A number of well-known island musical organizations will come together to perform at the Clarence Waipa Memorial Scholarship Concert on Sunday, May 5 at 2 p.m. in the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Performing Arts Center (PAC). The concert will feature music Waipa arranged or performed with numerous choral organizations during his lifetime.
Herbert Mahelona, music director at Kamehameha High School, Kea’au, and Michael Springer, UH Hilo graduate and a protégé of Waipa, have prepared special musical arrangements of repertoire taken from classical music, Hawaiian standards, and tunes that were standard fare for Waipa’s singers.
An orchestra of local musicians has been formed for the concert, with vocalists from the University Chorus and the UH Hilo Kapili Choir, under the direction of Amy Horst, and the Kamehameha High School chorus, directed by Mahelona. The Kamehameha Alumni Choir, also under Mahelona’s leadership, opened its doors to singers from St. Joseph High, Sing Out Hilo, and the Seventh Day Adventist Choir to round out the ensemble numbers on the program.
Waipa, who passed away in 2011, hailed from Keaukaha, and graduated from California State University in Los Angeles. He returned to Hilo in 1967 to teach music, art, theatre and Hawaiian history at St. Joseph High for over 30 years. During his lifetime, he trained many of the musicians who are working in choral music on the island of Hawai’i. The concert was created to ensure other generations would be enriched by Waipa’s musical legacy.
All tickets are open seating, priced at $12 General, $10 Senior, and $7 UH Hilo/HawCC faculty, staff, alumni, students, and children 17 and under. Tickets are available at the PAC Box Office, Tuesday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or by calling 974-7310.
All proceeds from the concert will go toward Performing Arts scholarships at UH Hilo. Those wishing to make donations to the scholarship fund can do so by contributing to the UH Foundation, Performing Arts Center Scholarship Fund. For more information, contact Jackie Pualani Johnson at jpjohnso@hawaii.edu.