[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG2oT89aclQ?rel=0&w=640&h=360] We decided to attend the Palm Sunday service at St. James Episcopal Church (also called “Saint James’ in the City”) on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and not to our surprise, the service began outdoors in the school courtyard next door. Luckily, the weather was absolutely beautiful, cool and crisp. After the opening… Read More A Korean Palm Sunday procession
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA5bszpcbxM?rel=0] The ceremony began with a chant by the priest. This weekend we have been in Los Angeles, attending the wedding of our good friend, Joan Ishibashi to Kantila Vaghela, which has turned out to be a mini-reunion of LCH folks! Those of you who know Joan, however, will understand why it is that… Read More Mini-Reunion
This Sunday it’s the Sunday of the Passion, or Palm Sunday, meaning that the end of Lent is upon us — and it’s going to be the end of my Lenten discipline of getting up early to practice Bach’s Great Eighteen Chorales, also called The Leipzig Chorales. I sometimes have felt like “a thief in… Read More Like a thief in the night
The world yesterday was abuzz with the words spoken at the Vatican: Habemus Papam “We have a pope.” So it is somewhat coincidental that the following announcement was made by the Lutheran Church of Honolulu office: Organ Recital with Selected Candidate Wednesday, March 20, 5:45 pm After much prayer and deliberation over materials from and… Read More Ironic switcheroo!
Extraordinary. That’s the only way I can describe this whirlwind weekend with 24-year-old concert organist, Nathan Laube, here in Hawaii on spring break from his studies at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, Germany. From the time we picked Nathan up from his flight from Boston, where he had just given a concert at Harvard Memorial Chapel,… Read More Extraordinary
This week we are hosting organist, Nathan Laube, while he prepares for the Eighth Annual Organ Concert at Central Union Church, Sunday, March 10th at 4 pm. You may have seen the promotional postcard which shows Nathan at the American Cathedral in Paris where he is Artist-in-Residence. If you read the back of the postcard,… Read More Commuter organist
Some photos of the young Barack Obama in Hawaii have surfaced recently, and one in particular caught my eye. It was a picture of President Obama in his ninth grade class at Punahou School — and the school is directly across the street from the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. In fact you can see the… Read More Just across the street!
My husband, Carl, just came back from a ten-day business trip to Philadelphia and Boston but took the opportunity to meet up with some long-lost friends — some of whom he had not seen in DECADES and all who had some connection to the Lutheran Church of Honolulu and its music program. When he found… Read More Reaching into the distant past
This afternoon was the annual Children’s Benefit Concert at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu — always presented during Lent which not only showcases the talented children of LCH but also raises money for a good cause. For the past seven years the beneficiary has been Heifer International, but this year the concert planners decided to… Read More A surprise performer!
When I read about the death today of French organist, Marie-Claire Alain, I got a huge lump in my throat. You see, for the past three weeks, I have incessantly played her recordings of Bach’s Great Eighteen chorales over and over and over again. I have the CD in my car, and whenever I’m out… Read More Marie-Claire Alain, 1926-2013