Founded in 1966, the Honolulu Chorale, one of the longest-performing community choruses in the state of Hawaii, will hold its Annual Musical Event and Joe McAlister Award Dinner at the Honolulu Country Club tomorrow night. This year’s honoree is our colleague, John Renke, and you’ll never guess who was asked to be the speaker! Egad, little ‘ol… Read More Jubilate! honors John Renke
My former student, Joey Fala, will be playing an organ recital at the Washington National Cathedral this Sunday, February 26 at 5:15 pm. I took a screen shot of the web page, but if you would like to see it for yourself, click here. This week we also received the postcards promoting Joey’s concerts in Hawaii, which… Read More If you’re in D.C. this weekend …
I spent the weekend in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, playing harpsichord in the Early Music Hawaii concert. After a mad dash to the airport after teaching organ lessons on Saturday morning, I arrived in Kona and was taken immediately to the concert venue, the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, where the rehearsal… Read More Out of my comfort zone
On Saturday night, I fell off the organ platform after the Early Music Concert and sprained my ankle (see my post “Swan dive!“). Witness this text conversation between Georgine Stark and me today. In case you don’t know, classically trained organists use BOTH feet to play the pedals and turn their noses up at amateurs… Read More My left foot
Drum roll, please … Here is the video for fantastic Joey Fala at the Woolsey Hall organ at Yale University for his graduate organ recital! Here’s the program, with notes found on the internet: Edward Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance, March No. 4 in G Major, op. 39 This is a transcription of one of Elgar’s… Read More Joey Fala at Woolsey Hall
How many times have I stepped off the organ platform at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu? A zillion times, to be sure. But tonight after the Early Music Hawaii concert (which went very well, by the way), I misjudged the distance to the floor. The next thing I knew, my eyes were face to face… Read More Swan dive!
Ever since I returned from my mainland trip, I have had to hit the ground running. For the last three nights I have rehearsed with the Early Music Hawaii Chamber Singers for our concert tomorrow night, 7:30 pm at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. It has made for some very long days, each beginning with… Read More Kings and Queens
This morning I’m watching the news about the big snowstorm in the Northeast—I guess I left just in the nick of time! It was the first time I took a nonstop flight directly to Honolulu from Newark—11-1/2 hours, in which I watched five movies! In case you’re wondering, no, I never sleep on flights, even… Read More In the news
Tonight was former student Joey Fala’s final graduate recital at Woolsey Hall, Yale University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Music degree. Being here has been the greatest thrill of my life, as it must have been Joey’s greatest thrill of playing on this magnificent organ. First, about the organ: The… Read More Absolutely magnificent!
Chills ran up and down my spine as I sat in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the Green, in Norwalk, CT, where former student, Joey Fala, is the Organ Scholar. For me hearing him play a liturgical service, masterfully improvising on the hymn tunes which either came before or after the various parts of the… Read More Sunday at St. Paul’s