“We are going on a journey,” Carl said tonight at the first rehearsal of the Bach Mass in B Minor, “and none of us, including me, will be the same after these performances.” Tonight the choir began with the opening four bars of the Kyrie, then went on to the Gloria in excelsis, Et in… Read More The journey begins
From almost the beginning of Carl Crosier’s tenure at LCH, he included the names of the choristers in the special services bulletins. And what you notice, of course, is that the roster always changes and transitions. I guess that when you live in a place like Hawaii, you see a lot of people come and… Read More The only constant is change
One of the year’s most eagerly-awaited concerts at LCH is coming up in a couple of weeks. No, I’m not referring to the upcoming Bach Mass in B-Minor! I’m talking about the Fill the Ark VII benefit concert for Heifer International on Saturday, March 12th at 4 pm. Seven years ago, it was the idea… Read More Fill the Ark VII
One of Carl’s famous quotes after our performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion was: “I don’t know how Bach did this without a spreadsheet!” For a major work such as the Passions or the B-Minor Mass, Carl details all the rehearsal schedules in elaborate spreadsheets: what pieces are rehearsed on which week and for the… Read More Musical Chairs
The roster for the upcoming Bach B-Minor Mass is now complete and choral rehearsals will begin next week. Carl Crosier had decided that the ideal number was going to be 40 singers, with 8 per voice part (soprano I, soprano II, alto, tenor and bass) since he is having 3 instruments per part. In the… Read More The Bach B-Minor Choir
If you asked Carl Crosier today who his favorite interpreter of Bach’s choral music he would say it is the widely-acclaimed Bach Collegium Japan, under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki. In fact, Carl has ordered multiple copies of the Bach Collegium Japan’s CD of the Bach “Mass in B Minor” for the choir to study. A… Read More Bach Collegium Japan
In anticipation of our upcoming performances of Bach’s “Mass in B Minor,” I pulled out my scrapbook on the “St. Matthew Passion,” and came across this old newspaper clipping. Several phrases jumped out at me, “first time in Hawaii,” “reserved seats sold out” and “general admission seating is $25.” Wow, things haven’t changed much in… Read More Bach in time
An overflow crowd attended our Bach Vespers last Sunday night, the last one Carl Crosier conducted as Cantor of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. True to form, we didn’t pick up the worship booklets until 2 pm Sunday afternoon, and were surprised to be waited on by LCH parishioner, Jaime Garcia, at our local FedEx… Read More Big crowd for Bach
One of the aims of this blog is to document events, past and present, in the musical life of the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. In addition to doing all those Bach cantatas, certainly one of the big events which “put us on the map,” were the two performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, March 31… Read More Bach put LCH on the map!
In the year 2000 when we performed Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, I likened it to climbing Mount Everest. With our upcoming performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor, we will have another Everest to scale. Today after church we had a Concert Committee meeting, mainly to update the members on where we are with this… Read More The ascent to Mount Everest