Today is Reformation Day and I wanted to share with you the visit of Martin Luther (aka John Bickel) to the Iolani School campus this week. John, a history teacher and long-time LCH member, recreates characters from the past such as Saint Francis of Assisi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Napoleon Bonaparte, etc. and makes them come alive… Read More Speaking of Martin Luther
There was an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe last week titled, “Save the church! kill the organs” and it naturally elicited a lot of response from organists and parishioners alike. The author, Jennifer Graham, associated music coming out of an organ to that of a horror movie, and had the nerve to blame organ… Read More Don’t blame the organ!
I can’t believe it! What a terrible loss! That was my first reaction when I read the news on FaceBook about the death of Yoshi Nishimura, considered THE piano technician in Honolulu. Chances are, not many people in the pews and the concert hall audiences knew about this quiet, unassuming man. But I dare say… Read More Aloha, Yoshi
This Sunday is Reformation, one of my favorite Lutheran festivals in the whole church year because it’s a day that I inevitably play Bach. I’ll be playing Bach’s Prelude in E minor, BWV 548a for the prelude and the Prelude and Fugue in E minor (“Cathedral”) BWV 533 for the postlude. During communion, I’ll be… Read More Bach to basics for Reformation
I don’t know whether it’s the fact that we live on an island, or whether it’s a sign of modern life, but it seems like we are always saying ‘goodbye’ to someone. Certainly over the years, the personnel in the choir has changed greatly, as well as the people in the congregation. Some of those… Read More Always saying goodbye
No, that’s not a typo. I’m referring to Jakob Handl (1550-1591), also known as Jacobus Gallus and even Jacobus Handelius, a Slovenian composer who wrote a lot of sacred music and whose music the LCH choir is singing this Sunday. Named Jakob Petelin at birth (meaning “rooster”), Handl used the Latin form of his name… Read More “Handl” with care
No visit to the Northwest would be complete without a visit with composer Peter Hallock, which is exactly what we did a couple of weeks ago when we went for a family funeral. The weekend we were there, Peter had just completed a most prestigious commission — a new anthem called “Advent Calendar” which will… Read More A visit with Peter Hallock
Part of what made the past Gabrieli concert so nerve-wracking and challenging was the fact that as the continuo organist I didn’t have a written-out part. You may remember in previous posts that I wrote about the basso continuo having to read from “figured bass,” a kind of musical shorthand. However, in most of this… Read More Open score Gabrieli
What a week itʻs been! but now that it’s Monday as I write this, we can feel the afterglow of the Glorious Gabrieli concert on September 29th, which on all accounts, was a glorious success. A bunch of LCHers were either involved in the concert (Darel & Georgine Stark, Karyn Castro, Jeremy Wong, Miguel Felipe,… Read More Glorious Gabrieli was glorious!
One of my favorite choral anthems will be sung by the LCH Choir this week but unfortunately we’ll be in Bremerton, WA, celebrating the life of Carl’s stepfather, Edwin Runquist, who died last weekend. The anthem will be “The Lamb,” by contemporary British composer, John Tavener (b. 1944), and you can view a YouTube video… Read More The Lamb