Hello,
Every time I decide to write an update post, I'm always amazed at the amount of time that has passed. My last post was in May and I was over-the-moon after playing the Sydney Opera House organ. Fast forward all those months in between and we are now in December. It's an understatement to say that a lot has happened since May, but I would like to start from the beginning of the year and reminisce on everything I have achieved with you as my audience.
January - St Christopher's Cathedral, Canberra
https://youtu.be/fx0uJgHHyMs?si=kjhWdaeGSWBPrkvF
I played at the wedding of Mary Seselja (née von Marburg) who was a former member of the St Patrick's Schola Cantorum in Albury. January is a very hot part of the year in Australia and it wasn't very comfortable to be up in the organ gallery. All-in-all, it was a lovely ceremony and the most amount of people I've seen attend a wedding. It's a pity that the cathedral organ is only a small extension organ. The organ at St Patrick's Albury has more ranks!
February - Stations of the Cross
Lent quickly comes around after Christmas and Epiphany. I decided to continue my annual Stations of the Cross video, this time with the assistance of Michael Cramer and Zach Mahoni. In preparation for Easter ceremonies, I needed some people to assist with the singing so Mike and Zach were kind enough to help. They had no previous musical or singing experience so it was learning experience for all of us. Shortly after Easter, I decided to part ways with them so I could focus on my upcoming musical engagements for the rest of the year.
March - Wollongong Town Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOU6nIBABDw
Whilst I was in Bowral for their annual Autumn Music Festival, I took the opportunity to visit Wollongong Town Hall. I'm an alumni of the University of Wollongong but during that time, I did not get a chance to see the town hall organ. The council were more than happy to let me in and record, which was very kind of them. The organ was built by Ronald Sharp who is consequently the same builder of the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ.
April - Friday Music at St Stephen's Macquarie Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXhLP64WlYI
I returned back to SSMS at the end of April to play the organ recital which they have on the last Friday's of every month. My program consisted of works by Denis Bédard. This was in preparation for music I was going to play in Vilnius (Lithuania) in July. I definitely covered a lot of Bédard's music in the months approaching July...one could say I deserve a dedication of a piece by the composer himself! 🫢
May - Callum's farewell Tunes on Tuesday recital
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwTSVzEQXGQ
Many of you have seen Callum's journey, courtesy of my channel, since 2020 and now has come the time to say 'farewell' to Albury as he continues his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London (August). He has taken up the position of organ scholar the Royal Hospital Chelsea. I have encouraged Callum to share his journey online, which we occasionally see on his Instagram (albeit only on stories). There are plenty of us that will encourage this:
June - Corpus Christi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff5PCwsiXic
For the Feast of Corpus Christi, I decided to gather together a little ensemble to do something special. Many thanks to Ben Wilson, Tom Summerfield, Emily McFarland and Andrew Flores for providing the music for this special celebration. Everyone, sans Tom, were part of the former St Patrick's Schola Cantorum under the direction of Ben Wilson—so there was a bit of nostalgia there. As we get older, there are many other things in life that fight for time and attention so it's a challenge to get commitment for church music. I do understand it's quite a commitment as one has to attend rehearsals and practice in your own time. When I had various groups and ad-hoc ensembles, I tried my best to shoulder all the administrative work to make it easier on everyone else. When I reminisce on this, I think of the phrase "If you want something done, give it to a busy man", that man being myself! Haha! This year I focused a lot on my own solo endeavours.
July - Lithuania
The highlight of this year was definitely visiting my friends, Vidas and Ausra (along with Graham Twist!) in Vilnius. It was amazing to see and play the the instruments I only ever saw on their videos. I'm so grateful to Vidas and Ausra for assisting me in organising two organ recitals. One at St Casimir's Church and the other at the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Vilnius is literally on the other side of the world from Australia. The trek wasn't easy but it was worth the journey to see such a cultured part of the world.
August - One iPad
Over the past year, I had struggled with the forScore companion app, Cue, and its connection issues. Also, after carrying two iPads, my laptop and various other necessities in my carry on luggage, I decided I needed to make a change to be kinder to my back. I opted for the iPad Air M2 with 13" screen. It took a while to get used to, but I'm content with my new setup. The larger screen size was definitely an upgrade from the 10" screens on my older iPads.
September - Festive Postlude
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGv0oKvkcDI
Back in July I finally got to meet the one and only, Graham Twist in person! He kindly made the trip from England to Lithuania to meet me in the capital city of Vilnius. At every organ he got his hands on, he would play this piece. Shortly after, he finally transcribed his improvisation and kindly dedicated it to me. It will forever be my "Vilnius momento".
October - REPTON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh6iGAmF0UU
I was pleased to be able to record the world premiere of "Voluntary on Repton" by Dr Brett McKern (Australia) from his collection of Five Hymn Voluntaries. The pieces are tonal and approachable yet in a contemporary harmonic idiom. It’s nice to know that contemporary Australian composers are using this tune in such a beautiful way.
November - St Kilda Presbyterian Church
Dwindling congregations and rising insurance premiums have forced this church to close its doors. A good outcome would be for another Christian group to take over the running of the place and keep the organ. If it's sold to a developer or some such type of entity and the organ is not wanted, we must arrange a new home or safe storage. I made a short documentary of this organ to raise awareness. Sadly, this is only one of many churches with organs facing the same fate.
December - Lessons and Carols
This will be the fifth year in a row that I will be playing for the Lessons and Carols service in Corowa. I'm grateful to be invited back. Honestly, if it weren't for the great supper they put on afterwards, it would be a hard sell for me to go back out there (jokes!). At of the time of this post, the service hasn't happened yet, but I will be recording it and posting it on my channel in due course.
🎄 CHRISTMAS WISHLIST
Christmas is the time for giving 😅
I've put together a little wishlist of items that you can contribute to, if you'd like. Each of these help me with my content creation for the channel.
Visit the wishlist here: https://buymeacoffee.com/jamesflores/wishlist
Time speeds up the older we get.
Imagine your life is like a plate of chicken parmigianas, and each year is one chicken parmi on the plate.
When you’re 10, you’ve only had 10 parmies in your whole life. One parmi is a big deal—it’s like a huge chunk of all the parmies you’ve ever had! It feels like a long, exciting time.
But when you’re 50, you’ve had 50 parmies. Now, one parmi doesn’t seem as big or special because you’ve already had so many. It’s just a tiny part of the huge stack of parmies you’ve experienced.
That’s why, as you get older, each year (or parmi) feels smaller and time seems to go by faster! 🐔🍝
Until next time,
James Flores