hospitality & culture

mount angel abbey just hosted their 44th annual bach festival.  we joined them for vespers, a pipe organ concert by gail archer, lawn picnic and a violin-cello duo of french canadian musicians antoine bareil and sebastien lepine.

two things stood out to me at this event. one being the hospitality of the monks.  the monastery is their home.  so in that sense, it is a large-scale house concert and we are invited to where they live.  i met the main host (pictured here) and he had a delightful sense of humor, wishing desperately--due to the heat-- to change orders just for the night in order to wear a white robe instead of black.  the breeze was blowing all of their robes around as they uncorked wine, laughed together and passed out picnic baskets brimming with delicious food to us on the hillside.

the second thing, aside from the classy and varietal music repertoire, was the reminder that monastic tradition is not just centered on being secluded away from the world, as some might think. on the contrary, it is these very orders that are responsible for having preserved art and culture for thousands of years. it struck me that, if not for them, i wouldn't even be aware of certain aspects of music, painting, or writing that i have come to know about and love.

for more information on the abbey and festival, see their site at  www.mountangelabbey.org/bach