Tag Archive | Mahalo!

What a party!

What an extraordinary day we had this past Saturday, August 23 celebrating Na Leo Lani’s Golden Anniversary. Fifty years — WOW!!!!!

Thank you to all who attended, and mahalo nui loa to Harris United Methodist Church for hosting us! A million thanks as well to the dozens of volunteers whose hard work helped us pull off this once-in-a-lifetime event. We could not have done it without you.

More thank yous to the individuals who so generously gave of their time will follow soon, along with photos from the event.

For now, here’s one from our rehearsal prior to the show. Golden indeed!

Special guests are the best!

May10

We had three special guests join us at our rehearsals in April: former Na Leo Lani director Lars Isaacson, who will be bidding adieu to the islands and moving to the continent later this spring, Barbie Dodson, a sister Sweet Adeline and former Honolulu Blend Show Chorus member who often visits Hawaiʻi, and Mark Conching, whose guest-coaching, as always, made our chords really ring.

Both Lars and Mark are longtime Sounds of Aloha members (Mark is the former director). What a wonderful treat it was to have them, and Barbie, too, who came just in time for our special rehearsal evening in honor of National Barbershop Quartet Day on April 11. Thanks for joining us!

Enjoy the photos of their visits below, plus a video of Lars directing us in one of his favorites, “Where Does the Time Go?” (😭)

Where indeed?

Thanks, Mark, for inspiring us as always!

Nicole, Yvonne, Barbie, Lars, Jojo and Kaori ensembling on the fly in honor of National Barbershop Quartet Day

The recently reconstituted Loco Moco looking good and sounding great!

Holiday joy

Jan11

Na Leo Lani enjoyed a busy 2024 holiday season, with performances all around the island, from the windward to the leeward side and places in between. We had a blast entertaining audiences at the Hawai’i Kai Public Library and Pohai Nani, hamming it up with Sounds of Aloha and Honolulu Blend Show Chorus at the Palikū Theatre, and of course, performing at our own Christmas concert at Harris United Methodist Church.

Mahalo nui loa to our Sing with Us for the Holidays “SWUFTH” program participants — we loved singing with you and hope you stick around or come back for our next short-term session! — and many thanks to Harris United Methodist Church for allowing us to sing in your beautiful sanctuary. Thanks as well to Sounds of Aloha — your shows are always a hoot! — and most of all to our members whose heartfelt participation made our holiday season such a joy.

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou, and may 2025 bring peace to the world, one chord at a time.

Onstage for “Santa’s Hawaiian Workshop”, with sibling barbershop choruses Sounds of Aloha and Honolulu Blend Show Chorus

Na Leo Lani singing a Christmas favorite, “Wrap Your Gift” (with fingers agile, fa la la!)

Three Wise Directors following one bright star —! Stephanie Brictson, Director of HBSC, Bryce Irvine, Director of Sounds of Aloha, and Christine Wee, Director of Na Leo Lani

Harmony is heavenly at the Hawai`i Kai Public Library

Quartetting it up with Jingle Bells

Garage sale success!

Nov2

Thanks so much to everyone who turned out for our yard sale fundraiser on October 19!

There were bargains galore and a fantastic team of NLL members and supporters whose hard work made the event run smoothly. Mahalo nui loa for all you do. 🥰

Our BOD and stalwart team of chorus volunteers

A musical mahalo

Jul20

What a great time we had with our summer concert this afternoon! Our performance marked the culmination of our Amazing Summer Program 2024. In addition to our Hawai’i-themed repertoire, we also premiered our two ASP songs celebrating family, friends, and the indomitable feelings of joy that singing brings.

Mahalo nui loa to University Avenue Baptist Church for allowing us to perform in your beautiful sanctuary, and thanks as always to Mo’ili’ili Hongwanji for our weekly Wednesday evening rehearsal space. And thanks most of all to Yoko, Lark, and Stephanie for joining us this summer. We hope to see you again soon! 🥰🎶

Enjoy the pics and a snippet of each of our ASP songs below.

