Maybe you, like I did, read the story in the Washington Post this morning, “On Martin Luther King Day, nine facts about him that may surprise you.” Of course, this is the fact that jumped out at me: His mother was also assassinated Just six years later, his mother, Alberta Williams King, was also assassinated.… Read More Martin Luther King Jr.’s mother
The night before last, I attended “Sophia’s Symphonic Send-off,” a fundraiser for the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, featuring Sophia Stark, the daughter of Darel and Georgine Stark, shortly before she travels to Tennessee for the national Miss Teen Volunteer American Pageant. In the fall, Sophia will also be attending Manhattan School of Music in New York… Read More Sophia’s night
Those eleven minutes of terror happened in tonight’s First Mondays concert, “La camera y la chiesa,” in which violinist Darel Stark and I played the “Violin Sonata in G minor” by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. I’m not even sure I took a breath during that work! The piece begins at about 33 minutes and 26… Read More 11 minutes of terror!
Question: How many people does it take to play a trio sonata? Answer: 4 Huh? I thought a trio meant 3! Nope! That’s because the bass line requires two players, in this case, a cello plus a keyboard instrument to fill out the harmonies (harpsichord or organ). Here’s what Brittanica says on the subject: Trio… Read More When 3=4
Yesterday the Early Music Hawaii board made the difficult decision to postpone the September 11th all-Josquin concert. Here is the message from Ian Capps, president of Early Music Hawaii: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT Dear Lovers of Early Music: Given the sudden and serious developments in COVID infections here and the uncertainty of whether gatherings will be further… Read More Blame the delta variant
In the last week, I have stepped up my practice for two concerts I’m playing soon. September 6, First Mondays Concert. “La Camera e la Chiesa”, 7:00 pm, Music by Antonio Lotti, J. S. Bach, Henry Purcell, C.P.E. Bach and Arcangelo Corelli. In addition to myself on organ and harpsichord, I will be joined by… Read More Every … single … note!
One way my world has opened up recently has been through my Spanish classes. That is to say, I’ve met a lot of non-musicians in my Spanish classes who don’t know the difference between keyboard instruments. Like, what’s the difference between an organ and a piano? What’s a harpsichord? If you can play the piano,… Read More The harpsichord (el clavecín)
I was pleasantly surprised to open today’s Star-Advertiser newspaper to find a gigantic interview with Sophia Stark, this year’s winner of the Miss Hawaii Volunteer Teen. I am going to repost the article here, and add that Sophia and her brother Raphael, have studied organ with me for four years but have had to take… Read More My organ student!
A couple of weeks ago I received an email message from the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra with the enticing title: Offer of work with the Hawaii Symphony Alas, it was an invitation to play the organ part of the Albinoni “Adagio” at their concert at The Hawai’i Theatre. Most unfortunately, I would have to turn it… Read More Albinoni on a theatre organ?
For the last two weeks, I’ve been working on getting “my ducks in a row,” that is, taking care of my duties and responsibilities, and organizing my affairs… just in case. From the Grammarist: Get one’s ducks in a row and have one’s ducks in a row are American idioms, the origin of these phrases is murky. One… Read More Getting one’s ducks in a row