Dear readers,
2018 has been a quiet year here on the blog. It has been a busy year in my life. Overall, I’m very happy with the way things turned out. Yes, there has been sadness and grief, too, but that’s part of life and I was able to deal with these challenges in a good way.
Now, the calendar tells me it’s 2019. I don’t know what the year will bring, but I have plans. I want to write more blog posts (and I’m sure I said this before. Maybe it was my plan for 2018 already? 😉 ), speak at a conference, play another organ recital… At the moment I have so many ideas in my head, I feel I either need a second head to store them all or more hours to my day. This might sound a bit „out of breath“, but I’m actually quite relaxed.
2019 marks the 200th birthday of two remarkable musicians: Elizabeth Stirling and Clara Schumann. Elizabeth wrote many pieces for organ (unfortunately not a lot of them are available in print) and Clara’s main instrument was the piano. However, some of her piano works have been edited for organ and I want to play at least two (or rather four, if you count each prelude and fugue separately) of them this year.
I will continue doing „50-50“ in my Sunday organ playing: at least one of the pieces I play will be by a female composer. I also include lesser known (male) composers whenever possible. My own list of female composers who have written for organ is still a work in progress and already contains more than 200 names. That’s enough material for many Sunday services, I guess.
I will also continue trying to help others who’re not as privileged as I am and to point out unfairness and stupidity and make my voice heard when I feel like saying something.
Thanks for reading, and happy new year to you!