Yesterday morning we took an Uber to meet Nacho at the Parque Rodó, not far from our hotel. The Uber ride was amazingly cheap, about $4 one way. The Parque Rodó is a large public space with a central lake and an open-air stage. The park also features a castle, a gazebo, an Andalusian-style patio… Read More Sightseeing day in Montevideo
On our walking tour of the old city on Wednesday, I neglected to mention that we also made a short visit to the Catedral Montevideo. It is located right in front of the Cabildo across Constitution Square, in the neighborhood of Ciudad Vieja. Did you know what organists do when they walk into a large… Read More Organs and cemeteries
After two redeye flights with zero sleep (because of an ear worm of the “Hallelujah Chorus” stuck in my head!), a 12-hour layover in Houston, plus another 9 hour layover in Buenos Aires, we finally arrived in Montevideo. We were met at the airport by our Spanish teacher, Ignacio “Nacho” Medina and went out for… Read More ¡Aquí estamos! Here we are!
Will they or won’t they? What I’m talking about is my Easter Day postlude this year—I will be playing an arrangement of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus for organ and three trumpets, no choir. Tradition has it that people stand for the Hallelujah Chorus, because “it’s tradition.” At the end of the service, the pastor gives the… Read More Will they? Or won’t they?
If you had told me even four years ago that I would begin an intensive study of Spanish and end up flying from Honolulu to Buenos Aires and Montevideo to meet my Spanish teachers I never would have believed you. But here I am, sitting at the Daniel Inouye International Airport waiting for a flight… Read More Aloha, Honolulu! ¡Hola, Montevideo y Buenos Aires!
As I was driving home from the airport this afternoon, having taught organ lessons on Kauai, the traffic was absolutely wretched. I had decided to take Dillingham Boulevard (surface streets) instead of staying on the freeway, which I immediately found out was a bad decision! There are lanes closed off due to the ongoing construction… Read More In love with Requiems
Last night I stayed up late, to take advantage of Priority Booking for reserving tickets for the Three Choirs Festival, billed as “the world’s finest choral music.” The booking office opened at 10:00 am in Gloucester, UK, which is 11:00 pm in Hawaii. I logged onto my computer at 10:55 pm and didn’t finish booking… Read More Three Choirs, here we come!
It seems hard to believe that it’s been exactly 23 years to the day since my husband Carl Crosier conducted Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Matthäuspassion (St. Matthew Passion) in two ground-breaking performances, March 31-April 1, 2000. Carl’s passion for the work started when I was pregnant with my son, Stephen, and I experienced problems with… Read More A Passion for BWV 244
Last night was the first of two performances of the Fauré Requiem by the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble, conducted by Tim Carney, with soloists Martina Bingham and Buz Tennent. This was by far the biggest concert crowd since the pandemic, and people even sat in the chairs above the board room (which I don’t think… Read More All things French
Last week, I had an email exchange with Ian Capps, president of Early Music Hawaii, about the William Byrd concert, which now had originally been scheduled for April and now is been rescheduled to May. Thinking that I could get ahead on the project, I set up the ticket program a couple of weeks ago,… Read More No rest for the wicked