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
It seems hard to believe that it’s been exactly 23 years to the day since my husband Carl Crosier conducted Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Matthäuspassion (St. Matthew Passion) in two ground-breaking performances, March 31-April 1, 2000. Carl’s passion for the work started when I was pregnant with my son, Stephen, and I experienced problems with… Read More A Passion for BWV 244
Last night was the first of two performances of the Fauré Requiem by the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble, conducted by Tim Carney, with soloists Martina Bingham and Buz Tennent. This was by far the biggest concert crowd since the pandemic, and people even sat in the chairs above the board room (which I don’t think… Read More All things French
Last week, I had an email exchange with Ian Capps, president of Early Music Hawaii, about the William Byrd concert, which now had originally been scheduled for April and now is been rescheduled to May. Thinking that I could get ahead on the project, I set up the ticket program a couple of weeks ago,… Read More No rest for the wicked
A couple of weeks ago, Tim Carney of the Hawai’i Vocal Arts Ensemble wrote me: Organist for Luigi Gatti Creation? Hi Kathy, HVAE is singing this fascinating Mass based on music from Haydn’s Creation…Gatti was one of many composers who adapted Haydn’s music for a Mass setting in the early 18th century. It has an… Read More Wishful thinking
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!
I never knew that my post about Lady Gaga’s performance of the National Anthem at President Biden’s inauguration would have received so many comments! Many people absolutely loved the mixed meter version of this song, and Lady Gaga’s interpretation of it, and others absolutely hated it! Here is a sampling of some of the comments… Read More Self-expression or a corporate creed?
This weekend’s two performances of “Glow,” by the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble, directed by Tim Carney, joined by Karol Nowicki’s Karolers, had it all — a polished choral performance, varied and well-balanced repertoire, sacred and secular selections, audience carols, beautiful choral tone, texts in English, Latin, Russian, French, German, Polish, Tagalog, Hawaiian and even a… Read More Afterglow for Glow
If you were one of the email subscribers to the blog you may have been puzzled by my mention of the Kona Choral Society when I wrapping up my time on the Garden Island, Kaua’i. I must have been tired when I wrote that last post, because of course I meant the Kauai Chorale, directed… Read More In a fog
That was the title of a desperate email I sent to Tim Carney, director of the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble, when I came to try out the organ in the Mystical Rose Oratory this afternoon. The morning started out innocently enough … I began the day with my usual morning walk, then as I was… Read More Houston, we have a problem!