— Organists and Organ Playing —

The Bach Chamber Choir

August 1, 2013
Each chorister has his or her name on the music.
Each chorister has his or her name on the music.

I wanted to tell you a little about the Bach Chamber Choir which is the ensemble joining me in my upcoming Great Eighteen Chorales concerts. Here is a description of the group as printed in the program:

The Bach Chamber Choir is a professional ensemble consisting of some of Honolulu’s finest choral artists, many of whom are vocal soloists in their own right. The group usually meets only for a single rehearsal to prepare works, as is the case for these concerts. Founded in 1979 by Carl Crosier, the choir has performed with the Hawaii Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Music Hawaii, the Honolulu Symphony and the Bach Chamber Orchestra.

For this concert, the choir will include: Georgine Stark and Emily Haswell, sopranos; Naomi Castro and Padraic Costello, altos; Guy Merola and Paul Beck, tenors; and Keane Ishii and David Del Rocco, basses.

No question about what they will wear — Black, of course!

On July 31st (one day before our August 1st deadline!) we distributed the choral editions (40 pages worth!) to the Bach Chamber Choir members for them to study before our one and only rehearsal on August 17th. (Believe me, these are true professionals and will come to the rehearsal with the notes already learned!) 

You mean I did all that work for nothing?
You mean I did all that work for nothing? Kalmus has the chorales printed with the German texts!

It took me nearly four weeks to compile the choral editions. We used Bach’s own chorale settings for the bulk of it, and in cases where there were not multiple chorale settings by Bach, we included settings by other Lutheran composers that might have been used in Bach’s time. Then, look what came in the mail just a day ago!

The first of my Bach concerts is on August 18th and is now only a little over two weeks away. I’ve been busy sticking on address labels and stamps on the postcards which will go out in tomorrow’s mail. I’ve also sent another round of news releases to the media as well as to the American Guild of Organists members and friends.

If you’re on FaceBook, you can RSVP to the Event I created: Bach MasterWorks: The Great Eighteen Chorales and you can invite your friends to attend.

Click here to buy tickets online.

As Carl instructed the choir: It will be wonderful to collaborate on this extraordinary music with such fine musicians. The organ works are true masterworks of the organ choral literature and does anyone harmonize a chorale melody better than Johann Sebastian Bach? It will be a special treat to share this great music with our community. Thanks for being willing to be a part of it.