One of my all-time favorite anthems will be sung this week at the communion: “O sacrum convivium,” by the English Renaissance composer, Thomas Tallis (1505-1585). O sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur: recolitur memoria passionis ejus: mens impletur gratia: et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur. Alleluia. Translation: O sacred banquet! in which Christ is received, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the… Read More O sacrum convivium
Today at the Adult Forum as part of a series on Albert Schweitzer, I discussed the Organ Reform Movement (Orgelbewegung) and how we at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu were influenced by these ideals. According to Schweitzer, the golden age of organbuilding culminated with the instruments built during the time of Johann Sebastian Bach and the… Read More Playing a tracker organ
I was scanning my new email messages this afternoon, and saw that the quarterly publication from the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Grace Notes, has now been posted. Was I ever surprised to read about the Christmas services from the Lutheran Church of Honolulu! We made the national Lutheran news— at least the music news.… Read More LCH is ALCM News
When Heidi Shimada called Carl Crosier nearly three years ago to ask about singing in the choir, she asked, “Can I bring a friend, too?” That friend was Nicole Masaki, and she has been a faithful member of the first alto section ever since. Nicole says, “We were high school classmates, and remained friends after graduating… Read More Nicole Masaki, alto
Over the next few weeks I’m going to be interviewing some of the newer members of the LCH choir, and will ask them what brought them to LCH. One of the first persons to respond was Heidi Shimada, whom Carl first met as a preschooler (!) at Queen Emma Preschool where her mom… Read More Heidi Shimada, soprano
This Sunday, February 6th, I’m going to duck out of the choir warm-up and will be talking about Albert Schweitzer, his background as an organist, and how even we at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu have been influenced by his musical ideas. The Adult Forum will meet in the Board Room and will begin at… Read More Albert Schweitzer, Bach and LCH
Carl and I just came back from seeing the opening performance of Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s production of “Apollo: To the Moon,” a play about a scientist who has dreams of joining the Apollo space program. It was especially meaningful since today was the 25th anniversary of the Challenger space tragedy. It was written by… Read More Apollo: To the moon
This Sunday, in addition to Arvo Pärt’s “The Beatitudes,” the choir will also be singing “Cherubic Hymn No. 7” by Dmitri Bortniansky (1751-1825). You might be surprised to learn that there are well over a dozen Russian anthems in the choral library, and that was a result of Carl’s trip to Russia in 1997. He… Read More Russian Music at LCH
I would like to conjecture that if one typed in “Bach” and “Honolulu” that a search engine would direct you to the Lutheran Church of Honolulu website. (In fact, it does!) Over the years, Carl estimates that we have performed over 70 Bach cantatas with orchestra — but that’s just during his tenure, and that’s… Read More Bach : Honolulu = LCH
I just heard a promo for this week’s “From the Top” radio program on public radio, a showcase for young classical musicians. This week’s broadcast will feature a young organist from Texas, and Christopher O’Riley, host, said, “What motivates a young person to take up this majestic instrument?” For the past twenty years, there’s been… Read More The organ is not dead!