From time to time, I have mentioned the name of my Swiss friend, Vreni Griffith. I first noticed her unusual name when I used to stick name labels on our music mailings for the Lutheran Church of Honolulu—that was probably in the early 90s. I later found out “Vreni” was a shortened version of “Varena”… Read More ¡Muchísimas gracias!
The term I hear over and over these days is “the new normal.” Just last January I was telling someone how grateful I was that I didn’t have to depend only on Social Security and could still earn money in my retirement by playing the organ for church services, by teaching and by accompanying for… Read More An uncertain future
My friend from the Three Choirs Festival, Rich Arenschieldt, after reading my last post about being grateful to have an organ at home to play, observed that musicians are posting videos of themselves playing at home and sharing them on the Internet: “I love how much music is taking place and how supportive musicians are… Read More In quiet joy
Readers of this blog know that for the past four years I have attended the marvelous Three Choirs Festival in England. In talking with scores of festival-goers I have come to find out that many are musicians in their own right, but that they come yearly to be inspired by the heavenly music, “the world’s… Read More Who knew what people do in real life?
This afternoon at the Three Choirs Festival, we heard Christmas music, and in fact, the performance was recorded for the BBC Radio which will be aired in December. It was hilarious, though, when the Dean, in his opening remarks, wished to be the first to wish us a Happy Christmas! Only 143 nights before Christmas!… Read More Christmas in August?
The outing on Monday to Berkeley Castle was only one of several non-music options at the Three Choirs Festival. This morning Joan Ishibashi and I attended a most interesting lecture by Dr Linda Porter, called “The Real Bloody Mary,” on Mary Tudor, the first child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Eclipsed by her… Read More Three Choirs Festival —more than just music
Two of today’s four performances made a huge impact on me—the first was Karl Jenkins’ “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace,” performed by the Three Choirs Festival Youth Choir; the Philharmonia Players, Gregory Bannan, baritone; and Samuel Hudson, conductor. The work begins with a military march and drumbeat and the singing of the 15th… Read More The Armed Man
Jet lag finally hit me, after another sleepless night on a redeye flight from Washington DC, train to Gloucester and going at Three Choirs Festival all day so when I got back to the hotel and finished yesterday’s blog post, I was ready for bed about 10:45 pm. Alas, I was awakened by some noisy… Read More Berkeley Castle
My flight to London was delayed nearly an hour and a half, but I still arrived in plenty of time to catch my train to Gloucester on Sunday morning at 10:30 am. I realized that this is my third time at Gloucester Cathedral, and a year ago to the day I was here listening to… Read More Back at Gloucester Cathedral
One of the tourist attractions that Joan Ishibashi and I were most interested to see was the Mappa Mundi and Chained Library, both kept at Hereford Cathedral. The Mappa Mundi is the largest ancient world map which has been stored and displayed at Hereford Cathedral since 1300. I really didn’t know what it was all… Read More Mappa Mundi and the Chained Library