Casavant Organ at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul - Lewiston, ME

06/25/2025

On Wednesday, July 2 at 12:15 PM, Lewiston musicians Billie Jo Britto, Greg Boardman, Scott, Linda, Madeleine, and Genevieve Vaillancourt will be joined by renowned Baritone Aaron Engebreth in a Performance of Bach’s Cantata 82 at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. This poignant and deeply expressive work will be presented in the stunning acoustics of Maine’s largest church—a setting that offers a profound listening experience for audiences of all backgrounds.
A leading interpreter of art song and oratorio, grammy nominated Aaron Engebreth brings deep emotional resonance and vocal mastery to this iconic solo cantata. Ich habe genug ("I have enough") is one of Bach’s most intimate sacred works, composed in 1727 for the Feast of the Purification of Mary. Through its rich melodic lines and spiritual depth, the cantata expresses a soul's peaceful readiness for eternal rest.
For more information about this and other concerts at the basilica, visit: https://princeofpeace.me/performer-programs-bios
This performance is part of the Basilica’s summer concert series and is free and open to the public. Donations are welcome and support ongoing musical programming at the Basilica.

06/23/2025

Dr. Jacob Hofeling is originally from Arizona and holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Arizona State University, where he studied with Kimberly Marshall. He earned both his Master’s in Music Theory and Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ from the University of Kansas under James Higdon ...

09/12/2024

Organ Duet Concert to Enchant Audiences at Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul
Lewiston, Maine – September 12, 2024 – The Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is thrilled to host an extraordinary evening of music with an organ duet concert featuring renowned performers Jennifer Pascual and Mark Pacoe from St. Patricks Cathedral in New York. The event will take place on September 27, 2024, at 7:00 PM.
These organists, celebrated for their exceptional skills and innovative performances, will grace the historic basilica with a captivating program designed to showcase the full range and power of its two organs and highlight the remarkable artistry and synergy of these two distinguished musicians.
Jennifer Pascual, a sought-after performer and educator, is known for her virtuosic technique and expressive interpretations. She brings a deep passion for the organ repertoire and a commitment to advancing the art form. Mark Pacoe, acclaimed for his dynamic performances and contributions to organ literature, has garnered praise for his inventive programming and engaging stage presence.
Their program will include music by Bach, Widor, Gigout, and Dubois. For more complete program information, visit PrinceofPeace.me and click on the organ concert tab.
The Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, with its stunning architecture and rich acoustic environment, provides the perfect backdrop for this musical celebration. Its grand organs, masterpieces in of themselves, will serve as fitting instruments for Pascual and Pacoe’s collaborative performance. This concert is sponsored by the Mark Thallander Fountation. Admission is by freewill donation and all proceeds will go to benefit the foundation and its important mission. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience a night of exceptional music in one of Lewiston’s most cherished landmarks. Join us for an evening of organ music that promises to be both enchanting and uplifting.

09/03/2024

Join us for an organ concert at the basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on Friday, September 6 at 7:00 featuring Tomas Thomas R. Vozzella.

Dr. Vozzella, is Director of Music-Organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri and a Staff Organist at the Community of Christ World Headquarters, Independence, Missouri. He has served AGO as Dean (Black Hills Chapter), ACDA (Regional and National Chair for Music in Worship). Alliance, Augsburg, Abingdon, Selah, CanticaNOVA, St. James Music Press, Sheet Music Plus and Music Notes publish his compositions receiving five ASCAP Plus Awards. As a presenter/performer he has presented at state, regional and national ACDA and AGO Conventions, toured in twenty-six states, the District of Columbia and eleven countries, most recently Ukraine, Spain, and Germany. His choirs have sung for Tennessee ACDA, The White House by invitation of President and Mrs. George W. Bush, The Harlem Globetrotters, and received invitations for Kansas MEA and Texas ACDA conferences. Thomas holds degrees from the University of South Carolina, The University of Louisiana-Monroe, and Eastern Nazarene College. Additional work completed at The Royal School of Church Music-UK, University of Missouri-Kansas City and Nazarene Theological Seminary, with advanced conducting study at the Conductor’s Institute of South Carolina; in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Russia. Organ study has been with Lambert Brandes, John Ditto; masterclasses with Peter Hurford, Marie-Claire Alain, and John Obetz; organ improvisation in France with Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvard, Samuel Liégeon, Frédéric Blanc.
This is a free concert although donations for the organ restoration fund are gratefully accepted. For more information contact Scott Vaillancourt at Scott.Vaillancourt@PortlandDiocese.org

08/24/2024

Join us for another organ concert at the basilica of Saints Peter and Paul on Friday, September 6 at 7:00 featuring Tomas Thomas R. Vozzella.

Dr. Vozzella, is Director of Music-Organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri and a Staff Organist at the Community of Christ World Headquarters, Independence, Missouri. He has served AGO as Dean (Black Hills Chapter), ACDA (Regional and National Chair for Music in Worship). Alliance, Augsburg, Abingdon, Selah, CanticaNOVA, St. James Music Press, Sheet Music Plus and Music Notes publish his compositions receiving five ASCAP Plus Awards. As a presenter/performer he has presented at state, regional and national ACDA and AGO Conventions, toured in twenty-six states, the District of Columbia and eleven countries, most recently Ukraine, Spain, and Germany. His choirs have sung for Tennessee ACDA, The White House by invitation of President and Mrs. George W. Bush, The Harlem Globetrotters, and received invitations for Kansas MEA and Texas ACDA conferences. Thomas holds degrees from the University of South Carolina, The University of Louisiana-Monroe, and Eastern Nazarene College. Additional work completed at The Royal School of Church Music-UK, University of Missouri-Kansas City and Nazarene Theological Seminary, with advanced conducting study at the Conductor’s Institute of South Carolina; in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Russia. Organ study has been with Lambert Brandes, John Ditto; masterclasses with Peter Hurford, Marie-Claire Alain, and John Obetz; organ improvisation in France with Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvard, Samuel Liégeon, Frédéric Blanc.

