It’s All Hallows Eve, also known as Halloween, and three guesses as to where I’ll be tonight?! It’s Thursday, meaning that I’ll be at choir rehearsal! It’s the beginning of a huge, super busy weekend for me — (what’s new?!) — beginning with what is sure to be a long rehearsal tonight with three high… Read More All Hallows Eve
This weekend, within the space of 24 hours, I will have performed such a mixed bag of music, that my head is spinning! On Saturday morning, I’ll be practicing Gabriel Fauré’s Messe Basse (1881, rev. 1906) for treble voices, which will be sung at the ordinary for Sunday morning’s High Mass for “The Seven Sorrows… Read More A mixed bag … all within 24 hours!
Yesterday was a travel day, always an ordeal no matter the distance. Our objective was to fly from Copenhagen to London Heathrow, then use the Elizabeth train line to reach Kings Cross, from where we could take a National Rail train to Cambridge. Once we reached the Cambridge rail station we could take a taxi… Read More A day in Cambridge
I had set my alarm for 4:45 am in order to put my bag outside my room for pickup at 5:30, and found myself wide awake at 12:04 am! Luckily I fell back to sleep again, and woke up at 4:00, with plenty of time to spare. We left the hotel at 6:00 am for… Read More Reindeer hot dogs in Bergen
Today was Bill Potter’s birthday and our tour director, Sonia, called for everyone on the bus to sing “Happy Birthday,” which turned out to be more of a monotone rather than the typical multiple-tonal version performed by non-musicians. Our day started with a tour of City Hall, where the annual Nobel Prize banquet is held… Read More City Hall, Vikings and Uppsala
organist superhero noun organist su·per·he·ro ˈsü-pər-ˌhir-(ˌ)ō -ˌhē-(ˌ)rō : someone able to play the organ for church services: a fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers, namely playing organ voluntaries such as preludes and postlude; accompanying congregational hymns and chant by cantors; improvising as necessary to connect various parts of the services; providing music during distribution of Holy Communion; also : an exceptionally… Read More Organist superhero!
Last night we had an excursion to Arachova Village, a picturesque town on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. Before dinner, we had a few minutes to explore the town, and we made a beeline for a Byzantine church dedicated to the Virgin Mary where a service was in progress. This certainly was not the first… Read More Greek Orthodox traditions… Read More Greek Orthodox traditions
Today’s activities brought us to three ancient cities: Amphipolis, Philippi and Kavala but what impressed me the most was the church devoted to Lydia in Philippi. This is where the Apostle Paul established a congregation, to which he famously addressed in a letter known as the Epistle of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Philippians.… Read More Baptistery of Lydia
The Sunday after Easter is sometimes referred to as Low Sunday. One website described it this way: The word “low” may serve to contrast it with the “high” festival of Easter on the preceding Sunday. Or, the word “low” may be a corruption of the Latin word laudes, the first word of a sequence used in… Read More The week after Easter
Today marks the one week countdown until my concert at All Saints Episcopal Church in Kapa‘a, Kaua‘i with the Kauai Chorale, directed by Shane Morris Wise. First, however, I have to get through a weekend with four services beginning tonight with a Procession and Solemn Mass for the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary… Read More A maiden most gentle