I’ve had a houseguest for a week—my good friend Joan Ishibashi, a United Church of Christ pastor, massage therapist, former Hawaii resident for 15 years, and all-around BFF (best friends forever!) Nearly five years ago my husband Carl, son Stephen and I were in Los Angeles, attending Joan’s wedding to Kantila Vaghela, where I wrote… Read More I survived an amazing weekend!
I’m preparing my young organ students for a recital just two weeks away now, and as part of the printed program, I’m including short bios. One question I’m asking all of them is: “Out of all the musical instruments, why did you pick the organ?” The answers may surprise you! [My comments are in brackets,… Read More Why the organ?
All this political talk of “low energy” is in sharp contrast to the weekend we had with organist Greg Zelek — definitely high energy! On Friday night, I invited the members of the AGO Executive Board for a “meet and greet” party and luckily I had nearly the whole day to prepare for it. The… Read More High energy Greg Zelek!
September is the traditional month for starting the school year. (However, in Hawaii, as in other locations, school has been starting earlier and earlier, and in fact started in July this summer!) September is also the month in which musical seasons begin— for example, the opening concert of Early Music Hawaii, Musica Poetica, last weekend which I… Read More Beginnings and endings
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!
Over and over, people came up to tell me that they felt that Carl Crosier had given Honolulu a final gift — the music at his funeral mass and the whole experience was so achingly beautiful and so uplifting that they were totally transcended. Some of them told me that they had never heard this music… Read More Carl’s final gift
Shivers of delight ran up and down my spine yesterday as I was listening to the concert by former student, Joey Fala, at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. I was in amazement at his musical maturity, and the ease with which he played extremely difficult passages — the music just oozed out! Here was Joey’s bio in… Read More Beautiful concert, beautiful playing