Newspaper Articles

At Easter dinner last spring, my brother-in-law Benson said, “If you could hear one band live before they stopped playing, who would it be?” I answered first, without even thinking – U2. I’ve been listening to their music since I was a teenager. Rattle and Hum, their 1988 album, was my first, and soon after…

For many musicians, but especially church musician, this is the season to be extra busy! There are more concerts, more church services, everywhere more music. I always play an organ concert at Hope Church the first Sunday of Advent, featuring mostly hymns and music of Advent. So that occupies most of my November, especially if…

After this past weekend, I have visited Boston twice within two and a half months, to play three concerts on four different organs.Sometimes non-musicians will ask me how I get these out-of-town opportunities. While once in awhile, an unexpected email arrives in my inbox, inviting me to play somewhere I didn’t have on my radar,…

[Holland Sentinel Title: Get out and enjoy your favorite music] You know the saying, familiarity breeds contempt? Some long-time Hollanders definitely feel that way about Tulip Time. Not me, though, at least not yet. Twelve years living downtown, and I still think it’s charming to have tour busses driving down our street, tourists taking pictures…

[Holland Sentinel Title: Organ Playing not just for the Elderly] People often assume that only older people like and play the organ. In my 20’s, people regularly acted astonished that someone “so young” was an organist. They don’t seem to say that as much to me anymore (hmm, what might that mean?) But it is…

Recently, a former piano professor posted this on Facebook about a concert he’d just heard, featuring a famous pianist and an equally famous soprano, performing duo literature together: “Evgeny Kissin plays well with others.” He went on to extol how amazing the concert was, especially the wonderful collaboration between these two giants in their fields.…

[Holland Sentinel Title: Sweet Sounds of Music Give me Wonderful Opportunities] My April was filled with two adventures: both chances to see and play notable instruments, collaborate with fellow musicians, and check out interesting parts of the country. First, I headed to Detroit to play in a gorgeous historic church, built in 1926 – Jefferson…

Musicians are always busy during the holidays. As a church musician, there are all sorts of special services around Christmas, full of music. And for a performing musician, there are extra concert gigs as well. And then personally, I enjoy making music in many ways at the holidays. We like to take our kids caroling…

A musician friend told me once that most people’s favorite music is whatever they were listening to when they were 18 years old. At the time, I doubted this, but given the popularity of reunion tours from bands long-since history, or the phenomenon of the tribute band (Holland’s own Park Theater has at least one…

Part of my life as a professional musician involves leaving my home, family, and regular jobs and traveling to different locations around the country to play concerts. Classical organ concerts don’t involve tour buses, groupies, or wild after-parties (except with mostly folks over 60 and then the gatherings are decidedly tame events!) But I do…