“Vinikour makes a concert an experience, in the very best sense of the word. His playing excites the ear.” (Christian Science Monitor) If you are a Hawaii Symphony subscriber, you know that harpsichordist and conductor, Jory Vinikour, is in Honolulu to perform movements from Handel Messiah and the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 this weekend,… Read More Jory Vinikour, harpsichordist and conductor
I got really excited this morning when I saw this from the Washington Post: Oh, I’m not excited about hearing that there’s a new covid variant called omicron on the horizon, in fact, it was reported that there’s even a case of omicron in Hawaii. What I was excited about was that the White House… Read More Pulling out all the stops!
Yesterday morning, as I was preparing the Thanksgiving dinner, I got a text from Clay Logue, organist on Maui and former student of mine. Good morning, Kathy, and Happy Thanksgiving. Please call me when you get a chance, after today. Our vehicles were broken into last night and my large briefcase of Advent and Christmas… Read More Roasting, baking . . . scanning?
This photo which I posted on Facebook yesterday has already gotten over a hundred likes! The Hawaii Chapter AGO will be presenting a Mini Organ Festival from March 12-21, 2022. Featured will be Alcée Chriss and Katelyn Emerson playing the Rosales Organ at All Saints Kapa’a and the Aeolian-Skinner Organ at Central Union Church. In… Read More Mini Organ Festival
For months now, the marquee on the Hawaii Theatre Center has read: You get the vaccine… you get the concerts! And so, after 20 months of no live concerts, the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra held its first concert since the pandemic! Oh, it meant that everyone in the audience had to show their vaccination cards at… Read More Live music returns!
The following is reprinted from the current issue of In Tempo, the quarterly magazine of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. I actually wrote the article months ago, but it was not published until now. Fiasco!The worst musical debacles and lessons learned “Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer… Read More Fiasco! Lessons in Laughter
This morning Jieun Newland and I got up early in order to drive to her church job at Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico, some 50 miles away. Because of the pandemic, I guessed that there were only about 40 people in attendance, even though the service is live-streamed as well. People who… Read More Reformation at Peace
This morning Ben and Jieun Newland took me to see Organ Mountains, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, declared a national Park only in 2014. Also called La Sierra de los Órganos, the rugged mountain range was so named because someone thought that the jagged peaks looked like organ pipes??? To us organists we couldn’t see… Read More Organ Mountains?
“My heart is full…There is no greater experience than making music with other musicians.” (Jieun Kim Newland) So wrote Jieun Kim Newland on her Facebook page after last night’s faculty recital at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Soprano Diana Esparza and countertenor/baritone Phillip Hill presented a joint recital in three parts. The… Read More “My heart is full…”
Now I know why my mother, after she retired at age 83, bought a second grand piano. To play duets! Being a pianist or organist can be somewhat lonely, as you really don’t need other people to create music. However when you have the opportunity to make music with others, it’s SOOOO much fun! Hence,… Read More Four hands, four feet