Today was the opening of the Boston Early Music Festival Exhibition, a gathering of music instrument makers, sheet music distributors, CD sales, etc. I call it Dangerous Territory because it is very tempting to pull out my credit card and buy something on a whim! And since my luggage space is limited and especially since… Read More Dangerous territory
“Touch the light through the voice.” That’s the objective of Vox Luminis—a Belgian early music vocal ensemble of 8 singers, to introduce people to early vocal music. They were joined last night by members of Quicksilver, an outstanding instrumental ensemble which toured Hawaii a few years ago. I described them as being cheered as “rock… Read More Vox Luminis
There is a so-called Au Family trait (but it’s endearing!): we are all directionally-challenged and have no sense of where we are! Just take a look at my health stats for yesterday: The first order of business was to find a T stop station, so I could purchase a Charlie Card for a 7-day pass.… Read More Directionally-challenged or otherwise confused
According to Christoph Wolff, eminent Bach scholar who gave the pre-concert lecture before tonight’s St. Matthew Passion performance, Bach composed this musical sermon of the Passion Gospel with the intent of “touching our hearts in ways words without music cannot”— he wanted to rouse our emotions. Even though I have personally performed this work on… Read More “… he wanted to touch our hearts”
This is my last week in Honolulu before embarking on my summer travel. I had one last gig this morning—substituting for Gloria Faltstrom, organist at Waiokeola Congregational Church, and home to the Heissler tracker organ. Waiokeola is also the parish church of a former student of mine, Andrew Moore, the grandson of Bud Klein, the… Read More Boston on the brain!
Last night at Orvis Auditorium, the start of internationally-acclaimed baritone Matthias Goerne‘s recital was delayed for forty minutes! We were given the explanation that the accompanist, Alexander Schmalcz, wanted to have a few notes on the piano “fixed,” and that the technician was at dinner in Restaurant Row. Of course this led us to question… Read More People cheered …!
You wouldn’t ordinarily laugh during a classical concert, but a lot of people couldn’t help themselves last Saturday night at the “Think Outside the Bach” concert. It came during Michal Nowicki‘s reading of PDQ Bach’s biography (in his beautifully accented English), who is described by PDQ’s creator, Peter Schickele as “the son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna… Read More You wouldn’t ordinarily laugh …
Sometime ago I came up with the idea that filling in for another organist was akin to cooking in someone else’s kitchen! You know what to do, you just don’t know where anything is, or how things work — like one of the most important things to figure out is how to turn the organ… Read More In someone else’s kitchen
For some reason, the viola has become a butt of many jokes. According to Wikipedia: Viola jokes are jokes directed towards violas and viola players. Viola jokes are thought to have originated in the 18th century, when viola parts were often simple and thus amenable to untalented musicians. Some examples: Pity the poor violist. Except… Read More Not a viola joke
I may have mentioned once or twice (!) that I come from a musical family. My mother won a piano in a music competition when she was in high school and had to make the hard decision to choose between music or going to medical school (she became a pediatrician but went back to playing… Read More Music runs in families