”You mean, you would play your concert for only one or two people?” Indeed we would, and in fact, Jieun Kim Newland and I actually gave the Dueling Bach concert a total of five times (!) and luckily it has gotten easier each time. We did two run-throughs (in front of a few people) before… Read More Bach—the second time around
Last night was the Organ Plus concert with Jieun Kim Newland and our fantastic instrumentalists: Charles Coldwell, Luke Reed, Darel Stark and Sara Ricer. I have to say that the audience was extraordinarily quiet and attentive. No one talked, no one’s phone went off, and no dogs barked! (As happened in last month’s First Monday… Read More One down, four to go!
When you met your significant other, did you have “a song,” that reminded you of each other? Maybe it was the music that you were both drawn to, or perhaps the text was especially meaningful. In the case of Carl Crosier and myself, ‘our song’ was the famed Albinoni (sic) “Adagio,” which we listened to… Read More Playing ‘Our Song’
It’s now five days before Thanksgiving and my frozen turkey is safely thawing in my refrigerator. I will be cooking this year and will have 8 people around the table. Once that is over, the Christmas season will be in full swing, and look out! I will be playing five concerts, four services (that I… Read More The PLUS in Organ PLUS+
Back row: James Gochenouer, Scott Fikse, Sarah Lambert Connolly, Keane Ishii, Dylan Bunten, Kawaiola Murray; Middle Row: Darel Stark, Karol Nowicki, Andrea Maciel, Georgine Stark, Naomi Castro, Katherine Crosier, Benjamin Leonid, Taylor Ishida, Megan Bledsoe Ward; Front Row: Ann Hansen, Maile Reeves Everybody looked happy! In the end, everything was a success at Early Music… Read More Everybody went home happy!
You wouldn’t ordinarily laugh during a classical concert, but a lot of people couldn’t help themselves last Saturday night at the “Think Outside the Bach” concert. It came during Michal Nowicki‘s reading of PDQ Bach’s biography (in his beautifully accented English), who is described by PDQ’s creator, Peter Schickele as “the son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna… Read More You wouldn’t ordinarily laugh …
Sometime ago I came up with the idea that filling in for another organist was akin to cooking in someone else’s kitchen! You know what to do, you just don’t know where anything is, or how things work — like one of the most important things to figure out is how to turn the organ… Read More In someone else’s kitchen
I may have mentioned once or twice (!) that I come from a musical family. My mother won a piano in a music competition when she was in high school and had to make the hard decision to choose between music or going to medical school (she became a pediatrician but went back to playing… Read More Music runs in families
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!
In spite of only coming back to Hawaii on Tuesday, I’ve had to hit the ground running and will be playing several different organs within the week. Next weekend will especially be busy because of a Friday night rehearsal and Sunday concert at St. John Vianney, playing the prelude for Pastor Fritz Fritschel‘s funeral service… Read More Planning ahead for a busy week