St. John's Organ Society

07/28/2025

06/27/2025

ST. JOHN’S, BANGOR ANNOUNCES 2025 SUMMER ORGAN RECITAL SERIES

St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to announce the 32nd Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.

The 2025 Summer Concerts are performed 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.

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.

The 2025 Summer Concert Series continues with outstanding organ music performed by artists from Europe and the United States.

- July 31: Laurent Jochum (Paris, France), Music of Johann Sebastian Bach, César Franck, Théodore Dubois, and Denis Bédard.

- August 7: Leo Abbott (Boston, MA), Music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Camille Saint-Saëns, and George E. Whiting.

- August 14: Edith Yam (Rochester, NY), Music of August Gottfried Ritter, Dudley Buck, and Franz Liszt.

- August 21: Jennifer Velázquez (Marlborough, MA) Music of Felix Mendelssohn, César Franck, and Eugène Gigout.

- August 28: Anatole Wieck (violin) & Kevin Birch (organ) (Bangor, Maine), Music of Pablo Bruna, Georg Muffatt, and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.

John Fesperman, Curator Emeritus of Musical Instruments at the Smithsonian Institution, referred to the St. John's Organ as "..a musical monument of great importance..."

For more information please access the website: www.hookopus288.org.

10/18/2024

Thank you, Luc Beausj́our for a fabulous concert on E. & G. G. Hook's Opus 288 (1860) at St. John's in Bangor! It was a large and appreciative audience. Bravo!

09/08/2024

CANADIAN ORGAN VIRTUOSO LUC BEAUSÉJOUR IN CONCERT!

09/05/2024

CANADIAN ORGAN VIRTUOSO LUC BEAUSÉJOUR IN CONCERT!
OCTOBER 15, 2024 AT 7:30 PM
ST. JOHN’S CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BANGOR
St. John’s Organ Society welcomes Montreal-based concert organist, harpsichordist, and recording artist, Luc Beauséjour, who will perform a concert titled “Le Rappel des Oiseaux - The Recall of the Birds” featuring music of Couperin, Dornel, Dandrieu, and Rameauon on the historic organ at St. John’s Catholic Church (207 York Street) on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Beauséjour enjoys an important international performing career. First prize winner of the Erwin Bodky International Harpsichord Competition, held in Boston, he has also won honors at the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society International Performance Competition (now Jurow International Harpsichord Competition) in Tallahassee.
A prolific recording artist, Beauséjour has carried out over 45 recording projects, either as soloist or as musical director, and was named “2003 Performer of the Year” by the Conseil Québécois de la Musique.
“He plays with impeccable technique, tasteful embellishments, a wide range of emotion and deep sensitivity.”BBC Music Magazine, U. K.
Admission is free - donations appreciated.

St. John’s Organ Society
The October 15th program continues the tradition of concerts by an internationally recognized recitalist on the historic E. & G. G. Hook organ, Opus 288, at St. John’s Catholic Church. Hook’s Opus 288, the largest 19th-Century pipe organ in northern New England, has been described by Alan Laufman (past president of the Organ Historical Society) as “...a national treasure.”
St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated and will benefit outreach and education projects of St. John’s Organ Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and stewardship of the historic E. & G. G. Hook Organ built in 1860. For more information visit our website https://hookopus288.org/.

07/02/2024

SUMMER ORGAN CONCERTS!

St. John’s Organ Society is pleased to announce the 31st Summer Recital Series on Maine’s largest 19th-Century mechanical-action pipe organ, E. & G. G. Hook’s magnificent Opus 288, at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Bangor.

The 2024 Summer Concerts are performed on Thursday evenings at 7:30.

July 25: Steven Young (Taunton, MA), Music of Gustav Adolf Merkel, Théodore Dubois, and Charles-Marie Widor

August 1: Erica Johnson (Walpole, MA), Music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Josef Rheinberger, and Elizabeth Stirling

August 8: Hentus van Rooyen (Portland, ME), Music of Johann Sebastian Bach, César Franck, and Herbert Howells

August 15: Sarah Johnson (New Haven, CT), Music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Amy Beach, and Horatio Parker

August 22: Duo Edelen: Christina Scott Edelen (organ) & Fred Edelen (cello) (Bath, ME), Music of Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Willem de Fesch

August 29: Anatole Wieck (violin), Sarah Hoskins (cello), & Kevin Birch (organ) (Bangor, Maine), Music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gabriel Fauré, and Josef Rheinberger

John Fesperman, Curator Emeritus of Musical Instruments at the Smithsonian Institution, referred to the St. John's Organ as "..a musical monument of great importance..."

St. John’s Catholic Church is located at 207 York Street in Bangor. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated. �
For more information please access the website: www.hookopus288.org.

04/11/2024