This morning began early with a Dean’s meeting at 7:00 am, and although I’m not the Dean of the Hawaii American Guild of Organists, I was sent by the chapter to represent them since I am the only person from Hawaii at this Region IX Convention. It seems that getting young people interested in the… Read More Introducing the organ to children
Tonight we heard UCLA organist, Christoph Bull, originally from Mannheim, Germany, play at the First Presbyterian Church where we heard Hector Olivera play last night. His bio said he has played in venues ranging from Catholic cathedrals of Moscow, Saint-Denis, Salzburg, and Los Angeles to Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, and rock clubs like… Read More Nine Bach fugues
Today was the official opening of the Region IX Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Bakersfield, CA. Everyone is telling us that we are extremely lucky that it is not a typical June day in Bakersfield — the weather is much cooler than normal — perhaps in the high 80s. By the end… Read More A handbell choir of one
Last night’s pre-convention event featured organist Hector Olivera in a concert that defied conventional organ recitals. The concert was held at the First Presbyterian Church in Bakersfield, a mega-church complex with a number of large buildings. The 43-rank Austin organ was augmented with 180 digital ranks, and it turned out I was sitting amidst the… Read More The organist as entertainer
I am now in Bakersfield, CA where I came a day early to be a judge at the AGO/Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists (RCYO). I was most impressed with the organization of the competition — each judge was given a three-ring binder with the complete set of rules, note paper, repertoire lists, and evaluation… Read More A day of competition
Word has been received that Andrew Eckard has lost his battle with a brain tumor. From the time he joined the Honolulu Symphony in 1996 as Associate Principal Cellist, Drew was also a member of the Bach Chamber Orchestra and played for nearly all of our performances. The last one was in May 2011 when… Read More RIP Andrew Eckard
I meant to say something about the audience at the Boston Early Music Festival which we attended last week — and I wanted to tell you how extraordinarily quiet they were. Not one cell phone went off in the twenty-two concerts I attended, and never did I hear anyone even whispering during the performances. No… Read More The concert audience
We are home for just four days before we take off again for California and Indiana on Friday. I will be attending a convention for the American Guild of Organists (AGO) in Bakersfield, CA and the national biennial conference of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM) in Valparaiso, IN. We had just walked in… Read More Sneak preview
As we knew from past Festivals, the 2013 Boston Early Music Festival was going to be nothing short of extraordinary — in the wide variety and extremely high level of the performances, the huge number of international performers, and total number of concerts. Even the music festivals that we go to in Europe don’t compare… Read More Nothing short of phenomenal
Our last concert of the Boston Early Music Festival (my 22nd!) was a four-hour extravaganza, an opera by George Frideric Handel, called Almira in the beautiful Cutler Majestic Theatre. An all-star international cast assembled by Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, with stage director Gilbert Blin, put on a musical feast for both the eyes and… Read More Handel Opera a triumph