Yesterday, one day after the magnificent 40th Anniversary celebration of the Beckerath organ, twenty members of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists came to “The Marble Palace in the Sky,” (my condo) — for the members’ annual meeting and to see the newest pipe organ in Honolulu: the “box organ” built by… Read More Baby’s coming out party
From all accounts, last night’s 40th anniversary of the Beckerath organ was a grand and glorious occasion and the church should feel extremely proud to have put on a first class act. From Joey Fala’s stunning and magnificent playing, to the energetic congregational singing, to the colorful and elegant 16-page souvenir program, to the delicious… Read More Magnificent Joey!
Howard Dicus, who is listed as the “Resident Explainer” of Hawaii News Now (KGMB-KHNL-KFVE) and his cameraman came to the Lutheran Church of Honolulu to film a segment for the Sunrise morning show. According to Joey Fala and Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh, both men were suitably impressed with the organ! Hans said it was clear that Howard knew… Read More Joey and the Beckerath on TV!
The last few days have been super busy for me, as I get ready to leave for Seattle, did the dress rehearsal today for tomorrow’s Iolani School chorus concert, and finished up the publicity for the 40th anniversary of the Rudolf von Beckerath organ program on Sunday, May 24th at 5:00 pm. The latter meant… Read More 40th Anniversary booklet has arrived!
Glory be, Hallelujah, hallelujah! After months of searching, I am happy to report that the original dedication program for the Rudolf von Beckerath organ at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu has been found! And it was only located 7,209 miles away, in Hamburg, Germany. I just knew someone had to have saved it! Thanks to… Read More Found it —7,209 miles away!
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
It’s the middle of May and our thoughts are turning to our summer travels. And although we’re not going to Germany this year, I did think about the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach was once organist. From 2002 there was a new organ there incorporating much of the previous 1858 instrument… Read More A Porsche in the organ
For the last couple of days, we have hosted Hans-Ulrich Erbsloeh and his wife, Christiane from Hamburg, Germany. We were trying to remember how many times Hans has visited Hawaii, and figured it was well over ten times. You see, Hans’ first visit was as the “apprentice” for organbuilder Rudolf von Beckerath when the LCH… Read More Memories of “The Boss”