What a week itʻs been! but now that it’s Monday as I write this, we can feel the afterglow of the Glorious Gabrieli concert on September 29th, which on all accounts, was a glorious success. A bunch of LCHers were either involved in the concert (Darel & Georgine Stark, Karyn Castro, Jeremy Wong, Miguel Felipe,… Read More Glorious Gabrieli was glorious!
One of my favorite choral anthems will be sung by the LCH Choir this week but unfortunately we’ll be in Bremerton, WA, celebrating the life of Carl’s stepfather, Edwin Runquist, who died last weekend. The anthem will be “The Lamb,” by contemporary British composer, John Tavener (b. 1944), and you can view a YouTube video… Read More The Lamb
If you’re like me, you are completely dependent on your electronic gadgets — computers, smartphones, tablets, etc. So you can imagine what angst I felt when I realized that I had left my iPad in a restaurant. And it wasn’t a fine dining restaurant either — it was a Subway restaurant in the heart of… Read More There are still good people
As many of you know, I have a special interest in teaching the organ to young children, and over the years can count at least 8 four-year-olds who I’ve started on the organ. So it was with great interest that I read a fascinating post on the New York Times blog about the value of… Read More Perfect pitch and early music lessons
Can you believe it’s been almost two years since we celebrated Claudio Monteverdi’s 400th anniversary with two ground-breaking performances of his Vespers of 1610? Now we will celebrate the music of Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612), and this time it’s the 400th anniversary of his death. Over the past couple of weeks, Carl Crosier has been hard at… Read More Glorious Gabrieli
Last Thursday night, it was announced that long-time choir librarian, Jerome Vasconcellos, would be retiring after more than 20 years of service and volunteers to fill the position would be much welcomed. So it was with a great deal of relief that Andrew McCaffrey has stepped up to the plate and will become the new librarian.… Read More Changing of the guard
Over the years, many LCH children have been involved in the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus to further their music education. Naomi Castro, Karyn Castro, Marisa Castello, Elizabeth Pearson, and Joseph Pearson are some of the names which come to mind. Hilary Scherer (whose mom, Ulrike Scherer, sings alto in the LCH Choir) was also an… Read More Music education through performance
This Sunday, my organ voluntaries (prelude, communion and postlude) will feature works by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), one of Germany’s most important composers in the early part of the 20th century. Yet his output for the organ was minuscule compared to the total of his musical compositions. I’ll be playing one movement from each of his… Read More Three from Hindemith
Since my last post, I have received an outpouring of support and thanks, for which I am most encouraged and grateful. When I read the letter to the choir on Thursday night, I told them that I always had dreams that I would die at the organ, but I guess that is not going to… Read More Death at the organ
The following letter is being distributed to the parishioners of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Dear people of LCH: It was 37 years ago that I was first contracted by Carl Crosier to play the organ for Bach Cantata 67 on May 4, 1975 at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. Although I was not officially… Read More A new chapter