It was again another gorgeous day in Seattle—the sky is blue and clear, no rain and it’s cool, in the lower 60s F. When I walked into St. Mark’s, the choir was rehearsing the Kyrie in a mass setting by Uģis Prauliņš (b. 1957), a Latvian composer who “is noted for his powerful and idiosyncratic… Read More Outside the bounds of time
It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Seattle—clear blue skies and no rain. I’m staying at the Bacon Mansion, an elegant bed-and-breakfast in a historic Edwardian-style Tudor home with 11 individually-appointed guest rooms. The 1909 home built by Cecil Bacon features a chandelier with 3,000 crystals, marble fireplaces and a treasured library. The continental breakfast… Read More Beautiful Seattle
I took the red eye flight out of Honolulu last night and arrived in Seattle early this morning. Because I couldn’t check into the B&B until later in the afternoon, I walked over to St. Mark’s Cathedral a few blocks away. I have been here many times, but this was the first time I have… Read More Alone at St. Mark’s
I just heard Ian Capps’ interview on Hawaii Public Radio about this weekend’s upcoming Early Music Hawaii concerts with Ciaramella, and thought perhaps you had questions about some of the unusual instruments that will be played. The concerts will be Saturday, March 10th at 7:30 pm at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, and repeated on Sunday,… Read More Unusual instruments in Honolulu
After all the hoopla of the past weekend, it was back to laying out programs, and I just finished the one for Ciaramella, the early music group which is coming to Hawaii with a boatload of interesting and unusual instruments. Just look at this list: shawm, recorder, bagpipe, dulcian, viol, hurdy-gurdy, cornamuse, vihuela, guitar and… Read More Ciaramella return visit
The following is a speech I gave at the Oahu Choral Society’s Vivace! fundraising dinner as the 2018 Dale Noble Award Honoree. Thank you. When I was first called about this award, my first reaction was “ you have got to be kidding! I mean, is this a mistake?” I’m not a person who is… Read More Aw, shucks!
The following speech was given by Karl Bachman at the Oahu Choral Society’s Vivace! fundraising dinner at the Bishop Museum, March 3, 2018. We are here to honor Katherine Crosier this evening, but I would like to begin by thanking the Oahu Choral Society for asking me to speak a word on her behalf. In… Read More “Cain’t say, No!”
https://youtu.be/0YW-uv3Ibm8 Since I grew up without television, I had never watched the show, “Queen for a Day,” which began as a radio show in 1945 then ran on NBC Television from 1956-1960 and on ABC from 1960-1964. Every show began with the question, “Would YOU like to be Queen for a day?” A number of… Read More Queen for a Day
It was months and MONTHS ago that Jeremy Wong asked me to be part of a baroque concert with the University of Hawaii Chamber Singers—in fact, I think it was while I was on some European trip last summer, and I thought, sure, fine, no problem! It was only after I was asked about being… Read More Voices of the Baroque
I’ve enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics lately and wondered if organ playing were ever an Olympic sport, I think we would have all rated this afternoon’s organ recital by Yuri McCoy a Gold Medal performance! This afternoon was the 13th Annual Organ Concert of the Hawai’i Chapter American Guild of Organists, and all I could… Read More Joyous homecoming