Over the past six months or so, my sleeping-waking schedule has changed. I’ve found myself staying up late (11:30 pm or after) binge-watching my favorite TV shows on Acorn TV: Doc Martin, 800 Words, Foyle’s War, A Place to Call Home, Midsomer’s Murders and lately, Where the Heart is. Since I usually don’t have appointments… Read More Play something—quick!
Tonight was the last concert of the tour, and took place in San Salvator Church—the tour directors only figured out this afternoon that there were TWO San Salvator churches which were having concerts tonight, and they had to scramble to let everyone know that we were in the OTHER San Salvator Church! We were also… Read More Standing ovation in Prague
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
It’s time again for another trip off the island— later this morning I will travel to Los Angeles for my grandson’s first birthday already! That means that I will miss attending the Karolers concert on Saturday, June 2 at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, 2:00 pm. The Karolers’ Facebook page describes the event as an… Read More Missing this weekend’s concerts
On Saturday night, I fell off the organ platform after the Early Music Concert and sprained my ankle (see my post “Swan dive!“). Witness this text conversation between Georgine Stark and me today. In case you don’t know, classically trained organists use BOTH feet to play the pedals and turn their noses up at amateurs… Read More My left foot
Last Sunday about 4:00 pm after I had just settled into my seat at the Symphony concert and before the music began, my phone vibrated, indicating that I had a new email message. It was from Chandra Peters, the chapel coordinator of Punahou School, who coincidentally sang with the Lutheran Church of Honolulu choir for… Read More A life of leisure … NOT!
Last night was the last scheduled Thursday night LCH choir rehearsal for the season and Carl’s last Thursday night rehearsal! In addition to rehearsing music for this Sunday (Psalm 66 by Hallock, “If ye love me” by Thomas Tallis and “Non vos relinquam” by William Byrd) we worked on two very challenging pieces by Peter… Read More Let’s P-A-R-T-Y!
That’s how long it took the Lutheran Church of Honolulu to celebrate its Easter Vigil last night. But even though the service started at 7:30 pm, we did not return home until 11 pm. Yesterday afternoon, Carl was scrambling to finish the turkey lasagne dinner he prepared for the choir and participants. He was supposed… Read More Two hours and fifteen minutes
This week, in the midst of preparing Bach organ music for the Sunday night vespers, I’ll be playing three pieces by blind organist Jean Langlais (1907-1991): Mode de ré, from the Huit Pièces Modales, op. 90; Flutes and Pasticcio from Organ Book IV. For the anthem, the choir will sing his composition, “Ubi caritas et… Read More Jean Langlais, blind organist
No, we didn’t sing any Monteverdi during the six Christmas services the past three days, but I thought I’d share what I gave Carl for Christmas. It was a photo memory book of our Monteverdi Vespers performances, with lots of photos and the “behind-the-scenes” story. You can actually see the book here, and order one… Read More Christmas and Monteverdi