This has been a week of reunions, a celebration of long time friendships that have lasted a lifetime. These friendships have all happened because of our common interest in the pipe organ. My current houseguest is Barbara Adler, whom I met in December 1972 on a visit to Hawai’i in anticipation of my move here.… Read More Old friends
For several weeks now, I’ve been working on preparing the scores for my next concert, March 21, 2022, Bach’s 337th birthday. I always seem to make things hard on myself, because I simply can’t buy the music from a music store or find the sheet music online—in many instances, I am pretty sure it’s just… Read More Paper engineering
As I was scrolling through Facebook yesterday I suddenly gasped when I saw this: Chances are, few people outside the organ world probably heard his name. Here is an outdated bio of his work, which unfortunately does not reveal his travels all over the world, as an organ technician and consultant. Richard Houghten attended the… Read More Rest in peace
“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement early Sunday. When I read the news about Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid leader and voice of justice, dead at… Read More Desmond Tutu memories
The following is a story which was published on December 14, 2021, in the Duke Chronicle, a publication of Duke University in Durham, NC. Joey Fala is my former organ student, and now University Carillonneur. ‘The voice of the University’: Unearthing the history and tradition of Duke’s Chapel bells Joseph Fala leans into the music… Read More The voice of the university
When I attended last night’s Early Music Hawaii concert by harpsichordist Jory Vinikour, the phrase that kept popping in my head was “Liquid Gold.” What do I mean by that? If you search “liquid gold” on the internet, you’ll find it’s the name of a diet supplement, a moisturizer, a cleaning product and even breast… Read More Liquid GOLD!
It was only a couple of weeks ago that I received a phone call from Nicholas Lee, Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, asking me to play today’s two choral Eucharists in which Orlando Gibbons’ “This is the record of John,” was scheduled as the anthem. He had called me to ask whether I… Read More Someone was watching …
In this post, I want to give you some updates to the latest happenings in Honolulu in the organ world. It was way back in 2015 (Six years ago!) that I wrote posts called “A pipe organ in peril” and “A friend in need,” about the Aeolian-Skinner organ at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Honolulu. At… Read More Aeolian-Skinner update
I got really excited this morning when I saw this from the Washington Post: Oh, I’m not excited about hearing that there’s a new covid variant called omicron on the horizon, in fact, it was reported that there’s even a case of omicron in Hawaii. What I was excited about was that the White House… Read More Pulling out all the stops!
Yesterday morning, as I was preparing the Thanksgiving dinner, I got a text from Clay Logue, organist on Maui and former student of mine. Good morning, Kathy, and Happy Thanksgiving. Please call me when you get a chance, after today. Our vehicles were broken into last night and my large briefcase of Advent and Christmas… Read More Roasting, baking . . . scanning?