— Organists and Organ Playing —

St. Florian

En route to Prague from Salzburg, we stopped at the Augustinian monastery and chapel at St. Florian, where composer Anton Bruckner grew up as a choirboy and became organist. We began with a 45-minute tour of the monastery and I was impressed with two major rooms: the library, which houses about 130,000 books and manuscripts;… Read More St. Florian

— Organists and Organ Playing —

Flying the coop

If someone flies the coop, they leave the situation that they are in, often because they want to have more freedom or want to do something different—so says the dictionary. It just happens that in the Honolulu musical community, we have a number of key people “flying the coop” — leaving Hawaii for greener pastures… Read More Flying the coop

— Organists and Organ Playing —

If it’s May …

It must be Spring Concert Season! [DISCLAIMER] I am only personally involved in three of these concerts and this is by no means a comprehensive list of concerts in Hawaii! For example, it does not include the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra concerts even though I have season tickets and will most probably be in the audience,… Read More If it’s May …

— Organists and Organ Playing —

Ear candy

Last night, I went to the first of the two-concert series, Echoes and Refrains, and of course, I recognized a lot of people from my life before—when I was the organist at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu for 35 years. Of course, I go to the church four days a week to teach organ lessons… Read More Ear candy

— Organists and Organ Playing —

Behind the scenes

It is only now that I feel like I am emerging from a cocoon—all weekend I have been at my computer working on the concert program for a series of concerts celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The Lutheran Church of Honolulu Choir is presenting two concerts, called “Echoes and Refrains” with the Canadian early… Read More Behind the scenes

— Organists and Organ Playing —

Standing ovation for Perfect Purcell 

Fantastic Early Music Hawaii concert at LCH tonight! Congratulations and thank you to Scott Fikse for leading the charge, Katherine Crosier and the orchestra for great music and the singers, notably Naomi Castro, Keane Ishii, Karol Nowicki, Sarah Lambert Connelly, Mitchell Moriwaki, Bowe Souza, Taylor Rei Ishida, and Georgine Duncan Stark for a wonderful performance!… Read More Standing ovation for Perfect Purcell