One of my students is giving his very first organ recital—Steven Richardson Severin will play on the Sunday after Easter, April 8 at 2:00 pm at Central Union Church. However, he is no novice; he came to me with Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in piano and decided to make the switch to organ. As Karl… Read More Like a duck to water
It’s time again for the Annual Organ Concert of the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists and this year’s artist is Yuri McCoy, no stranger to Hawaii. Yuri’s concert will be Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 2:00 pm at Central Union Church, 1660 South Beretania Street. Yuri originally came to Honolulu to earn a graduate… Read More Yuri McCoy, concert organist
It’s concert week—the last week of organ lessons I give before my young students perform on Saturday, November 18 at 2:00 at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. For many of them, it’s the first time they have ever performed on organ in front of an audience. The youngest of these students is 9 years old, and… Read More Things I tell my students
This weekend is the recital of my former student, Joey Fala, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Kula, Maui on July 8 at 6:30 pm. This is Joey’s second recital appearance there and you won’t want to miss his concert as he weaves his magic. I say “magic,” because one needs a lot of creativity… Read More Meanwhile, back home …
Last night I hosted (with the help of the Executive Board) the Hawaii Chapter American Guild of Organists on the eighth floor party facility of my building. It was a welcome home reception for our homeboy, Joey Fala, whose passion for the pipe organ began when he was in preschool at Holy Nativity in Aina Haina, and… Read More Our homeboy, Joey
My former student, Joey Fala, will be playing an organ recital at the Washington National Cathedral this Sunday, February 26 at 5:15 pm. I took a screen shot of the web page, but if you would like to see it for yourself, click here. This week we also received the postcards promoting Joey’s concerts in Hawaii, which… Read More If you’re in D.C. this weekend …
There are two times of the year when I scour the ads in the newspaper — and that’s just before Christmas and Easter. I’m talking specifically about the church ads, when various churches around town advertise their services. Today was the day, and I looked at and read each one carefully. Yes, for years I… Read More The church ads
Mozart, 35. Mendelssohn, 38. Schumann, 46. And how about others not so famous: Pergolesi, 26. Lili Boulanger, 24. And composer/organist Jehan Alain, 29. All of these musicians tragically died young, and the numbers listed after the names are the ages at which these artists died. And while he was not as young as the musicians listed… Read More The good die young
Tonight was the gala opening concert of the Organ Historical Society convention at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield, MA, and the featured performer was Christopher Houlihan, who played for the American Guild of Organists Hawaii chapter a few years ago. He opened with a hymn, Lobe den Herrn (Praise to the Lord), and apparently the… Read More During intermission, you … Facebook?!
Exactly one week ago, Carl and I flew to Maui, where I performed a recital on the newly-restored Oberlinger organ at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Kula. You must understand that Kula is a teeny-tiny town on the slopes of Haleakala (upcountry), far away from the tourist towns of Kihei and Lahaina. You have to… Read More They raised the roof!