July 31 Organ Concert Features Laurent Jochum (Paris, France)

The July 31 concert features Laurent Jochum  from Paris, France.  Jochum is performing music of Johann Sebastian Bach, César Franck, Théodore Dubois, and Denis Bédard.

Holder of the great Cavaille-Col organ of the Saint Jean Baptiste church in Belleville, Paris, where he succeeds great musicians like Pierre Vidal; and, holder of the organ of the middle and high school chapel Saint Louis-de-Gonzague, Laurent Jochum has had a particularly eclectic career for over twenty years.

A native of Thionville, as the son and grandson of liturgical organists, he discovered the organ from an early age. He began his musical studies by learning the piano before joining the organ class of Raphaëlle Garreau de Labarre. He continued his studies with André Stricker at the Conservatory of Strasbourg and Louis Robilliard in Lyon, where he won a unanimous first prize with congratulations and a first prize for improvement.

He is completing and enriching his training with renowned professors such as Vincent Warnier, Jean-Charles Ablitzer, Jean Boyer and Thierry Escaich.     

He won several competitions, including the International Organ Competition of Lorraine; and, in 1999, the Angers Inter-Conservatory Grand Organ Award, recently renamed the Jean-Louis Florentz-Académie des Beaux-Arts Prize, which was awarded by a jury chaired by Thierry Escaich.

Since Laurent Jochum performs regularly, in recital or with various instrumental and vocal formations, in France and abroad. He has played at prestigious venues in Paris (Cathedrale Notre-Dame, Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, La Madeleine, Saint Clotilde) and Province.                          

He is regularly the guest of great festivals such as Bordeaux, Guîtres, Saint Rémy-de-Provence, Roquevaire, Saint-Malo, Thionville, Saint Betrand of Commingres and others. Abroad, he has been invited to the Czech Republic, Poland, England, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Azerbaijan, Oman, as well as to Luxembourg, Canada, and the United States. He is also invited to participate in inaugural concerts and performs with renowned artists; including, the organist Vincent Warnier, the violinist Marina Chiche, the soprano Fabrice di Falco, the baritone Philippe Brocard, and choir soloist of the French army.

His dual training in piano and organ led him to be accompanied by the small singers of Saint-Marc under the direction of Nicolas Porte; and then, the choir of the French army in 2000. Currently, he accompanies the master Saint Louis de Gonzague de Sophie Chiu and the choirs of Francis Bardot (choir of children, young choir and vocal ensemble of Ile-de-France), which leads him to perform in very beautiful orchestras (Orchestra Colonne, Orchestra Bel’Arte).

Holder of a CAPES of Musicology, he is keen to devote a part of his musical life to a Parisian middle school, where he implements projects and initiatives for the youngest music learners.

Served by an excellent technique, his repertoire extends from baroque music to contemporary masterpieces, through the romantic and symphonic music of the 19th century, whose recordings have been critically acclaimed.

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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 7 Organ Concert Features Leo Abbott (Boston, MA)

The August 7 concert features Leo Abbott  from Boston, MA.  Abbott is performing music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Camille Saint-Saëns, and George E. Whiting.

Leo Abbott is a graduate of the St. Paul Choir School, Cambridge, and the Chaloff School of Music, Boston. His teachers include Theodore Marier, George Faxon, Clarence Watters and Flor Peeters, in organ; Naji Hakim in improvisation, and Julius Chaloff in piano. He holds the Fellowship and ChoirMaster Certificates of the American Guild of Organists, has one First Prize in several national and international competitions, and was a finalist at the “Grand Prix de Chartres” in 1984. After nearly 33 years, he retired from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston, and  was named Music Director and Organist Emeritus. Mr. Abbott has performed for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society, and in France, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, and across the United States.

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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.

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.

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.