Tonight was former student Joey Fala’s final graduate recital at Woolsey Hall, Yale University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Music degree. Being here has been the greatest thrill of my life, as it must have been Joey’s greatest thrill of playing on this magnificent organ. First, about the organ: The… Read More Absolutely magnificent!
Chills ran up and down my spine as I sat in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the Green, in Norwalk, CT, where former student, Joey Fala, is the Organ Scholar. For me hearing him play a liturgical service, masterfully improvising on the hymn tunes which either came before or after the various parts of the… Read More Sunday at St. Paul’s
On Saturday morning I gave three organ lessons, which finished at 12:00 noon, then rushed home—my neighbor was already in the garage waiting to take me to the airport for my flight at 1:45 pm. At the last moment, I decided to fly to Los Angeles where my son and daughter-in-law held a “gender reveal”… Read More Home for one day
Today marked the third year I have hosted a lunch for my former organ students who are away at college on the mainland but home for Christmas in Hawaii. We could have had as many as six (or seven!) students there, but several have already returned to school. I invited Naomi Yuen-Schat and her mom to… Read More Welcome, home!
It’s only two days before Thanksgiving and I had a busy weekend, attending the chamber music concert with Linda Laderach, Larry Schipull and Grant Moss last Saturday at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu and Sunday’s Hawai’i Symphony Concert with violin soloist Augustin Hadelich and guest conductor Marcelo Lehninger. Both concerts were excellent; the chamber concert… Read More Pre-Thanksgiving madness
A news release from the Lutheran Church of Honolulu reads: Panufnik, Beach, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Bach, Barber, and Piazzolla, oh my!! A fabulous trio of musicians comes to Honolulu while on a nation-wide tour. Music Transformed and Transforming is a program of music for piano, organ, and violin in different combinations performed by visiting professors Linda… Read More Music Transformed and Transforming
I had heard people on the mainland talk about it on Facebook, but it was not until today that I received my November issue of The Diapason, (An international monthly magazine devoted to the organ, the harpsichord, carillon and church music), and this month’s issue focused on the Woolsey Hall organ at Yale University. And… Read More Winter clothes at the organ!
As I was eating breakfast and scanning today’s newspaper, I was wondering whether there would be any notice of my organ concert on Sunday. And lest I had any doubt, when I turned to page 19 in the TGIF Entertainment section, there among ads for new cocktails, trick-or-treat cakes, all you can eat shabu shabu, free… Read More I was wondering … YOWSER!
I saw the end of a beautiful and long tradition tonight—thank you, St. Andrew’s Choir and thank you, John Renke for your last Choral Evensong. You have been a blessing to this community. St. Andrew’s was one of the first places I knew here in Hawaii, and I have come back so many times for… Read More A beautiful farewell
I just now read Padraic Costello‘s post about the St. Thomas Choir in New York, where he is singing now. He writes: Saint Thomas Choir was featured in the New Yorker! We’ve been preparing for a concert (tonight!) with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and with Simon Rattle conducting, in memory of the previous director, John… Read More New York doings