Artist Spotlight: Brandon Higa & Queen Lili'uokalani

Tenor Brandon Higa on singing the music of Queen Lili'uokalani

Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha was born in Honolulu in 1838 into Hawaii's chiefly class, given at birth, in the honored Hawaiian tradition of hānai, to be raised by high chiefs Abner Pākī and Laura Kōnia. From childhood, her musical gift was apparent: teachers at the Royal School discovered her remarkable talent for sight-singing, a skill that would serve her across her entire life. She sang, played piano, organ, guitar, and autoharp, and alongside her siblings David Kalākaua, Miriam Likelike, and William Pitt Leleiōhoku, known collectively as Nā Lani ʻEhā, the Four Heavenly Ones, she helped reshape contemporary Hawaiian composition, blending Hawaiian poetry with Protestant hymn structure in ways that defined a new musical era.

She became Queen in 1891, inheriting a throne already under siege. American plantation owners and businessmen had forced her brother King Kalākaua to sign what she called the Bayonet Constitution in 1887, stripping the monarchy of real authority. When she moved to restore constitutional power to Native Hawaiians in 1893, American business interests called in the U.S. Marines. Within days, the Hawaiian Kingdom was gone. She surrendered not out of defeat but out of a deliberate choice, to avoid violence, bloodshed, and the destruction of life and property, trusting that the U.S. government would right the wrong. It did not. In 1895, following a failed uprising by her supporters, she was tried for treason and imprisoned in her own palace, Iolaniʻ, cut off from news, visitors, and instruments.

She wrote seven songs during her incarceration, including Ke Aloha O Ka Haku and Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani. Containing veiled messages for her disheartened people, these songs were smuggled out and anonymously printed in Hawaiian newspapers. She had only blank paper, no piano, but thanks to her lifelong training in sight-reading, she could compose entirely in her head and transcribe what she heard internally. As she wrote in her memoir, Hawaii's Story: "hours which I might have found long and lonely, passed quickly and cheerfully by, occupied and soothed by the expression of my thoughts in music."

Hawaii was formally annexed by the United States in 1898. Liliʻuokalani spent her remaining years traveling to Washington D.C. to seek redress, establishing a trust for Hawaiian children that remains active today, and continuing to compose. She left behind more than 150 mele, songs and chants, and remains one of the most-performed composers among Hawaiian musicians. She died in 1917. 

In January 2026, she was formally recognized as a saint by the Episcopal Church.

The Songs

The three works on our Echoes of Her program each carry their own distinct weight and tone.

Ke Aloha O Ka Haku (The Queen's Prayer) was composed on March 22, 1895, while Liliʻuokalani was under house arrest at ʻIolani Palace. She dedicated it to her niece and heir apparent, Victoria Kaʻiulani. At the bottom of the manuscript she wrote: "Composed during my imprisonment at ʻIolani Palace by the missionary party who overthrew my government." The prayer asks not for vengeance but for forgiveness of those who wronged her, and for peace beneath God's wings. Like many of her works, it is written in the hīmeni style, which combines Protestant hymnody with the melodic contours of Hawaiian mele.

Sanoe was composed while Liliʻuokalani was still a princess in the court of her brother King Kalākaua. "Sanoe" is the Hawaiian word for the mist that drifts over mountains, and the song describes a possibly clandestine romance in the royal court.

It is a rare glimpse of the Queen before the weight of history fell on her.

Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani was composed during her imprisonment and dedicated to John Wilson, the son of her companion Evelyn Wilson, who regularly delivered flowers to the Queen from her royal garden. The flowers arrived wrapped in newspaper, pages the Queen was able to read, keeping her abreast of political developments she was otherwise forbidden to know. On the surface a song of longing for her garden, the text carries kaona, hidden meaning, expressing the resentment of the Hawaiian people and encoding messages to those working in the resistance.

Tenor Brandon Higa

Brandon Higa was born and raised in Honolulu, HI, and has resided in Seattle since 2001. Appearing on both operatic and concert stages, he has been hailed by the Tribune Herald for his "sweet tenor." His operatic roles include Monostatos in The Magic Flute, Crookfinger Jake in The Threepenny Opera, and Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi, and he has appeared with Seattle Modern Opera Company, Tacoma Opera, Kitsap Opera, and the Astoria Music Festival. His concert work spans Handel's Messiah, Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, and Bach's Magnificat, among many others. He has sung with Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre, Puget Sound Opera, and Puget Sound Concert Opera, and holds the position of tenor section leader with the Kirkland Choral Society.

For Echoes of Her, Higa brings his direct personal connection to the place and culture from which this music comes.

Liliʻuokalani's music endures as her songs were simultaneously personal and political, intimate and coded. She used the tools available to her, melody, metaphor, the Hawaiian tradition of kaona, to stay connected to her people and keep them connected to her.

We look forward to celebrating the music, life, wisdom, and legacy of Queen Liliʻuokalani.

Join Us for Echoes of Her

Echoes of Her is a free concert and attendance requires an RSVP. Visit our event page for full program details, date, time, and location, and how to reserve your seat.