Archives: Events

Organ Concert August 27th Features Kevin Birch (Bangor, ME)

The August 27 concert features Kevin Birch from Bangor, Maine.  Birch will present an Evening of Parisian Organ Music including works of Gaspard Corrette, Louise Vierne, and Charles-Marie Widor.

Kevin Birch began organ studies with Yuko Hayashi on the C. B. Fisk organ at Old West Church in 1979 and earned the Bachelor of Music Degree at New England Conservatory (with Distinction in Performance) in 1987.  He continued studies with Klaas Bolt at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and later with Delores Bruch at the University of Iowa where he earned the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. Since 1992 he has served as Director of Music at St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, Maine where he also serves as Executive Director of St. John’s Organ Society – a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and stewardship of E. & G. G. Hook’s Opus 288, built for St. John’s Church in 1860.  He has performed solo recitals in the US, Canada, Europe, and in South America, and for several national conventions of the Organ Historical Society.  He is especially devoted to the many fine historic organs in Maine on which he enjoys frequent opportunities to study and perform. Kevin is also devoted to the art of the clavichord – an instrument long associated with the organ, especially in Germany and Scandinavia. Recent projects include solo clavichord recitals for the German Clavichord Society in Cologne, Germany, the Boston Clavichord Society, and presentations on “The Clavichord and the Organ – Companions for Centuries” at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY,  and at Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, OH.

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St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to announce the 33rd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19^th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.  These hour-long recitals occur on Thursday evenings at 7:30.  St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Organ Concert August 20th Features Sarah Johnson (New Haven, CT)

The August 20 concert features Sarah Johnson from New Haven, Connecticut.  Johnson will perform music of J.S. Bach, Florence Price, and John Knowles Paine.

Sarah Johnson is the Associate Director of Music and Principal Organist at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven Connecticut. She is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music, where she studies with David Higgs. A native of Garland, Maine, Sarah began her organ lessons with Kevin Birch, Director of Music and Organist at Saint John’s Catholic Church in Bangor. In her undergraduate degree at Vassar College, she studied organ with Gail Archer and piano with Todd Crow. Sarah holds a Master of Sacred Music from Boston University, where she studied organ with Peter Sykes. Since beginning college, Sarah has performed in New York City at Central Synagogue, in Boston at Old West, Trinity Copley, and Holy Name Parish, in Atlanta at the Cathedral of St. Philip, and internationally in Toronto at the Cathedral Church of St. James, and in Naumburg, Germany at St. Wenzel. She was named an E. Power Biggs Fellow of the Organ Historical Society in 2013 and featured as a rising star and guest recitalist at the 2017 Musforum Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. She is a board member of the Saint John’s Organ Society in Bangor, dedicated to the preservation of E. & G.G. Hook Opus 288, and recently performed on their 29^th annual concert series. Sarah has also performed at Methuen Memorial Music Hall in Methuen, MA on their 74^th and 76^th annual concert series. During her time in Boston, Sarah was Organ Scholar at Holy Name Parish in West Roxbury and Assistant Librarian at the Organ Library of the American Guild of Organists. In Rochester, Sarah was the Organ Assistant (VanDelinder Prize Winner) at Christ Church Episcopal from 2018-2020 and Minister of Music at Church of the Ascension from 2020-2023.

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St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to announce the 33rd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19^th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.  These hour-long recitals occur on Thursday evenings at 7:30.  St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Organ Concert August 13th Features Katherine Johnson (New Haven, CT)

The August 13 concert features Katherine Johnson from New Haven, Connecticut.  Johnson will perform music of J.S. Bach, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Felix Mendelssohn.

Katherine Johnson is a rising second-year organ student at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, in the studio of James O’Donnell.  Before starting at Yale, Katherine spent two years as Organ Scholar at Duke University Chapel, accompanying the Evensong Singers, playing continuo for the Bach Cantata Series, and occasionally conducting the Chapel’s various choral ensembles.  Before living in Durham, Katherine studied at Oberlin College and Conservatory in the studio of Christa Rakich, completing degrees in organ performance and English.  While completing those degrees, Katherine also served as organist and music director at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Lorain, OH.  At Church of the Redeemer, Katherine became interested in food ministry and urban agriculture, and has since done part-time work in community meal ministry.  In addition to making music, Katherine loves to read, spend time outdoors, and do jigsaw Puzzles.

