It’s not often that there are organ recitals in Hawaii. The Hawaii Chapter of the American Guild of Organists sponsors one recitalist per year, and that person plays a concert in Honolulu and another concert on a neighbor island. But this week, there will be TWO organ recitals on Oahu! Tomorrow night, the new organist… Read More Organ concerts galore
Normally when you think of someone offering an organ concert on Halloween, you expect to hear Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” or some other organ piece deemed scary. Come of think of it, how is it that piece became associated with ghouls and goblins, anyway? According to James Bennett, II, Bach’s most famous… Read More Halloween fun
The last I heard from Daniel J. Werning, former organist/choirmaster of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church, was that after the death of his wife, Terry, he met a woman in Thailand and moved there to retire. Here is a picture of them on his Facebook page: According to his Facebook page, Dan has master’s degrees in… Read More A retirement project
I survived my “triple header” weekend with the Dueling Bach concert on Saturday night, the 9:00 am service at Waiokeola Congregational Church, and the 10:30 am service at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu! I was hoping that when I accepted gigs at THREE churches in the month of January, I could play the same music… Read More I survived the weekend!
What does it mean to light a candle for someone who died? The ritual of lighting a candle to pay tribute to a life passed has long been a part of our culture. Keeping a light burning in remembrance signifies that the memory still lives on and burns bright. It is a ritual that promotes… Read More What does it mean …?
Always practice in your recital outfit! I always tell my students to practice at least once in their recital outfit so they can find out whether it will impede them in any way. I wish I had taken my own advice! I learned this the hard way today when I played on the Rededication Concert… Read More I should take my own advice!
It was bound to happen on a day like today—I had six appointments scheduled in six different locations (!) and I thought I was prepared. My day was supposed to start with an early morning board meeting of Early Music Hawaii when my cell phone rang. When I saw the phone number on my caller… Read More Too many balls!
Four concerts in one weekend? Is that a little bit much or what? Two of the concerts I’m attending are by choral groups led by musical colleagues, another is one in which two of my students are performing, and the last is one in which I’ll be playing. Friday night, I’ll be attending the Spring concert of… Read More A four-concert weekend
Last Sunday night I attended the “Cantate” concert by the Lutheran Church of Honolulu Choir and Men’s Schola; Wednesday I went to hear the St. Andrew’s Priory girls’ concert; tomorrow night I’ll be playing in the Iolani School Chorus concert; and Saturday night I’ll be at the Hawai’i Symphony concert! ‘Tis the season! Scott Fikse… Read More Spring concert season
By this time Sunday, May 7th, I will have sat on six different organ benches (and maybe even seven!) in the course of my week. Oh, not all of them are large pipe organs, but it just goes to show you that within the course of a week, I play musical benches! Last Sunday, I was… Read More Musical benches