The outing on Monday to Berkeley Castle was only one of several non-music options at the Three Choirs Festival. This morning Joan Ishibashi and I attended a most interesting lecture by Dr Linda Porter, called “The Real Bloody Mary,” on Mary Tudor, the first child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Eclipsed by her… Read More Three Choirs Festival —more than just music
My organist friend, Barbara Adler, suggested that on my tour of London churches, I include St. George’s Hanover Square on the itinerary. So that’s where Joan Ishibashi and I went first! St. George’s is known because George Frideric Handel was a parishioner at this church for 35 years, although there was no mention of his… Read More Handel-Hendrix-Haydn?
“I hate this piece!” That’s what one of my organ students told me at her lesson yesterday, not just once, but several times.”I hate this piece! It’s just so hard!” Yes, this is a difficult piece for an organist to play, but one of those “must learn, must do” pieces for organists, since so many… Read More “Hallelujah” Chorus
Our last concert of the Boston Early Music Festival (my 22nd!) was a four-hour extravaganza, an opera by George Frideric Handel, called Almira in the beautiful Cutler Majestic Theatre. An all-star international cast assembled by Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, with stage director Gilbert Blin, put on a musical feast for both the eyes and… Read More Handel Opera a triumph
In a couple of days, we’ll be heading for Boston where we will be attending the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF), which for us is the Boston Marathon! This is the premier festival for early music junkies (like ourselves), which The Times of London calls “the world’s leading festival of early music.” The New York Times… Read More The Boston Marathon
No, I’m not talking about music from the past such as Bach and Mendelssohn — I’m referring to the actual sheet music from the past. On Saturday the LCH choir began rehearsals on Handel’s Israel in Egypt which is scheduled for February 16th at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. The musical scores they are using looked ancient and… Read More Music from the past
This morning we made plans to join alto Meg Bragle for breakfast and came upon a SEA of people wearing black and gold jerseys at the T-stop. The Boston Bruins ice hockey team won the Stanley Cup last Wednesday and the city was going to celebrate with a big parade downtown today. It was a… Read More A great day for Boston
One of the stories in the news today is an article on how music can affect you in such a way as to give you chills. Quoting from the article, “Musical chills, write the authors from the University of North Carolina, are “sometimes known as aesthetic chills, thrills, shivers, frisson, and even skin orgasms [who… Read More Messiah gives you chills?