Shows &events
Holiday concert rescheduled
The West Hawaii County Band has rescheduled its holiday concert slated for 6:30 p.m. this evening at Hale Halawai in Kailua-Kona.
The free performance, “Holiday Lights,” features an hour of music in celebration of the holiday season. It will now be held Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at Hale Halawai.
Info: www.westhawaiiband.com
Choo, Gardiner
to perform at library
Solomon Choo and Chet Gardiner will perform Saturday at the Kailua-Kona Public Library.
The “Live Folk!” performance will feature music for all ages from 3-4 p.m. Hosted by Friends of the Libraries, Kona, this concert is offered free to the public.
Info: 327-4327
Library hosts ‘Music of the Himalayas’
Parashuram Bhandari will perform with the Sarangi Babette Ackin on the tanpura during “Music of the Himalayas” slated at 3 p.m. Saturday at Thelma Parker Memorial Library in Waimea. The concert is free and open to the public.
The Himalayas is the home of Mount Everest and the birthplace of Buddha. Parashuram will talk about the musical traditions that are over 5,000 years old, including both classical raga and folk music of Nepal. Attendees will see and hear several typical instruments including Indian Sarangi, tabla, madal drum, Nepali Folk sarangi, and tanpura.
Info: 887-6067
Hulihee Palace event remembers Kamehameha Schools founder
The late Princess Bernice Pauahi will be remembered from 4-5 p.m. Sunday at Hulihee Palace in Kailua Village.
Presenting hula and serenade by the Merrie Monarchs, the event is part of a year-long series that honors Hawaii’s past monarchs and historical figures.
Pauahi is most well-known as the benefactress of Kamehameha Schools. A great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I, she came of age during the Victorian Era. She was well liked and very private. When her cousin, Kamehameha V, chose her as his successor in 1872, she declined. Her refusal ended the Kamehameha Dynasty.
During her lifetime, the princess witnessed the physical and social decline of Hawaiians. Some foreigners brought disease — the native population dwindled from 400,000 in 1778 to fewer than 45,000 a century later — and controlled most commerce. Missionaries introduced a new value system.
“Distressed by the plight of her people, Princess Pauahi created a will in 1883 as an instrument of change,” said Jolee Chip, Hulihee Palace docent coordinator. “She believed education could be the answer to help her people.”
The document established a charitable land trust overseen by trustees to improve the well being of Hawaiians. It operates as Kamehameha Schools today, one of the largest, private trusts in the nation.
“The will was the princess’s way to malama ka aina — practice the ethical, prudent and culturally appropriate stewardship of land and resources,” added Chip.
Pauahi married Charles Reed Bishop in 1850. She and Bishop shared a love for traveling, teaching and entertaining and the couple became astute property managers. When her favorite cousin, Princess Ruth Keelikolani died, Pauahi received her entire estate (including Hulihee Palace) and this inheritance comprised the major portion of Pauahi’s landholdings. The princess died a year later in 1884. To honor his wife, Charles founded the Bishop Museum in 1889 to house the royal family heirlooms and her extensive collection of Hawaiian artifacts.
Hulihee Palace is open for docent-guided and self-guided tours. Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. Following the monthly Kokua Kailua Village Stroll, the palace is open 1 to 4 p.m. on Monday. Admission for a self-guided tour is $8 for adults, $6 for kamaaina, military and seniors, and $1 for keiki 18 years and younger. Docent-guided tours are available upon request.
Attendees of Afternoon at Hulihee should bring a beach mat or chair because seating won’t be provided. Donations will be accepted.
Ohrlando’s Chamber Ensemble offers
trio of concerts
“Ohrlando” offers a special treat for lovers of exquisite baroque and early classic chamber music just in time for the holidays.
Together with Ursula Hesse, Roland “Ohrlando” Maurer provides a wide range of solo pieces that shows the harpsichord not only for the basso continuo but also as an “obligato”-instrument with his own “concertato” part; a dialog between the solo instrument and the harpsichord.
The program includes a concerto serenata by Domenico Cimarosa, a late Renaissance Fantasia, a sonata by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and a special arrangement of “Italian Concerto” by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Concerts are slated at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 16 at Queen Emma Community Center in Kealakekua and 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 17 at Kona Lutheran Church Holy Trinity. Admission is free, however, a $15 donation per person is suggested. At 4 p.m. on Dec. 18, a concert will be held at a private residence in Kona. A $20 donation is suggested to attend this concert.
Info: roland.maurer@gmx.ch, 315-7666.
Classes &workshops
Gupton returns
to lead workshops
Penny Gupton, longtime resident of Kona, now living in Sedona, Arizona, returns to teach two four-day watercolor workshops at Akamai Art.
The workshops are “Morning Coffee” from Dec. 20 to 23 during which participants will finish a 15-by-20-inch watercolor painting featuring the peaceful feeling of living in Hawaii; and “Water and Skies” from Jan. 10 to 13 in which students will paint four 11-by-14-inch paintings of different ocean and skies.
The workshops are open to all levels of painters; everyone is taken step-by-step through to a finished painting. The classes will be held in Akamai Art’s classroom each day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Class sizes are limited. Cost for each workshop is $400.
Gupton loves the vibrant colors and the wonderful shadows in tropical landscapes. Her paintings include many local points of interest and casual portraits at Kona Village Resort and Four Seasons Resort, Hualalai. She has numerous paintings at Kona Community Hospital and her work hangs in corporate offices and private homes all over the world.
Info: 325-6106, penny@pennygupton.com
Announcements
Kalani Pe’a’s debut album receives Grammy nod
Singer/songwriter and Hawaiian cultural practitioner/educator Kalani Pe’a recently came out with his debut Hawaiian contemporary album and now has a seat in the 59th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
Pe’a is among the final five nominated in the Regional Roots Album category. Other contenders in the category include Cajun, Zyteco and Native American music. Pe’a, however, is the only finalist representing Hawaii. The awards show will be aired during February.
“I am so honored and blessed to be the first Hawaiian immersion graduate and educator representing my kupuna (ancestors), makua (parents) and ohana in the Grammy’s next year,” Pe’a said. “I have been singing since four and finally created a music album that really defines who I am as a modern Hawaiian singer, songwriter and Hawaiian cultural practitioner.”
Pe’a’s debut album, “E Walea,” hit No. 1 on iTunes World Music Charts on Aug. 5. His album also hit No. 12 on Billboard World Music Charts.
Info: www.kalanipeamusic.com
