One hundred fifty years ago on Ascension Day, 1867, Queen Emma Kaleleonālani, wife of King Kamehameha IV, founded St. Andrew’s Priory School for Girls. Today’s Ascension Day service combined orchestra, band, choir, organ and congregation to celebrate the school’s founding—and the decibel level in St. Andrew’s Cathedral was so loud that when I played full… Read More How loud is loud?
Last Sunday night I attended the “Cantate” concert by the Lutheran Church of Honolulu Choir and Men’s Schola; Wednesday I went to hear the St. Andrew’s Priory girls’ concert; tomorrow night I’ll be playing in the Iolani School Chorus concert; and Saturday night I’ll be at the Hawai’i Symphony concert! ‘Tis the season! Scott Fikse… Read More Spring concert season
I’ve just come home after the “Motets and Cantatas” concert by the Oahu Choral Society Chamber Choir, and I must say that I heard some fantastic singing tonight. Tonight was the Chamber Choir’s debut, consisting of only 22 singers out of the larger OCS ensemble. The tone of the choir was light and agile, the… Read More A weekend of incredible singing
How many times have I stepped off the organ platform at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu? A zillion times, to be sure. But tonight after the Early Music Hawaii concert (which went very well, by the way), I misjudged the distance to the floor. The next thing I knew, my eyes were face to face… Read More Swan dive!
Ever since I returned from my mainland trip, I have had to hit the ground running. For the last three nights I have rehearsed with the Early Music Hawaii Chamber Singers for our concert tomorrow night, 7:30 pm at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. It has made for some very long days, each beginning with… Read More Kings and Queens
Before going to last night’s concert by the Nā Wai Chamber Choir, I checked out their Facebook Event page and noticed this information about the price of admission: Tickets are $7.00 for Adults, $5.00 for kūpuna and keiki Now for those of you who don’t live in Hawaii, or know the Hawaiian language, keiki are… Read More Kūpuna rate!
It’s a musician’s worst nightmare… being in the middle of a concert and the lights go completely black! Yes, it happened in Kona last night, right after the Kona Choral Society had performed the Hallelujah Chorus, and we were in the middle of “Worthy is the lamb.” All of a sudden, the house lights started to… Read More …and then the lights went OUT!
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
Yesterday I have to admit that the period between 5:30 and 6:15 pm was pretty frantic. I actually had a relaxing day, as my only task was to find a piece of jewelry to wear to dress up my outfit. And I finally found it—an opal-esque pendant from Walmart that only cost $5! However it took… Read More Clavierübung—so many notes!
Tonight was the dress rehearsal for my Bach Clavierübung concert and I am happy to report there were no train wrecks—at least in my part! As you will see in the program, this body of Bach’s chorale preludes are among his most complex and technically demanding of all his organ works. Thirty-seven years ago, Carl Crosier… Read More No train wrecks!