Last Saturday night, I attended the Oahu Choral Society’s 20th Annual “Vivace” fundraiser and was I ever surprised to find myself seated at the head table! To my immediate right was Karen Kennedy, a choral directing legend in this town, and next to her was Wanda Gereben, and next to her was Nola Nahulu of… Read More In with the bigwigs
Talk about choral music in Hawaii, and I bet the first name that comes to mind is Wanda Gereben, who was honored at last night’s gala 50th anniversary celebration of the Honolulu Chorale. I wrote about Wanda a couple of years ago (“50 Years of Choral Music in Hawaii.”) as the person who organized “The Big… Read More It’s a Wanda-ful World
I just finished playing my last gig for the Christmas season, Iolani School’s Winter Concert at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Even though I have officially “retired” from playing daily chapels at the school, John Alexander invited me to play the Cathedral organ for the opening and closing numbers for the concert — I guess because the instrument… Read More Concerts, oboes and organs
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
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!
Last night belonged to Don Conover, retired Minister of Music and organist of the Church of the Crossroads. It was the first ever fundraiser for the Honolulu Chorale, a volunteer community chorus which has been in existence for forty-nine years and which has never charged admission to its concerts. Jeremy Wong, the interim choral director at… Read More Don’s night
All over town, events were being cancelled because of the threat of Hurricane Ana to the Hawaiian Islands. But the planners of the BIG SING event for the local chapter of the American Choral Directors Association decided to go ahead as scheduled. A gentle rain was falling as many entered historic Kawaiaha’o Church, and what a… Read More BIG SING is Big Success!
Yesterday was New Year’s Day, and Carl Crosier and I attended the German Vespers service at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. People were genuinely surprised to see us — for we had just said goodbye on Christmas Day. I must admit it was pretty strange seeing and hearing the service from a completely different vantage… Read More A different vantage point
What a week itʻs been! but now that it’s Monday as I write this, we can feel the afterglow of the Glorious Gabrieli concert on September 29th, which on all accounts, was a glorious success. A bunch of LCHers were either involved in the concert (Darel & Georgine Stark, Karyn Castro, Jeremy Wong, Miguel Felipe,… Read More Glorious Gabrieli was glorious!