I am a hopeless political junkie and we are once again in one of my favorite news cycles —a presidential campaign. I just love the debates, the polls, and the talk shows. And of course there’s a lot of talk about blue states and red states, liberals and conservatives, progressives and establishment. But this weekend, blue and red will… Read More Blue and red
I’m still basking in the afterglow of last night’s Musica Poetica concert for Early Music Hawaii and over and over again, people came up to me and said, “I felt Carl Crosier was here.” It was not just the repertoire — it was the high standard of music-making that guest conductor Dana Marsh brought the singers and… Read More Carl was here!
I just finished the postcard for the upcoming Early Music Hawaii concert and thought I’d give you a sneak peek while it is at the printshop. Just in case you didn’t recognize the scene, it’s a drawing of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. While this program will not have a single piece of Johann Sebastian Bach (whose… Read More Upcoming Surround Sound
You remember the legend of Sisyphus, don’t you?Sisyphus was a bad king whose punishment for his deceitfulness was to push a huge boulder up a hill, only to see it roll back to the bottom again. I had recalled this Greek myth in a prior post about playing Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary over and over and over… Read More Bridging the Centuries
Tonight’s all-women’s Early Music Hawaii concert, “Triumph Against the Odds,” had Carl Crosier’s fingerprints all over it — a total triumph, in terms of programming, execution, and the added bonus of a great audience. Carl selected all the women who sang in it, picked all the music, and even suggested what they should wear — all black… Read More Total ‘Triumph’
No sooner did I put away the extra programs for Carl Crosier’s funeral mass that I am now embroiled in preparation for another program — for Early Music Hawaii’s concert, Triumph Against the Odds, which will be next Friday, September 19th at 7:30 pm, at St. Theresa’s Co-Cathedral. The concert will be dedicated to the memory of… Read More A funeral as publicity for a concert?
Last Friday night, Early Music Hawaii presented a concert called “Oratorio,” 17th century sacred drama from Rome to Handel, in the reverberant acoustics of St. Theresa’s Co-Cathedral. Some of the town’s very best early musicians participated — and the dress rehearsal with choir and orchestra was held on Thursday night. The personnel for whom this… Read More Double, triple, quadruple!
Last week was a week of calm for me since I wasn’t able to teach any organ lessons — the reason being was that we hosted organbuilder Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh from Hamburg, Germany and his colleague, Bernharndt Becker, while they replaced the worn pulldowns on the pedals on the Beckerath organ. It turned out to be… Read More A week of calm before the storm
I wanted to tell you a little about the Bach Chamber Choir which is the ensemble joining me in my upcoming Great Eighteen Chorales concerts. Here is a description of the group as printed in the program: The Bach Chamber Choir is a professional ensemble consisting of some of Honolulu’s finest choral artists, many of whom are… Read More The Bach Chamber Choir
If a bomb had struck at St. Andrew’s Cathedral April 27th at 11:00 am, there would be no more church music in Honolulu! That is because every church musician in town was there to celebrate the life of Canon Organist Emeritus John McCreary. People were already starting to gather when I arrived at St. Andrew’s… Read More Celebration John McCreary