July 24 Concert Features Choeur d’Enfants d’Ile de France

The 2025 Summer Concert Series begins on Thursday evening, July 24, at 7:30 with a special choral concert with organ featuring the Choeur d’Enfants d’Ile de France, a children’s choir from Levallois, France, founded  by Prof. Francis Bardot and presently directed by Raphaëlle Boutillier.  They will be performing Sacred Choral Works from the 17th-20th Centuries.

Francis Bardot created his children’s choir in 1970. Since that year, the name has changed alongside the several institutions which hosted the choir; but it remained, in the musical world and for the audience, Francis Bardot’s children choir, famous for its vocal color, round and powerful tone, high level of its repertoire and quality of its performances.

The Children’s choir was for about a quarter century the Children’s choir of the Paris Opéra and Orchestra. Under the direction of Francis Bardot, the choir has enjoyed high praise from the press.

The choir sang with top-notch maestros including Mehta, Ozawa, Barenboïm, Collins, Abbado, Kübelik, Maazel, and with soloists including Pavarotti, Domingo, Ghiaurov, Berganza and Caballe.

Subsidised and supported by the city of Levallois, the Children’s Choir of Greater Paris has, since 2004, been affiliated with its music, dance and drama Conservatory. The hundreds of boys and girls acting within the choir receive a very individualized vocal and musical education.

The Children’s Choir and Youth Choir together constitute the Académie Chorale d’Ile-de-France (Choir Academy of Greater Paris), of which Francis Bardot is the Founder and Artistic Director.

In September 2018, Bardot entrusted the direction of the children’s choir to Raphaëlle Boutillier.  Their recent tours have taken them to the USA (East and West), Canada, Malta, Greece, and Saudi Arabia.

We are delighted to welcome them back to St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, Maine!

Francis Bardot, Raphaëlle Boutillier, Choeur d’Enfants d’Ile de France

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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.

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.