Lately it seems that my life is nothing but hosting one houseguest after another—my niece and nephew from Virginia are with me this weekend to attend a wedding in Honolulu. Already they represent (can you believe it!) my fourth set of houseguests since the 15th of January, and in a couple of weeks I’ll welcome… Read More Monica Czausz, concert organist
Let me see … I left home at 7:30 pm Friday night for a five-hour flight to San Francisco. Then I had a 9 (NINE!) hour layover before taking an 11 hour flight to Paris. Then I waited two hours at Charles de Gaulle airport for the train to Lorraine, and then a bus to… Read More 30 hours to Metz
If you are an organist, you know this is a famous work in C major by Johann Sebastian Bach. However it is also the title of the stunning work for organ and percussion which was premiered on Monday night by composer Kurt Knecht. This fabulous work was commissioned by the Organ Historical Society in celebration… Read More Toccata, Adagio and Fugue
Tonight was billed as “A Grand Celebration” commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Organ Historical Society and the 10th anniversary of the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ. It took place at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which is the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. We learned that Fred Haas, whose family foundation has… Read More Dobson at the Kimmel
Today was the first official day of the Organ Historical Society convention, its 61st convention in this its 60th year since the founding in 1956. Its purpose is thus: The Organ Historical Society celebrates, preserves, and studies the pipe organ in America in all its historic styles, through research, education, advocacy, and music. And because… Read More The 61st for the 60th
This is the last weekend before I board the plane for 40 days away from Honolulu, and what a weekend it will be! Nine organ lessons, one piano lesson, two church services, one orchestra rehearsal and two concerts all crammed into the next four days. And today in addition to teaching three other organ lessons, I played a… Read More In the space of one weekend …
Lately Facebook has offered a feature where you can re-share a post you did two, three, or five years ago, and the above picture from December 10, 2013 popped up. It was a picture of Carl Crosier stepping in to conduct the St. Andrew’s Priory Select Choir for Naomi Castro, who was sick at the… Read More Memories of Advents past
People have asked me about my “vacation,” and I feel like saying, “I need a vacation from my vacation!” or “I need to come back to work to relax!” In a nutshell, during my 30 nights away from Hawaii: At the Boston Early Music Festival, I attended two Monteverdi operas, the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610,… Read More Digging out from under
Over the years I daresay that we have invited hundreds of people to dinner, and those of you who have come, know that I politely ask everyone to sign the guest book. (I’m now on volume 7!) This was a tradition we started with the guest book from our wedding in 1977 and even though Carl is now… Read More What are the odds?
It was another adventure coming home from the Organ Historical Society convention 2015, and because my flight was leaving Boston early in the morning, I decided to leave one day before the convention ended. Lucky for me, I was able to watch the OHS live-webcast of the final concert by Nathan Laube on the organs… Read More Home at last!