We are a chorus family

Don’t worry about the blazing heat; we’ve got sunshine in our pocket!

Mahalo to everyone for working so hard to make our concert come together!

Party time

May19

After all the intensity and excitement of our Region 12 competition last month, what fun it was to decompress and enjoy each other’s company over a great meal. In addition to watching the webcast of the Region 12 performances, our spring celebration marked the installation of our 2024-25 Board of Directors and honored our Music Team and Director. Thank you so much, each and every one of you, for all you do in keeping Na Leo Lani running!

And thanks to Rosie for the fabulously fun and lighthearted headwear. Busy mice sound twice as nice when we squeak in harmony!

Many thanks to our stalwart BOD, Nora, Pam, Anna and Deb!

Mahalo nui loa to the Music Team! L to R: Chris, Anna, Carole, Rosie and JoAnne (missing Arlette, Summer and Eimi)

Listen in on our performance!

May7

What joy it was to raise our voices with so many others this past Sunday at the KE KANI O KE KAIĀULU (Sound of The Pleasant Breeze) community choral festival at Kawaiahaʻo Church! If you missed the concert or would like to hear it again, see the video and photos below.

Mahalo nui loa again to the festival organizers. We are honored to have been a part of this marvelous event!

The directors of Na Leo Lani and Sounds of Aloha

Celebrating World Singing Day

Oct28

On October 21, Na Leo Lani joined with members of Honolulu Blend Show Chorus and men from Sounds of Aloha to celebrate World Singing Day.

Following a picnic and talk story time, we circled up and sang. The gorgeous surroundings of Kapiolani Park and Diamond Head were especially inspiring as we harmonized tunes we knew in common and new songs we learned on the spot.

Special thanks to HBSC director, Stephanie Brictson, for organizing this event, as well as to NLL members who attended: Jojo, Anna, Yvonne, Charley, Deb, Summer, Rosie and Chris, and dual NLL and HSBC members Yvonne and Charley.

We love harmonizing with all of you!

Barbershop harmony in harmony with nature!

Amazing Summer Program finale

Jul16

What a blast we had on July 8 performing the two songs we learned for our summer program, as well as many other favorites from the Na Leo Lani repertoire. Making it even more special was a supportive turnout from sister choruses Honolulu Blend Show Chorus, Mission Valley Chorus (California), and Velvet Hills Chorus (Colorado).

After our performance, members of the audience and Na Leo Lani singers came up to participate in our first ever open mic event. It was a great afternoon of singing all around.

Many thanks to our summer program participants Summer, Marlene, Carolyn, and Donna — we hope you will continue singing with us! — and of course to all our chorus members and their families who made the event possible. Thanks most of all to Chris, our Director, for introducing these challenging but fun new songs. As she noted, they are still very much works in progress (hence our holding our sheet music in the video clip), but we covered a lot of ground in just six weeks and look forward to perfecting them further.

Enjoy the pics and video clips from the performance and open mic event below.

Amazing Summer Program participants Summer, Carolyn, and Marlene

A snippet from our new Summer Program song, “For Good”

“How We Sang Today” joined by members Honolulu Blend Show Chorus, Mission Valley Chorus (California), and Velvet Hills Chorus (Colorado).

Betsy tickling the ivories for open mic!

May the Fourth (and the fifth) be with you

Jul5

Six weeks have flown by! Hard to believe, but tonight was already the last night of our Amazing Summer Program. We worked hard and enjoyed the excitement and camaraderie that come from preparing for a show.

Join us this coming Saturday, July 8 from 3 to 3:30 p.m. to hear our Summer Program songs, plus a mix of favorites from our repertoire.

Stay afterwards for the open mic event and show off your own vocal & performing chops!

For more information about our free Saturday concert and the open mic event, click HERE, or just scroll to the next post below.

Wearing our best Fourth of July smiles — Happy Fifth!