This weekend’s two performances of “Glow,” by the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble, directed by Tim Carney, joined by Karol Nowicki’s Karolers, had it all — a polished choral performance, varied and well-balanced repertoire, sacred and secular selections, audience carols, beautiful choral tone, texts in English, Latin, Russian, French, German, Polish, Tagalog, Hawaiian and even a… Read More Afterglow for Glow
That was the title of a desperate email I sent to Tim Carney, director of the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble, when I came to try out the organ in the Mystical Rose Oratory this afternoon. The morning started out innocently enough … I began the day with my usual morning walk, then as I was… Read More Houston, we have a problem!
One thing I will remember about this Prague trip will certainly be the music making by the Hawaii Masterworks Chorus in beautiful churches with acoustically ambient spaces. Last night’s concert was such a highlight for performers and audience alike. So many people came out smiling and thanking us as they left the church. There is… Read More Music and motorcycles
En route to Prague from Salzburg, we stopped at the Augustinian monastery and chapel at St. Florian, where composer Anton Bruckner grew up as a choirboy and became organist. We began with a 45-minute tour of the monastery and I was impressed with two major rooms: the library, which houses about 130,000 books and manuscripts;… Read More St. Florian
As I have written before, the vocal a cappella ensemble, Karol’s Karolers has joined the Hawaii Masterworks Chorus in its tour of Eastern Europe. They have also been invited to sing a piece separate from the larger group, and because their repertoire has not been widely publicized, it’s always a delightful surprise when they break… Read More He is still with us
It’s time again for another trip off the island— later this morning I will travel to Los Angeles for my grandson’s first birthday already! That means that I will miss attending the Karolers concert on Saturday, June 2 at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, 2:00 pm. The Karolers’ Facebook page describes the event as an… Read More Missing this weekend’s concerts
If someone flies the coop, they leave the situation that they are in, often because they want to have more freedom or want to do something different—so says the dictionary. It just happens that in the Honolulu musical community, we have a number of key people “flying the coop” — leaving Hawaii for greener pastures… Read More Flying the coop
It was bound to happen on a day like today—I had six appointments scheduled in six different locations (!) and I thought I was prepared. My day was supposed to start with an early morning board meeting of Early Music Hawaii when my cell phone rang. When I saw the phone number on my caller… Read More Too many balls!
Four concerts in one weekend? Is that a little bit much or what? Two of the concerts I’m attending are by choral groups led by musical colleagues, another is one in which two of my students are performing, and the last is one in which I’ll be playing. Friday night, I’ll be attending the Spring concert of… Read More A four-concert weekend
This morning I was back as an organ substitute at the Church of Holy Nativity, where I played under director Keane Ishii. He announced to the choir that my husband Carl and I were like his “parents in music,” (see my previous post “A time to remember“) and then I added that Holy Nativity was my first… Read More 43 years later