Actually, we should have started this blog in 1972, when Carl Crosier became the organist of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Little did he know, nor did the congregation know, what to expect when he was hired in December of that year, as to what kind of insanity would ensue over the next thirty-seven years. (We are in fact going to start another blog documenting the musical highlights and details of every concert and vesper program that has been held, at least since the year 1972.)

Ten years ago, when we presented two historic performances of Bach’s monumental St. Matthew Passion, I was remarking to Pastor David Barber that I thought we were absolutely insane to consider taking on such a herculean project. He then used it in his Easter Day sermon that year, suggesting that perhaps “A congregation of this size has no business dreaming such big dreams.”

Today, though, we are at another crossroads, and therefore the reason for this blog, a behind-the-scenes look at Carl Crosier’s final season at LCH, as he has announced his retirement as of August 2011. Anyone who knows Carl knows that he certainly won’t go out with a whimper! As our colleague John McCreary says, “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing!”

The bookends of the season will be Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 and Bach’s Mass in B Minor. For years now, when Carl’s been asked, “Well, when are you going to schedule the B-Minor?” he has replied, “When I schedule it, you’ll know it’s my swan song!” At this point, though, the Monteverdi is scheduled for November 5th and 7th, 2010 and the Bach is slated for May 13 and 14, 2011. Carl’s last service is scheduled for August 21, 2011 and tentatively he is planning to conduct Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass as the Ordinary. In between we’ll do our annual Advent Procession service, several Bach cantatas with orchestra, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on Christmas Eve, Fauré’s Messe Basse on Christmas Day, and a few Vespers thrown in here and there among all the usual Sunday services.

It’s going to be another year of insanity.