I’m soon to get on the plane to Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, almost 170 miles away from Honolulu, to perform with the Kona Choral Society on their annual Handel Messiah concert, Sunday, December 4th at the Sheraton Kona Resort. This will be my fourth year performing with this group
On the first half of the program is the Bach Magnificat in D, a piece I have played at least half a dozen times. You may remember the very first time played the organ continuo part was in college and I’ll never forget the conductor, whose gestures looked more like he was a pitcher at a baseball game, especially for the cutoffs!
Another memorable performance was in 1983 when a December 1982 performance had to be postponed till the following spring. That was because I was pregnant at the time and my baby, instead of coming on Dec.31st, decided to make an appearance in mid- November instead. So in the ensuing spring, I was nursing during the Magnificat week and that fact appeared in the newspaper gossip column along with publicity for the concert.
This time, there are no baseball pitch cutoffs and no baby to nurse, so I’m off to Kona with just my concert clothes and my organ shoes.