One of the most moving and solemn services of the entire year happens on Good Friday and begins with a silent procession continued from the end of the Maundy Thursday liturgy. It is the one service for which the choir wears only cassocks, no cottas. Nearly the entire service is sung, and all a cappella… Read More A moving Good Friday
Today is Maundy Thursday, the beginning of our four-day marathon (The Three Days plus Easter Day). The choir will meet tonight for rehearsal at 6:15, followed by the service at 7:30 pm. For some reason, it doesn’t seem like it will be so horrendous this year. I guess it’s because this is probably the first… Read More The marathon begins
As of yesterday, there were only 17 Preferred Seats left on Friday, and 16 Preferred Seats left for Saturday, of our performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor! General seating is still available, though, so if you don’t have your reservations in, please go to our website: www.lchwelcome.org/music2010. The church office is also taking reservations,… Read More Going, going, GONE!
“Well, Carl, what are you going to cook this year?” For the last 18 years, Carl has provided dinner for the choir and the participants in the Easter Vigil. In the years BEFORE his 1992 sabbatical, we used to start the Easter Vigil at 11:00 pm and the service ended at 1 am or later!… Read More The Last Supper
It’s the Monday in Holy Week, and we always have our dress rehearsal for Easter Day with the instrumentalists. This year’s big Easter anthem is by Peter Hallock (“Exsultate Deo”) and is new to all of us, even though it was written in 1989. There are three soloists: Rachel Lentz, soprano; Allen Bauchle, tenor; and… Read More Spectacularly WILD!
From 1993 to 2009 we would always get a card from England about this time of the year. Even though it would come every year, somehow it was always a delightful surprise, probably because we are always so embroiled in Holy Week and Easter rehearsals and services. The card was an Easter card from Morag… Read More The kindness of a stranger
All season, Carl Crosier has maintained a mental list: The Last Reformation Day — Check! The Last Advent Procession — Check! The Last Christmas Eve — Check! The Last Christmas Day — Check! The Last German Vespers — Check! The Last Joint Evensong — Check! And now we have come to Holy Week and Easter, Carl’s last as Cantor of the… Read More The List of Lasts
It’s the week before Holy Week, and Allen Bauchle and I always look at each other, and ask the question, “Well, what are we going to play this year?” He and I have performed together on trumpet and organ every Easter Sunday for the last twenty years. It was over 20 years ago that Carl… Read More Allen Bauchle, Assistant Choirmaster
In the last few days, the buzz in the local media has been full of stories about the Symphony Exploratory Committee — a group of business professionals dedicated to the belief that having symphonic music in Hawaii is critical to its artistic and economic vitality. Just yesterday, it was announced that the SEC has… Read More Bach Chamber Orchestra
This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday (Sunday of the Passion), and the service begins outside in the courtyard. The choir will sing a setting of “Hosanna to the son of David,” (this year by Hutchings) and I’m always amazed at how resonant they sound outdoors. Then the whole congregation will walk around the outside of… Read More Palm Sunday Parade