Gene Schiller
Music Director; Host, Morning ConcertGene Schiller joined HPR in September, 1993 as a board operator. His first break came when he was asked to fill in for Music Director Alan Bunin. Six months later, he became the new host of Evening Concert, a program that runs on HPR-2 from 6 to 8 p.m. on weeknights.
In 1996, Gene was invited to take over the Sunday morning classical program, Sunday Brunch, which at the time was scheduled from 10 to noon. "About three years later, I turned it into a request program," he recalls, "and soon after that it was expanded to run from 9 to noon, still in the request format."
Gene, who continues on Sunday Brunch, now hosts Morning Cafe and Morning Concert every morning from 8:00 a.m. to noon. All three are regularly scheduled local classical programs heard on HPR-2.
Gene was named HPR's Music Director in 2001.
He was born in Los Angeles, and his family moved to Hawaiʻi in 1959 just as he entered the third grade. He's lived here ever since, attending St. Louis and then Kaimuki High School. Gene has been in radio for decades. He originally joined KORL as a host for a big band show. "I come from a family of musicians," he recalls, "and I am the only member who isn't a musician, doesn't read music or play an instrument - but I've always been a good listener."
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Jim Moffitt stopped by Morning Café to discuss Chamber Music Hawaiʻi's upcoming concert, "Plucked Strings," featuring the Galliard String Quartet with special guest, harpist Megan Conley. The program highlights the power of the plucked and poetic through the lush textures of Debussy and Ravel. -
Early Music Hawaii director and president Scott Fikse and special guest lutenist John Lenti stopped by Morning Café to discuss this Saturday’s "Melancholy and Mirth" program at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu, featuring music by John Dowland and contemporaries. -
The Hawai‘i Chapter American Guild of Organists will hold their annual recital featuring concert organist Dr. Joy-Leilani Garbutt. An organist, musicologist, and an ardent advocate for gender-equity in the field of music, Dr. Garbutt will be playing music by women composers in a program that coincides with International Women’s Day. -
Galliard String Quartet’s Helen Liu (violin) and Yuseon Nam (violin) visited Morning Café ahead of “Galliard & Brass,” a concert that invites audiences to chamber music favorites spanning from Renaissance to Baroque and more. -
Chamber Music Hawaiʻi's Tommy Morrison (bassoon) and Alex Hayashi (oboe) stopped by Morning Café to discuss the Spring Wind Quintet's upcoming concert "In Transit." The group will play selections from works by William Grant Still, Irving Fine, Miguel del Aguila, and Percy Grainger. -
Rainer Beckmann and Gwen Roberts of New World Recorders joined Gene Schiller to offer details of their upcoming performance with Early Music Hawaii. The ensemble, consisting of four recorders, performs music from the 16th and 17th centuries, including works by Henry Purcell. -
Carl St.Clair will conduct the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra on Oct. 19 at the Hawaii Theatre, featuring Michael Dougherty's "Blue Electra," a four-movement concerto inspired by Amelia Earhart, commissioned by violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. He stopped by Morning Café to discuss the upcoming performance. -
Jonathan Korth, president of the Honolulu Chamber Music Series, previews an exciting new season of performances, including Jeremy Denk, Trio Bohémo, the Miró Quartet, the Parker Quartet, and Apollo5. -
Galliard String Quartet members Helen Liu and Anna Womack stopped by Morning Café ahead of this weekend’s Doris Duke and Paliku Theatre performances. The chamber music group will present three masterworks by Mozart, Haydn and Ravel, showcasing the expressive power of the string quartet. -
Chamber Music Hawaiʻi’s Jim Moffitt and Jonathan Korth dropped by Morning Café to discuss the upcoming concert, “Windswept Keys,” featuring works by Rossini, Thuille, and Previn.
