For months now, the marquee on the Hawaii Theatre Center has read:

You get the vaccine… you get the concerts!

And so, after 20 months of no live concerts, the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra held its first concert since the pandemic! Oh, it meant that everyone in the audience had to show their vaccination cards at the front door as well as being masked.

However, rather than being at Blaisdell Concert Hall, the concerts for the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra this season will be held at the Hawaii Theatre. For me, it’s super convenient, being located only two blocks from my condo. No need to drive around and look for free parking on the street, as I used to do when for years and years when Symphony concerts were held at Blaisdell—now I can just walk!

Tonight’s concert was called “The Firebird,” which was the last piece on the program. Ironic … because the temperature inside the theater was a downright “meat locker”— freezing cold! I did bring a light sweater, but next time I’m going to wear my fleece jacket! The Symphony’s rendition of this piece was simply magnificent.

Some other things were unusual for today’s concert. When it rolled around to 4:00 pm, the stage was empty, and a few minutes later, the orchestra for Darius Milhaud’s “The Creation of the World,” filed in, then tuned. None of the usual pre-concert cacophony of everyone warming up and practicing. I must admit I really liked this — this is the practice in Europe which to me is much more civilized and elegant. I think that the pre-concert warmup on stage common to American orchestras is like “combing your hair in front of the audience.” For the Milhaud, all the solos were done with the instrumentalist standing, then when the solo was over, he or she sat down.

There were no printed programs, just a link to the digital program which I read on my phone. This seems to be the wave of the future—just as we frequent restaurants which no longer hand out menus—instead there is a QR code which brings up a digital menu. So it goes for concerts, too—having digital programs sure saves on the cost of printing, but it feels a little strange having my phone in my hand instead of a program.

In many past years, the symphony season has always begun with the Star Spangled Banner and the Hawaii State Anthem (“Hawai‘i Pono‘i”) to which people stood and sang. I was expecting something similar today but it was at the beginning of the second half of the program, the orchestra played two highly attractive, and somewhat impressionistic arrangements of the national and state anthems. Some people stood, but many people stayed seated. I’m guessing this was because these were not standard harmonizations and arrangements. Or, maybe it was because they didn’t want anyone to sing (because of the pandemic) that they programmed these two arrangements. In any event, I was wondering who the arranger was, because I really, really liked these arrangements!

The featured guest soloist was Demarre McGill, whose flute playing on the Mozart, “Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major, K. 313” was simply extraordinary. Never have I heard a flute played with such a mellow and beautiful tone. According to the program, Demarre McGill has gained international recognition as a soloist, recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician. He is now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony.

The conductor tonight, Scott Yoo, is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Mexico City Philharmonic and the Music Director of Festival Mozaic. (I wonder if he speaks Spanish?) He was absolutely terrific! He is also the Host and Executive Producer of the all-new PBS series “Now Hear This,” the first show about classical music on American primetime TV in 50 years. I understand he is also a violinist who has appeared as soloist with the Boston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, New World Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

This morning was also the first time I played for church in person in months! Previous to this I pre-recorded my prelude, introit, postlude and hymns. As I’ve said before, playing in person for me is actually a lot easier than recording myself which usually involves multiple takes. A number of people came up to me after the service and said, “It’s so nice to hear you play in person!” Aw, shucks!

Which brings up another “live music” possibility — Just last week I was telling my organist friend, Jieun Kim Newland, that I really needed a project. Well, now I have one! Next March 21, 2022 will be Johann Sebastian Bach’s 337th birthday, and Jieun and I will again join forces to present an all-Bach concert. We will each be playing solo organ pieces, including a couple of duets as we did in our Dueling Bach concert of January 2020. However, next year we will be adding several works with solo oboe and solo violin = organ plus! Stay tuned!

That birthday concert will be part of a whole week devoted to the pipe organ in Hawaii, an organ mini-festival if you will, with guest organists Katelyn Emerson and Alcee Chriss. More information will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, put Monday, March 21, 2022 on your calendars!

Of course, when I saw Jieun in El Paso, Texas, last week, neither of us knew that this concert was going to happen! We planned it after I came home!