Last Sunday night I attended the “Cantate” concert by the Lutheran Church of Honolulu Choir and Men’s Schola; Wednesday I went to hear the St. Andrew’s Priory girls’ concert; tomorrow night I’ll be playing in the Iolani School Chorus concert; and Saturday night I’ll be at the Hawai’i Symphony concert! ‘Tis the season! Scott Fikse… Read More Spring concert season
If you are an early music fan, surely you’ve heard of the international baroque orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, based in Cleveland, OH. From their website, you can read: 25 years ago, Jeannette Sorrell had an obsession and a dream. The obsession was baroque music, as it was meant to be done – alive and full of… Read More The USA’s hottest baroque band
Organists these days are undergoing an identity crisis. If the slashing of church music budgets wasn’t enough to cause consternation among the ranks, the worldwide shortage of organists, the fact that fewer and fewer people study the organ, and the American Guild of Organists’ membership is dropping, it’s the old adage that whenever two or three… Read More Identity crisis
Have you ever met someone for the first time and within a few minutes felt as though you had known them forever? And that you could talk for hours on end, and never run out of things to say? Or that you felt so comfortable with each other that you could talk about anything and… Read More Instant connection
[Apologies! My original post stated May 4th! That is because I heard so many ‘May the Fourth be with you’ jokes today!] This Sunday, May 7th, is Good Shepherd Sunday and is so named because of the Gospel reading of the day—the story of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, willing to lay down his life… Read More Good Shepherd Sunday
By this time Sunday, May 7th, I will have sat on six different organ benches (and maybe even seven!) in the course of my week. Oh, not all of them are large pipe organs, but it just goes to show you that within the course of a week, I play musical benches! Last Sunday, I was… Read More Musical benches
I just put clean sheets on the bed for a houseguest this week, Patricia Halverson, viola da gamba player, who is coming to Honolulu as part of the trio called Chatham Baroque. The players also include Andrew Fouts, baroque violin; and Scott Pauley, archlute and baroque guitar. Sponsored by Early Music Hawaii, the concert will be Saturday, May… Read More One of Pittsburgh’s greatest treasures
For the next two Sundays, I am playing the organ for Karl Bachman at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) while he is visiting family on the mainland. As I began practicing the music for the liturgy, I got a real sense of déjà vu. That is because the music that is being sung for the Ordinary… Read More Lutheran déjà vu
If you live in Hawaii, maybe you’ve attended concerts at the Doris Duke Theater at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Or perhaps you’ve visited Shangri-La, Doris Duke’s home in Hawaii which is now a museum of Islamic art. Check out Wikipedia to read: “Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American heiress, socialite, horticulturalist,… Read More The Duke connection
This afternoon was my turn at Hawaii Public Radio’s semi-annual fund drive, and I deliberately chose a time at which I would normally be listening: Fred Child’s Performance Today. Seems that in my busy schedule, I always seem to be driving around at that hour, and am able to enjoy the live performances which are featured.… Read More What a coincidence!