Tributes are pouring in for our dear friend, Dr. Frederick Swann, who passed away last night. Here’s what was posted on the American Guild of Organists Facebook page: From the Diocese of Orange, California and Christ Cathedral: GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (Nov. 14, 2022) — It is with great sadness that the Diocese of Orange and Christ… Read More RIP Fred Swann
I left Los Angeles on the Fourth of July, just missing the first of two earthquakes by less than an hour! My shuttle picked me up at 5:45 am, and my flight took off at 9:00 am from LAX—and the first earthquake struck at 9:36 am. I understand from Fred Merchant that there was pandemonium… Read More Out in the nick of time!
Last week I was copied on an email message from a woman who is a former graduate student at the University of Oklahoma. It so happens that she is a former student of Adam Pajan, who stayed with me as my houseguest while he is on a 3-island Hawaii concert tour. She was trying to… Read More I knew I had it somewhere!
I happened to be sitting next to Hyunju Hwang, the virtuoso Korean organist, at the post-convention recital by Dorothy Young Riess, and when I told her Dorothy was 81, she said, “No! She looks like she’s maybe 60!” Dorothy played a most ambitious program at Olive Drive Church, another mega-church complex here in Bakersfield, and… Read More My favorite things
No — it’s not the end of my career — didn’t want to scare you just yet! Today on FaceBook, a lot of my organist friends shared a link to Frederick Swann’s encore of his farewell concert at the First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, which I have embedded here: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToAwhhEOgTc] Fred Swann (b.… Read More The end of a career
Sooner or later, nearly everyone gets to Hawaii. We’ve said that for family, friends, relatives, and organists. We at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu are especially fortunate to have hosted some of the great organists of the world, and I’m positive that what put us on the map is the presence of the Beckerath organ.… Read More Famous organists visit LCH