The hard fact about living in Hawaii is having to always say goodbye or aloha to people whom we have grown to treat like family. This summer I’ll have to say goodbye to several musicians—ALL of whom have studied organ with me. I’ve already said goodbye to my former student, Marie Wang, who was the… Read More Always saying ‘Goodbye’
When I haven’t seen people for awhile, generally they ask me two questions: “What are you working on?” “Where are you going on your next trip? Well, I’m glad you asked! I am pleased to tell you that Scott Fikse asked me to play the organ on his last Sunday at the Lutheran Church of… Read More Fingers crossed!
Last night’s “From Venice to Dresden” Early Music Hawaii concert was advertised as music from Heinrich Schütz and his contemporaries, and how they brought the Venetian polychoral music tradition to Germany. What we didn’t advertise, though, was that it was Scott Fikse’s last EMH concert before leaving Hawai’i to attend graduate school at the University… Read More Scott’s farewell concert
It’s Heinrich Schütz week and we’ve already had three rehearsals for Saturday’s concert, “From Venice to Dresden,” May 7 at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu at 7:30 pm. The concert is the last one for the season for Early Music Hawaii, and will be conducted by Scott Fikse. Singers include Honolulu’s finest early music performers,… Read More Miracles
It was already going to be a really busy week. Today, I spent the day teaching on Kauai, and then had an orchestra and choir rehearsal scheduled for tonight, plus two other nights this week in preparation for the Early Music Hawaii concert, “From Venice to Dresden” on Saturday night, May 7th at 7:30 pm.… Read More A hole in my head
Tonight Scott Fikse put the finishing touches on Early Music Hawaii’s long-delayed Josquin Des Prez’ “A 500th Anniversary Celebration” video which is now live through April 8, 2022. If you remember, we were all set to perform this music last September when the delta and then the omicron variants of coronavirus hit suddenly and all… Read More Josquin—only one week!
I have this fantasy that when you’re retired, you’re able to throw away your alarm clock! No such luck, I still get up at 5:30 a.m. every morning, even though I may have stayed up past midnight to watch Spanish language telenovelas! It’s a fact of life, like death and taxes, that a musician’s life… Read More Delusions of retirement
In six days’ time, I will be playing the monthly Bach and Prayer service at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm. All the music I have chosen comes from Bach’s collection of extended chorale preludes, The Great Eighteen or Leipzig Chorales. You might remember that in 2013… Read More Throwback to 2013
Yesterday I received a phone call from Scott Fikse asking if I’d be available or interested in playing the February “Bach and Prayer” service. I really wasn’t sure what this service is all about, so this is the description I found on Facebook: Join us every 4th Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm for Bach… Read More Got Bach?
Those eleven minutes of terror happened in tonight’s First Mondays concert, “La camera y la chiesa,” in which violinist Darel Stark and I played the “Violin Sonata in G minor” by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. I’m not even sure I took a breath during that work! The piece begins at about 33 minutes and 26… Read More 11 minutes of terror!