This has been a week of reunions, a celebration of long time friendships that have lasted a lifetime. These friendships have all happened because of our common interest in the pipe organ. My current houseguest is Barbara Adler, whom I met in December 1972 on a visit to Hawai’i in anticipation of my move here.… Read More Old friends
Yesterday was my 11th trip to the island of Kaua’i to teach an organ lesson. We had eight lessons before the pandemic then had to stop for more than a year because of the quarantine restrictions for inter-island travel. However, since June, you no longer need to take a Covid test or prove your vaccination… Read More “Yes, I speak organ”
Did you see this announcement in yesterday’s Star-Advertiser? (I highlighted it, just so you could find it easier!) Yes, it’s that time again—applications for studying the organ will be coming due soon. If ever you had a hankering to play the organ, that magnificent King of Instruments, now’s your chance! I can’t imagine there is no… Read More It’s that time again
Tonight was former student Joey Fala’s final graduate recital at Woolsey Hall, Yale University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Music degree. Being here has been the greatest thrill of my life, as it must have been Joey’s greatest thrill of playing on this magnificent organ. First, about the organ: The… Read More Absolutely magnificent!
Talk about choral music in Hawaii, and I bet the first name that comes to mind is Wanda Gereben, who was honored at last night’s gala 50th anniversary celebration of the Honolulu Chorale. I wrote about Wanda a couple of years ago (“50 Years of Choral Music in Hawaii.”) as the person who organized “The Big… Read More It’s a Wanda-ful World
Last night belonged to Don Conover, retired Minister of Music and organist of the Church of the Crossroads. It was the first ever fundraiser for the Honolulu Chorale, a volunteer community chorus which has been in existence for forty-nine years and which has never charged admission to its concerts. Jeremy Wong, the interim choral director at… Read More Don’s night
A story in today’s newspaper reminded me about today’s organ concert, the 24th Annual Midsummer Afternoon Organ Concert, which will take place at Central Union Church at 3:00 pm. When I saw the headline, Island doctor has traveled the globe to help people see, I wondered whether the story was about Dr. Steve Miller, a long-time parishioner at… Read More Organ concert TODAY
It’s been a rough week. First we heard of the death of our long-time friend, Dale Noble, of Kamehameha Schools and Calvary-by-the-Sea Lutheran Church. I wrote a post about Dale which you can re-read by clicking here. On Dale’s FaceBook page, a former student posted the following video of the Kamehameha Glee Club singing “When I… Read More Over the rainbow
A few days ago, we held the annual meeting of the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists (AGO) at our condo, and for various reasons, the attendance was about half of what it was a year ago. One of our members, Winfred Hancock, told me that he wasn’t able to come, but at age 93,… Read More Dwindling ranks
Today was the day that the Lutheran Church of Honolulu celebrated my 35 years as organist — and the most amazing thing was that the rain held off until AFTER the party was over! It was so nice to see so many familiar faces, friends, colleagues and even some people from the distant past. One… Read More It was Kathy Day!