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St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to announce the 33rd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19^th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.  These hour-long recitals occur on Thursday evenings at 7:30.  St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Organ Concert August 6th Features Bridgette Wargovich (Portland, ME)

The August 6 concert features Bridgette Wargovich from Portland, Maine.  Wargovich will perform music of Felix Mendelssohn, Heinrich Scheidemann, and Théodore Dubois.

Dr. Bridgette Wargovich is Director of Sacred Music and Organist at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, Maine.  Here she directs the Cathedral Choir, Men’s and Women’s Scholas, and Vespers Schola.  A native of Massachusetts, she earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance in 2018 and a Master of Sacred Music degree summa cum laude in 2014, both from Boston University.  Her doctoral dissertation was entitled, “The King of Musical Instruments and the Spirit of the Liturgy: The Pipe Organ and Its Liturgical Repertoire Analyzed in Light of Ratzinger’s Theology of Liturgical Music.”  The dissertation explored the theology of Pope Benedict XVI, linking his main themes to the pipe organ and its repertoire.  She has performed throughout Boston, at the Methuen Memorial Music Hall, and at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston.  Her principal organ teacher was Peter Sykes and she has studied liturgical music with Dr. Peter Latona at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  Bridgette has a special love for sacred and liturgical music; she is dedicated to preserving and promoting this musical treasure. 

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St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to announce the 33rd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19^th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.  These hour-long recitals occur on Thursday evenings at 7:30.  St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Organ Concert July 30th Features Ray Cornils (West Bath, ME)

The July 30 concert features Ray Cornils from West Bath, Maine.  Cornils will perform music of Price, Guilmant, Cooman and Weaver.

Ray Cornils served as Portland’s tenth Municipal Organist from 1990 to 2017. For thirty years he was Minister of Music at First Parish Church, UCC, Brunswick, Maine.  Ray has concertized throughout the United States, Europe, South America and New Zealand. He has taught at Bowdoin College and the University of Southern Maine, among others. As an active member of the American Guild of Organists, he has held many leadership roles, including Convention Coordinator for the 2014 National Convention in Boston.  Since his retirement in 2017 Ray has served several churches as interim organist/choir director and continues to concertize from time to time. He, his husband David, and their miniature dachshund divide their time between the Maine coast and Ecuador’s Andes mountains.

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St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to announce the 33rd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19^th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.  These hour-long recitals occur on Thursday evenings at 7:30.  St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Organ Concert August 28 Features Kevin Birch, organ, and Anatole Wieck, violin

The August 28 concert features Kevin Birch, organ, and Anatole Weick, violin, from Bangor, ME.  Birch and Wieck are performing music of Pablo Bruna, Georg Muffatt, and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.

Anatole Wieck

ANATOLE WIECK - VIOLIN, VIOLA d’AMORE

Born in Latvia, Anatole Wieck received his first musical education in Riga and Moscow. In the United States since 1973, he studied violin and viola at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where he completed his Doctorate in Musical Arts working closely with Ivan Galamian, Lillian Fuchs, and Paul Doktor. He also studied baroque interpretation with Carol Lieberman at Boston University. He plays baroque viola, viola d’amore and baroque violin. 

Since 1986 Dr. Wieck has taught upper strings at the University of Maine and conducted the University of Maine Orchestra. He has performed and conducted in Europe, North and South America, and has participated in chamber music festivals such as Chamber Music/West (San Francisco), White Nights (St. Petersburg, Russia) and festivals in Montepulciano, Italy and Newport, Rhode Island. He was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in 2006 in Guatemala.

