Tonight was the third choral rehearsal for the Bach Mass in B Minor, and Carl says that the choir now has gone through every piece at least once. Even though there were a number of people missing, Carl still had to remind people not to oversing. “We only have continuo accompaniment in many sections, and… Read More Week 3: It’s coming together
Every year the Heifer Concert begins with a poem by Pastor Fritz Fritschel about Noah’s Ark, and although Pastor Fritz was away this year, he generously sent along this poem (read by Pastor Jeff Lilley) A Notable Event For the umpteenth time Noah repeated The fantastic details supplied from high on To a skeptical family… Read More A Notable Event
With these words on the Bach Collegium Japan‘s FaceBook page, Carl and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. That means that the group has landed safely in Michigan where they will present their first concert on this U.S. tour. We were worried that they might cancel their trip, given the horrific situation in Japan… Read More “Bach Collegium Japan is here”
Yesterday was the seventh annual benefit concert for Heifer International, presented by the children of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Seven years ago it was the dream of youngster Mitchell Gorman to have our children use their talents to raise money for this worthy organization. Heifer aims to end hunger and poverty through the gift of… Read More Another successful Heifer Concert
Our hearts are in our throats as we watch the news of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Carl and I can’t help but think back to our trip there in March 2006 when he and violinist Yuko Honda gave the fourth and final “Reunion Concert.” In fact, it was just about 5 years ago… Read More Reunion Recitals
Last night when we came home from choir rehearsal, we saw a long line of cars at our local gas station and wondered what was going on. We turned on the TV and learned of the devastating earthquake in northern Japan and subsequent tsunami threat to Hawaii. It’s now 8 am and Honolulu Mayor Peter… Read More Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Bach Collegium Japan
. . . and to dust you shall return. These words from tonight’s Ash Wednesday service remind us of our mortality. The paraments are black and the mood of the whole service is somber — the only time I played the organ was on the Hallock psalm antiphon (Psalm 103) and two hymns. No prelude,… Read More Remember that you are dust . . .
After last week’s rehearsal of the Bach Mass in B Minor, I would have said the score was: Bach 1, Choir 0 especially because we had some key singers miss the rehearsal due to the opera and other conflicts. This week, I can happily say that we’ve evened the score — Bach 1, Choir 1.… Read More Week 2: the score is even
The LCH Music Library is a treasure trove of some of the best choral and organ music ever published. In the last few days I’ve been working on reorganizing all the instrumental parts — buying new filing pockets and making labels. So far I’ve only made a small dent in the instrumental parts for the… Read More The music library and the future
So proclaimed Carl Crosier yesterday, in reminding choristers about the next Mass in B Minor rehearsal which is tomorrow night (March 8 at 7:00 pm). Some people have already found that the “tessitura” (vocal range) of the work is very high and have asked to be put in a lower voice part. “Everyone will be… Read More The B-Minor Mass isn’t sightreadable!