I just finished the program layout for Early Music Hawaii’s next visiting artists, Ensemble Mirable, whose concerts will be this coming Thursday, April 16 in Kealakekua and Saturday, April 18 at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Guests artists are Dan Laurin on recorder and Jin Kim, baroque violin, and other instrumentalists include JungHae Kim, harpsichord; Joanna Blendulf, cello and Kevin Cooper, guitar.

It’s always amazing to me to see and hear a virtuoso on the recorder, since it is an instrument that many children learn. According to Wikipedia, “The recorder is often used in teaching the rudiments of music, as it is cheap to buy and relatively easy to play at a certain level of accomplishment (although its mastery is as demanding as that of any other instrument).” Dan Laurin is even on the Wikipedia’s list of “Notable Recorder Players.” So I was happy to find several videos of Dan Laurin on YouTube, where he has been called “The Olympus of recorder players.” Here is his performance of Les Folies d’Espagne by Marin Marais, which will be performed on the concert.

Another guest artist, Jin Kim, was a pioneer of early music in Korea. From the program, “Since 1993, she has been a member of the baroque orchestra La Petite Bande in Belgium and performed in Europe, South America and Japan, as well as participating in recordings. Ms. Kim founded the baroque ensemble Musica Glorifica in 2002 and has been working to present 17th-18th century repertoires with a new spiritual depth. She appears as a soloist and ensemble player throughout Europe, Asia and the U.S. Ms. Kim was a winner of the Yamanashi International Early Music Composition in Japan and received honorable mention at the Brugge Early Music Competition in Belgium. She was named musician of the year at the Tochigi Early Music Festival.” She currently plays a violin made in 1656 by Jacob Stainer.

I found an unusual video of Jin playing J. S. Bach’s Sonata for Violin and Basso Continuo in G Major, BWV 1021 — unusual because it looks like the cello is played not with the player seated, but standing!

Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at www.earlymusichawaii.com.