Today we had not elected to purchase tickets for any concerts during the day so we had free time until 5:30 pm Evensong. As we were riding the bus on the way to Gloucester the other day, a sign caught my eye and I suggested to Bill that we tour Coventry Cathedral, the site of… Read More Excursion to Coventry
As is typical at the Three Choirs Festival, the second day is spent going to a Festival Eucharist, Evensong and a concert. Yesterday’s Eucharist featured the Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor, and I couldn’t help but think that I am so so sorry that my husband, Carl, didn’t live long enough to revel… Read More Hog heaven in Gloucester
Yesterday there was a rail strike which “derailed” our plans for getting from Edinburgh to Gloucester efficiently where the Three Choirs Festival is being held. Instead of a 5-3/4 hour journey we had to endure a 9 hour bus ride. I was trying to determine which was worse, a 9-hour plane ride or a 9-hour… Read More On the way to Gloucester
While my colleagues at the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM) were meeting this week for their biennual conference in Philadelphia, look what popped up in my Facebook feed! It was a picture of my husband, Carl, and me with my sister, Doris Au MacDonald and her duet partner, Sharon Dennis (aka The Braeded Chord)… Read More Across the pond(s)
In two weeks, I’ll be playing the organ at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Kapahulu, near Waikiki. I’m already nervous about getting to the church on time, because I’ll first have to finish playing the 9:00 am service at Nuuanu Congregational Church. The last few weeks I haven’t been able to return to my car… Read More Double duty
Last night I stayed up late, to take advantage of Priority Booking for reserving tickets for the Three Choirs Festival, billed as “the world’s finest choral music.” The booking office opened at 10:00 am in Gloucester, UK, which is 11:00 pm in Hawaii. I logged onto my computer at 10:55 pm and didn’t finish booking… Read More Three Choirs, here we come!
Just about eleven years ago, I wrote this post on March 26, 2011: … it was in 1971 that the church decided to commit itself to a music program that would make LCH a center for sacred music and a venue for classical music concerts. It was then that the decision to purchase the Beckerath… Read More A turning point
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