As I have written before, the vocal a cappella ensemble, Karol’s Karolers has joined the Hawaii Masterworks Chorus in its tour of Eastern Europe. They have also been invited to sing a piece separate from the larger group, and because their repertoire has not been widely publicized, it’s always a delightful surprise when they break… Read More He is still with us
We had the morning free so I chose to go back to Salzburg Cathedral (the Dom) where I had gone to the World Choral Fest 2018 concert last night. It was a program of music by Mozart and American composer, Dan Forrest, who happened to be in the audience last night. The 100+ singers were… Read More 5 organs in Salzburg Cathedral
Today we were reminded that the 1965 movie, The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, was filmed here in Salzburg, Austria. Since the film was in English and the local population speaks German, the film is not very well known here. However there is a whole industry built up for tourists who… Read More The Sound of Music
It was already time to say goodbye to Vienna so after breakfast we loaded our luggage into a trailer attached to our double decker bus. It was only about halfway to our destination that the Hawaii Masterworks Chorus director, Tim Carney, came to tell me that the Abbey had given me permission to play the… Read More Melk Abbey
Guess what, Queen Liliuokalani was at the Bergkirche this morning! Well, actually it was her composition, “The Queen’s Prayer,” that was sung by the Hawaii Masterworks Chorus at the Bergkirche at the offertory in today’s service. I am quite confident that this was the first time Hawaiian music was sung at this church where Joseph… Read More Queen Liliuokalani at the Bergkirche
You may remember that it was last year when I visited Eisenstadt, where composer Josef Haydn lived and is now buried in the Bergkirche, the “Hill” church. Go back and read my post, “Mission to Eisenstadt,” to refresh your memory. It was here that Haydn played the organ and premiered several of his mass settings.… Read More The miracle of Bergkirche
I checked out of the Premier Inn only after indulging in an all-you-can-eat full English breakfast which was included in the price of the room. This was such a fantastic deal at 55 GBP per night—I will look forward to staying here again at the end of my trip. For people who noticed baked beans… Read More Reunion in Vienna
It’s exactly 1:13am in London, UK, and I’m wide awake. “Don’t watch the movies on the plane,” a friend told me recently. “Just try to sleep,” she said, saying that she never gets jetlagged on her trips to Europe from Hawaii and return. Her trick is to buy a lie-flat seat on the airplane, and… Read More Jetlagged in London
As I am sitting and waiting for my flight to London, I would like to share with you some thoughts on yesterday’s videoconference of the Hallock Institute—an entity which was formed at the death of composer Peter Hallock, our long-time friend and business partner in Ionian Arts music publishing. It seems hard to believe that… Read More Gin and pupus
Last night I attended the studio recital of Darel and Georgine Stark, in which their two children (my organ students) played the third movement of P.D.Q. Bach’s “Toot Suite,” an organ duet. A word of explanation: First of all, P.D.Q. Bach is a fictional character invented by Peter Schickele, which you can read about on… Read More Siblings + Music = Fun!