As is the custom, a member of the clergy gave a instructions on what to do should an emergency arise (“Stay in place”) and then said a short prayer for this concert, “where score, player and acoustic” come together. Isn’t it amazing that the synthesis of these three words can describe the whole concert-going and… Read More Score, player, acoustic
My flight to London was delayed nearly an hour and a half, but I still arrived in plenty of time to catch my train to Gloucester on Sunday morning at 10:30 am. I realized that this is my third time at Gloucester Cathedral, and a year ago to the day I was here listening to… Read More Back at Gloucester Cathedral
Joan Ishibashi and I made the two-hour train trip to the city of Gloucester from London’s Paddington Station. I can’t believe it has been three years since I came to Gloucester for my first Three Choirs Festival! This time, though, we were here because of the residency of the Duke University Choir at Gloucester, where… Read More Joyful reunion and Evensong in Gloucester
Even though we faced another hot, muggy day, Joan Ishibashi and I toured Kew Gardens today, one of the largest botanical gardens in the world. As we had seen in Green Park near Buckingham Palace, the large grassy areas, normally lush green and verdant, were shockingly dry and brown. News of the heat wave and… Read More Kew Gardens
Did you see the article written by Simon Jenkins in The Spectator? It could not have come at a more opportune time in this period of grieving and loss of a music program in Honolulu. The title is intriguing: Why cathedrals are soaring: The Church of England’s unexpected success story. Click here to read the entire… Read More Cathedral music is “hot”!
Every concert at the Three Choirs Festival begins with an announcement: In the unlikely event of an emergency, please wait for instructions from the verger and the ushers will direct you to evacuate the building. Then there is a prayer from the head clergyman—this week there have been prayers for the terror victims in Nice,… Read More In the unlikely event…
Today started off at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, only a few blocks from the hotel, where I heard the Rodolfus Choir, a group of 32 young singers. Their program consisted mostly of choral transcriptions of instrumental works such as the Barber Adagio for Strings. The group arranged themselves in smaller ensembles around the church, creating… Read More Allegri and Mozart
I am at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester and today I gained an understanding about the music that is being presented. Yesterday I heard Evensong which featured music of Herbert Howells, whose early musical education took place at Gloucester Cathedral. Tonight’s Evensong was all music by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, a former organist-choirmaster of Gloucester.… Read More The building and the music
It is Day Three at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester and the music today was so incredibly beautiful and musically so perfect that I felt that I had died and gone to heaven! The first concert we attended was by Stile Antico, a 12-voice a capella vocal ensemble based in London whose voices were… Read More Died and gone to heaven!
Today marked the opening service of the 289th Three Choirs Festival, and I could not help but think the Brits do it best—the pomp, the pageantry and the sheer grandeur of it all. In many ways it was like the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, with the entrance procession lasting 20 minutes! As we… Read More Who can match the Brits?