If there is any way you could spend an hour (really, 59 minutes and 10 seconds!) between now and Christmas, I invite you to watch this fascinating BBC video about how George Frideric Handel composed Messiah to raise money to support the Foundling Hospital. Based on my offhand comments in my last post on Handel being… Read More The story behind Messiah
This weekend I am looking forward to joining the Kona Choral Society in their performance of Schubert, Mass in G and Handel, Messiah on Sunday, Dec. 7th at 4:00 pm at the Sheraton Keauhou Resort. The concert marks the choir’s 25th anniversary with the same program it sang 25 years ago. Although the chorus numbers… Read More On to Kona
It’s hard to believe, but it has already been three months since my husband of 37 years, Carl Crosier, joined the heavenly chorus. And still — I continue to receive sympathy cards and monies directed to his three favorite charities: The Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, The Lutheran Church of Honolulu, and Early Music Hawaii. To date,… Read More Filled with gratitude
What could be more simple? Just turning the page from one to the next while someone else plays the music. Judging from the number of comments I received on my post about the Arvo Pärt piece I played last week for the University of Hawaii chorus concert, page-turning is not so simple and there is a… Read More The perils of page-turning
Over the last twenty years, I have worked with my colleague at Iolani School, choral conductor John Alexander. Up to last year, I accompanied only the Lower School Choir which sings for chapel every Friday, but last year I became the organ accompanist for the entire 150-voice school-wide chorus for their Christmas and Spring concerts. (I still play for the… Read More Honoring John Alexander
Two of the pieces I’m playing in tonight’s University of Hawaii chorus concert are old friends, but the third, “Credo” from Arvo Pärt’s Missa Syllabica, is completely new and the most challenging for me. Tonight’s program will be held at St. Andrew’s Cathedral at 7:30 pm and will feature parts of the mass all composed by… Read More Tintinnabuli
You know the three “R”s, don’t you? Reduce, Reuse and Recycle — well, now that I’m a free-lance organist, I am definitely doing my part. Since I am playing for different “congregations” throughout the week, I am using the same music over and over for different situations. In fact, I counted up five — count… Read More Recycled!
Had he lived, today would have been Peter Hallock’s 90th birthday. For the last 15 years, my husband Carl spent every November 19th in the Seattle area, to help Peter celebrate his birthday. You may recall that it was on Peter’s 85th birthday that the two of us flew to Seattle with about 8 boxes of… Read More Happy Birthday, Peter!
Either that, or I have a hole in my head! This morning I was happily reading my email messages, and I opened up the one from the Cathedral of St. Andrew. There I read about the concerts that are happening there this weekend, including this note about myself: This Sunday we are blessed to have… Read More When it rains, it pours
This week I have been spending lots of time practicing on the Aeolian-Skinner organ in anticipation of being the organ substitute for four services at St. Andrew’s Cathedral this Sunday. In so doing, I have coordinated my practice schedule with Karol Nowicki, the Music Program Manager, who according to the St. Andrew’s website: “Working directly with… Read More Karol Nowicki and the EMH Choir