Kevin Birch

KEVIN BIRCH - ORGAN

Kevin Birch began organ studies with Yuko Hayashi on the C. B. Fisk organ at Old West Church in 1979 and earned the Bachelor of Music Degree at New England Conservatory (with Distinction in Performance) in 1987.  He continued studies with Klaas Bolt at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and later with Delores Bruch at the University of Iowa where he earned the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. Since 1992 he has served as Director of Music at St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, Maine where he also serves as Executive Director of St. John’s Organ Society - a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and stewardship of E. & G. G. Hook’s Opus 288, built for St. John’s Church in 1860.  He has performed solo recitals in the US, Canada, Europe, and in South America, and for several national conventions of the Organ Historical Society.  He is especially devoted to the many fine historic organs in Maine on which he enjoys frequent opportunities to study and perform. Kevin is also devoted to the art of the clavichord - an instrument long associated with the organ, especially in Germany and Scandinavia - and is a member of the Dutch Clavichord Society, the German Clavichord Society and the Boston Clavichord Society.  Recent projects include solo clavichord recitals for the German Clavichord Society in Cologne, Germany, the Boston Clavichord Society, lecture recitals on “The Clavichord and the Organ - Companions for Centuries” at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY,  and at Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, OH.

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St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to host the 32nd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19^th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.  These hour-long recitals occur on Thursday evenings at 7:30.  St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

Organ Concert August 21 Features Jennifer Velázquez (Marlborough, MA)

The August 21 concert features Jennifer Velázquez from Marlborough, MA.  Velázquez is performing music of Felix Mendelssohn, César Franck, and Eugène Gigout.

Jennifer Velázquez served as Associate Director of Music and Worship and Organist atIndependent Presbyterian Church (IPC) in Memphis, TN for 25 years. After moving to the Boston area in 2021, she has been active as a recitalist and  substitute organist/director. She also serves on the Boston AGO Executive Committee. Recent local performances include recitals at King’s Chapel, Trinity Church, and Old West Church in Boston. During her tenure with IPC’s robust music program, Jennifer accompanied numerous masterworks and collaborated with musicians such as Alice Parker, Dan Forrest, and the Westminster Brass. She also played organ and celeste with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mei-Ann Chen and Robert Moody and has performed internationally in England, Scotland, and Ukraine. She may be heard on A Christmas Legacy and This Light So Fair, two albums published by Ligonier Ministries. In 2008, Jennifer released a solo album, Lauda Anima, with collaborative trumpeter David Spencer. Jennifer holds a Master of Music in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music as well as a Bachelor of Music from Houghton College. She spent time in London studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her teachers and mentors include Susan Klotzbach, Graham Elliott, Russell Saunders, Michael Farris, and Peter Sykes.

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St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to host the 32nd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19^th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.  These hour-long recitals occur on Thursday evenings at 7:30.  St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.

August 14 Organ Concert Features Edith Yam (Rochester, NY)

The August 14 concert features Edith Yam from Rochester, NY.  Yam is performing music of August Gottfried Ritter, Dudley Buck, and Franz Liszt.

Dr. Edith Yam recently completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ at the Eastman School of Music (Rochester, NY), where her primary teacher was Prof. David Higgs. She served as his teaching assistant, and taught secondary organ at Eastman. Edith has presented her DMA lecture-recital research on nineteenth-century organ performance practice at the University of Michigan’s 63rd Annual Organ Conference.

Edith also holds degrees from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she completed her Bachelor of Music (with First Class Honours) and Masters of Music respectively. In addition, she studied as an exchange student at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, Germany. Her former teachers include Philip Swanton, Pieter van Dijk, and Klaus Eichhorn.

Edith has performed at various venues around the world, including Sydney Town Hall, Bremen Cathedral, Grote Sint Laurenskerk in Alkmaar, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, the Methuen Memorial Music Hall (MA), and St. Luke’s in Evanston (IL).

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St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to host the 32nd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19^th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.  These hour-long recitals occur on Thursday evenings at 7:30.  St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor.  Admission is free, but donations are appreciated.