Finally, Opera season is over here and I’ve got a bit of time in the next few days to catch up on other things, including updating this blog which is supposed to be a minimum of one entry per month. Unfortunately, not only has there been a lot of time taken up with the opera activities, but additionally there’s been weeks and weeks of rain here which has resulted in quite a bit of flooding, especially on the Windward side of Oahu and Kauai. Last week a dam broke on Kauai and swept away seven people as well as their houses! They’ve had 105 inches- (9 feet!) -of rain on Kauai in the past three weeks. On Oahu over 150 houses have become uninhabitable and many more damaged, including our house. Flood waters have entered the lower part of our house a number of times this month, ironically enough just after installing a French drain which we were hoping would have solved the problem. So it’s on to another search for a solution for the flooding. It flooded again today, so once again I was down there, mopping up buckets of water.

Opera season was enjoyable as always. This season was an Italian festival, a Verdi opera, Rigoletto, and two Puccini operas- Il Trittico & Tosca. I guess you could call it four Puccini operas if you wanted to get technical. I had never played Trittico before, unlike Tosca which is scheduled regularly, and really enjoyed getting to know some new music (for me) by Puccini. One standout singer was baritone Jake Gardner, who sang leads in Trittico and then stepped in at the last minute as Scarpia in Tosca, filling in for an indisposed singer. He was a completely reliable, thoroughly professional and totally enjoyable voice to hear for six weeks, I’m sorry to see him go. Hopefully he’ll be back. The conducting staff of Mark Flint, Ivan Tors and Anthony Walker were as funny but professional to work with this season as they have been in the past. The orchestra enjoys these fellows immensely, of course it’s always easier to enjoy a conductor when you only see him once a year!

Now for a couple of days of ‘free time’ which will hopefully allow bit of mopping up of uncompleted affairs (literally as well as figuratively). Coming up in the next few weeks: 1) Renee Fleming in a program of concert arias with Strauss’s Don Juan inserted between Mozart’s ‘Exultate Jubilate’ and Strauss’s s ‘Der Liebe der Danae’, 2) a program of Youth Talent Pool winners playing concerti with the orchestra, 3) four Educational concerts, 4) Pops with Elvis Costello, including his own new, original piece for orchestra, ‘Il Sogno Suite’ 5) an hour or so at an outdoor music festival given in the crater of Diamond Head; an all-day event featuring Linda Ronstat and others. This will be the first time concerts have been given inside the crater in decades, problems with overly large and unruly crowds lead to a ban on such events back in the 60’s.

Nonmusical upcoming happenings include equestrian events involving my wife and daughter this weekend and next; first a seminar with a visiting teacher, then a Pony Club event. (Pony club is an international organization similar to scouting, but involving horses!) I’m not a rider myself, but I have volunteered to be the camera man who records the events for scrutiny later. My wife and daughter really have the horse bug- it’s very time-consuming. What’s really interesting to me is how similar riding a horse is to playing an instrument! Learning to ride is a similar process to learning to play music, and just like on an instrument, is a lot easier for a child to learn than for an adult, as my wife has been discovering. (I’ve probably said too much already.....)

Moving back to the musical field, my daughter will be participating in the biannual Honolulu Bass Fest over spring break next week. Any bassist reading this should check out this festival; excellent teachers including Francois Rabbath, Larry Angell, Frank Proto, seminars on how to play a great audition, how to write a great piece for bass and more. (You can find information on the web @ cbfest.org) There is a program both for acoustic bass and electric bass, which is what my daughter plays. The Bass Fest is also sponsoring a rhythm section seminar with John Clayton. Fumi Wellington deserves a round of applause for organizing what has turned into a remarkable event. Bassists, don’t miss this!

At the University of Hawaii, two of my students at the will be playing pieces for rep. lab this coming week and the following week. On the freelance scene, an extra job (rare here these days) celebrating the 100th anniversary of Chaminade University. And these busy three weeks end with a visit from Burton Kaplan, who will present a ‘performance power’ seminar. More on Burton in an upcoming blog entry.

I’ve got a couple of other, more philosophical, blog topics in the works, but for the moment wanted to check in before more time passes since my last entry. For now, the good word is ‘Aloha’ and ‘hope it stops raining one of these days’!