It is SWELTERING in London and is an inferno! Today set a heat record—it got to 35 C (95 F) and some estimated it was 37 C (98 F) in the subway system, the Underground. That is truly HOT, considering that air conditioning is rare in this city, especially in the subway trains. Oh it… Read More In search of cool
Joan Ishibashi and I made the two-hour train trip to the city of Gloucester from London’s Paddington Station. I can’t believe it has been three years since I came to Gloucester for my first Three Choirs Festival! This time, though, we were here because of the residency of the Duke University Choir at Gloucester, where… Read More Joyful reunion and Evensong in Gloucester
Even though we faced another hot, muggy day, Joan Ishibashi and I toured Kew Gardens today, one of the largest botanical gardens in the world. As we had seen in Green Park near Buckingham Palace, the large grassy areas, normally lush green and verdant, were shockingly dry and brown. News of the heat wave and… Read More Kew Gardens
It was only after I had been here a couple of days that I was contacted through Facebook Messenger, completely by surprise! I did not know these people were in London at this time! Zen Kuriyama is doing research on the composer Gerald Finzi at the Royal Academy of Music. Today was actually only… Read More I didn’t know you were in London!
I am back in London, where my flight from Hamburg was uneventful except for having to endure 1-1/2 hours in the queue entering the UK Border. It is very hot and humid here, unlike my previous trips to London. I can’t ever remember it being so hot and uncomfortable like it is now! My BFF… Read More Outside on St. James’s Day
I saw a tall tree, but when organbuilder Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh saw it, he said, “I can build a 16′ Bourdon out of it!” Some people see trees, other people see organ pipes! We decided to forego seeing any organs today and instead took the train to downtown Hamburg to take a harbor cruise. Here we… Read More Some people see trees …
Today Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh and I took the train to downtown Hamburg, about a 35-minute ride away. It’s super convenient to take the train from his house—only two houses away from the station! By taking the train, we won’t have to hassle with trying to find a parking space, which is always a challenge. Our first… Read More An organ to love
I don’t want you to think that all we saw in Lübeck was just churches and organs! When you first arrive in Lübeck your first sight is a massive entry gate, which has become the symbol of the city. Apparently at one point the city wanted to tear it down because it was not being… Read More More than just organs
Today Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh and I traveled to Lübeck, about 80 km from Hamburg. Our first stop was at a music conservatory (Musikhochschule) which has a Beckerath organ in a see-through case. That is to say that there is plexiglass everywhere so you can see inside—even plexiglass swell shades! This, I assume, is for teaching purposes—what… Read More Plexiglass in the organ!
Today Hans took me on a tour of pipe organs and churches in Hamburg. We call it an “organ crawl” which can refer to our climbing through the organ chambers to more closely examine the insides of the pipe organ. Our first stop was in Blankenese, where Hans and Christiane attend at the Blankeneser Kirche… Read More Hamburg organ crawl