That’s what superstar organist, Ken Cowan, received at last Sunday night’s concert at St. Andrew’s Cathedral and I’m so sorry that I didn’t do more to publicize his recital through this blog so that more of you could have attended his fantastic program. His program showed not only all the colors of the Aeolian-Skinner organ, but also his great technical and musical prowess. His wife, Lisa Shihoten, a brilliant violin virtuoso, played the “Chaconne in G minor” by Tommaso Antonio Vitali and completely brought down the house and the audience to their feet. Ken is presently Associate Professor of Organ at Westminster Choir College (my alma mater) but will be moving to Rice University in Houston this coming fall.

By the way, the concert was a kickoff to the John McCreary Concert Fund of the American Guild of Organists, in tribute to his many contributions to the musical life of Hawaii. John was of course the Organist-Choirmaster of St. Andrew’s Cathedral for many decades, was my immediate predecessor at Iolani School and even sang in the LCH Compline Choir for several years.

I had gotten a telephone call in the afternoon from the Governor’s security detail, asking for a front row seat, so I gave them John Renke’s phone number to make sure that Governor Abercrombie would have a good seat. We were so pleased that Abercrombie publicly announced that he was giving $500 to the John McCreary Concert Fund, to perpetuate high quality organ recitals in Hawaii.

As to my “silence” for the last week or so, the fact of the matter is, we are in the middle of another renovation to our condo, and I moved my computer to the other side of the apartment. Wouldn’t you know it, as soon as it was moved, we lost all contact to the internet. I was sure that everything was plugged in correctly and when I called our service provider, I was told that the problem was the modem — it died and they would send me another one right away.

Five days later, we’re connected again, and I must confess that these days of being cut off were frustrating, yet somehow liberating! I’ll be back to blogging on a more regular basis again.