As the season winds down, there’s one more extra-curricular event for the LCH Choir — and that’s a Joint Evensong with our Episcopal colleagues at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sunday, May 6th at 5:30 pm. The heart of any Evensong service are the singing of two canticles: the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis. This week’s service… Read More Jesus College Evensong
Over the weekend, I received my April issue of The Diapason, an “international monthly devoted to the organ, the harpsichord, carillon, and church music.” I turned immediately to one of my favorite columns, written by John Bishop, and this month’s topic was “A matter of manners.” Mr. Bishop described a visit to a New York… Read More A quiet miracle
During the Easter season at the 10:30 service, the choir has been singing Gospel Acclamations by Aaron David Miller, which have trumpet, organ and bells for accompaniment. Our resident trumpet player, Allen Bauchle, has been playing along on all the hymns and liturgy, and Peter Hallock’s This is the Feast, adding to the festivity to… Read More An embarrassment of riches
Last night after choir rehearsal, choristers were asked to stay to help transform the church into a concert hall for our Bach Pilgrimage concert on April 21st. Since the Lutheran Church of Honolulu was extensively remodeled in 1974, one of the building’s greatest asset has been its flexibility to configure the room differently for varying… Read More Getting ready for Bach
As some of you know, I write two blogs: one about the goings-on from the Music Department of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu (Another Year of Insanity) and the other, about Burbank High School Class of 1968. This will be the first (and maybe the one and only!) time that I will post the very… Read More A funeral, then a wedding
The Easter music has hardly been put away and it’s already time for our next “biggie,” the Bach Pilgrimage VIII concert on Saturday, April 21st, as part of the Abendmusiken series. The concert will focus on music from Leipzig, in the year 1726. This upcoming concert will herald the return of retired cantor, Carl Crosier,… Read More No rest for the weary
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTpNV5_N4w8&w=480&h=360] Here’s a YouTube version of the Sinfonia I played for the prelude at the 10:30 service — this performance is by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. I think we played it faster! Well, another Holy Week and Easter are in the books, and I can’t believe how many notes I played over the last few days!… Read More Soooo many notes!
The latest issue of Divinity magazine has a fascinating article called “The Church Musician as (Overlooked) Theologian,” published by Duke Divinity School. The opening paragraph starts with a challenge: “No one goes to church and thinks, ‘I sure hope the worship will be dull and uninspiring.’ People desire vibrant worship. Whether it’s the communal practices… Read More The Church Musician as Theologian
There were twenty-two (count ’em!) pieces of music in tonight’s Maundy Thursday service, and there would have been twenty-three had the footwashing not been so efficient. We unfortunately had to cut “Ubi caritas” by Maurice Duruflé because no more music was needed during the footwashing rite. Here is the repertoire: Organ Prelude: O Lamm Gottes… Read More Maundy Thursday marathon
A couple of posts ago, when I said that it had never rained on our Palm Sunday parade, I was corrected by my dear husband, Carl. He wrote me, “You are wrong about not being rained out. It has happened twice during my 36 Palm Sundays at LCH (2 others were spent in Boston). One… Read More Apologies! a Palm Sunday correction