the Evening Canticles written for Gloucester Cathedral—Carl’s favorite setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis.

After Carl’s retirement “marathon” from the Lutheran Church of Honolulu (which included the Monteverdi Vespers and the Bach B minor Mass!) he took a well-deserved year “off” before taking a countertenor position in the St. Andrew’s Cathedral Choir. He was, of course, a quintessential countertenor and, I think, really enjoyed being on the other end of the baton!

I was with Carl and his wife, Kathy, when he received the last rites of the Church last Wednesday. The priest talked with us about Carl’s lifetime of work in the service of the Church and said, with a smile, that he had certainly earned his “reward” in the kingdom of heaven! The next day, Carl died peacefully, with Kathy and his sister, Carol, at his side.

Carl and I came to share a friendship late in our lives, one that I will treasure to my own dying day. I’m so very grateful for the music and the friendship we shared these past seven years.

Carl’s Funeral Mass will be at St. Theresa’s Church (712 N School St.) at 10 am on September 6th. Music before the service will begin at 9.30 am. Carl made all the arrangements for his funeral, including a women’s schola, composed of Cathedral Choir and Lutheran Church of Honolulu sopranos and altos, singing the Gregorian Chant propers of the Funeral Mass.

Evensong will be sung in his memory at St. Andrew’s Cathedral on October 5th at 5.30 pm. At Carl’s request, the Cathedral Choir will be singing the Herbert Howells Gloucester Service, the same service we did together in February 2010.

May his soul rest in peace, and may light perpetual shine upon him.

John Renke
Director of Music