Due to jet lag, I’ve been in a cocoon the last ten days after having returned from my European tour. It was a glorious two weeks of seeing magnificent cathedrals, stunning organ cases, eating scrumptious food, getting acquainted with new and old friends as well as enjoying time with family (my two sisters.) Each day… Read More Pure joy!
Clifford Pugh of The Houstonian wrote an article titled, “Please Stop Giving Absolutely Everything a Standing Ovation” Call me old-fashioned, but I believe a standing ovation should be a precious thing saved only for that rare occasion where something is so extraordinary and superlative that you can’t help but want to salute it in… Read More Another BEMF concert, another standing ovation
Last night’s performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 capped off a spectacular day and was for me the perfect end of the Boston Early Music Festival. (The Festival does not end until Sunday but it is the end for me because I am traveling to Germany today.) There were just 10 singers (of which there were only 3 women and… Read More Spectacular Vespers!
I am here in Boston at the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) and so far in three days I have seen two Monteverdi operas, heard two concerts and been to the Church of the Advent for their Sunday service. But that is a piece of cake compared to what the performers, especially in the opera,… Read More BEMF: Boston Marathon
Ask the average person in the street in Hawaii if they’ve heard of ‘Quicksilver’, and you’ll most likely get the answer, “Oh, yes, that’s the big wave surfing tournament named in memory of surfer Eddie Aikau.” It has only been held nine times in the last 30 years because the waves have to hit 20-30 feet in height. Except… Read More Quicksilver in Hawaii
This past weekend, I have been a busy beaver and have found myself working on four separate projects —three of them ultimately will lead to musical events in several churches. I’m guessing it was Carl Crosier’s idea many years ago to produce a color postcard to publicize our special concerts and services — and you can probably guess… Read More The busy beaver
As we knew from past Festivals, the 2013 Boston Early Music Festival was going to be nothing short of extraordinary — in the wide variety and extremely high level of the performances, the huge number of international performers, and total number of concerts. Even the music festivals that we go to in Europe don’t compare… Read More Nothing short of phenomenal
Our last concert of the Boston Early Music Festival (my 22nd!) was a four-hour extravaganza, an opera by George Frideric Handel, called Almira in the beautiful Cutler Majestic Theatre. An all-star international cast assembled by Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, with stage director Gilbert Blin, put on a musical feast for both the eyes and… Read More Handel Opera a triumph
Thursday afternoon and evening we went to two fantastic concerts, beginning with the Newberry Consort, a medieval instrumental and vocal group which presented Rosa das Rosas, ten vignettes on medieval miracles supposedly composed by Alfonso X, king of Castile, Leon, and Galicia. What was unique about this group’s presentation was the projection of medieval art… Read More Double enchantment