06/25/2024

The noonday summer organ concerts at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul start for the season on Wednesday, July 3 at 12:15, featuring renowned former Chrystal Cathedral organist Mark Thallander in a program of music honoring recently deceased composer Charles Callahan. Mr. Thallander is probably best known for his long and distinguished ministry at The Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. He joined the staff there in January 1976 as a music associate to Don G. Fontana and assisted Dr. and Mrs. Robert H. Schuller with Hour of Power television scripting, service programming and musical guests. For more information about Mark and his program at the basilica, and for more information about the noonday concert series at the basilica, visit PrinceofPeace.me and scroll down to the organ concert link.

Noonday concerts (12:15-12:45)
July 3 – Mark Thallander
July 10 – Harold Stover
July 17- Randall Mullin
July 24 – Steven Young
July 31 – Ray Cornils
August 7 – Leo Abbott
August 14 – Marc-Andre Marquis
August 21 – Hentus van Rooyen

05/20/2024

On May 31st at 7:30 at the basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, organist David Hirst will perform on the historic 1938 Casavant organ. Mr. Hirst is one of the few British organists to have integrated into the French organ world. Based near Paris, he is Organiste Titulaire of the 12th-century Collegiate Church of Mantes-la-Jolie. He presides over the three organs of this magnificent edifice and is Artistic Director of the International Organ Festival. His program will include works by Vierne, Widor, Elgar, and Reger. For more information about Mr. Hirst and to see his complete program, visit PrinceofPeace.me and scroll down to the organ concert section.

06/20/2023

Organ concerts at the Basilica
The basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is celebrating the 85th anniversary of its Casavant organs through an expanded summer concert season. The Wednesday noonday concerts will begin on June 28th and run every Wednesday until August 16th and there will be several evening concerts. The first concert will be given by Tom Mueller. Mr. Mueller serves as Professor of Music and Music Department Chair at Concordia University in Irvine, California, where he directs academic programs in keyboard, composition, and church music. An award-winning church musician, he serves as Associate Organist at St. James’ Church in Los Angeles, where he accompanies the acclaimed Choir of St. James’ under the direction of James Buonemani. He is an active recitalist, educator, and composer.

Mueller won first place in the 2014 Schoenstein Competition in Hymn-Playing, held in conjunction with the national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Boston, Massachusetts, and was honored by The Diapason as a member of the inaugural “20 Under 30” list of influential figures in the world of organ and church music in 2015.

He maintains an active concert schedule, and performs across the United States and Europe. In 2010, he performed the complete organ works of J. S. Bach in a series of seventeen concerts in his native state of Maine. He has received numerous commissions for new choral and liturgical works, and performances of his compositions have been broadcast on national radio and television. As an organist, his recording credits include Scott Perkin’s A New England Requiem and O Beauty Ever Ancient Ever New by the Choir of St. James’, both of which were released on the Gothic label.

Mueller earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music as a student of David Higgs. He also holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Maine at Augusta. He resides in Southern California with his wife and two daughters. His program at the Basilica will include pieces by Whitlock, Wingard, Mendelssohn, and one of his own compositions. For more information contact Scott Vaillancourt at Scott.Vaillancourt@PortlandDiocese.org or call at 207-240-9419.

Noonday concerts start at 12:15 and will feature:
June 28 Tom Mueller
July 5: Mark Thallander and Scott Vaillancourt
July 12: Cameron Cody
July 19: Hayden Vaughn
July 26: Harold Stover
August 2: Ray Cornils
August 9: Hentus van Rooyen
August 16: Randall Mullin
Evening concerts are at 7:30:
Friday, July 21: Mary-Katherine Fletcher
Wednesday, September 6: Deux Voix – organist Stephen Distad and trumpeter Justin Langham
Friday, September 29: Daniel Brondel
For information regarding each performer and their program, plea

05/13/2023

08/17/2022

08/15/2022

07/11/2022

This week’s noonday organ concert will feature Ray Cornils. His program:

Knightsbridge March (from London Suite) by Eric Coates, César Franck ‘s Choral No. 2 in b minor, Flapperette by Jesse Greer, and Louis Vierne’s monumental Carillon de Westminster
Ray Cornils was the Municipal Organist for the City of Portland from 1990 to 2017. For thirty years he served First Parish Church, UCC, Brunswick, Maine as Minister of Music where he led an extensive music program of five vocal and two handbell choirs.
Known for his highly diverse programming, Ray has concertized throughout the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Russia, New Zealand and Ecuador. He has been a featured recitalist for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society. In addition to his solo work, he has performed often with the Portland Symphony Orchestra.
Ray has been a member of the music faculties of Bowdoin College, the University of Southern Maine, the Young Organists Collaborative and the Portland Conservatory of Music, where he taught organ, harpsichord and related classes.
He has held many leadership roles in the American Guild of Organists, including Convention Coordinator for the 2014 National Convention in Boston.
Mr. Cornils studied at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He has studied organ with Robert Reeves, Fenner Douglas, William Porter, Yuko Hayashi and has done post-graduate studies with Dame Gillian Weir.
Ray divides his time between Maine’s coast and Ecuador’s Andes mountains. This summer he is serving St. Luke’s Cathedral in Portland as Interim Cathedral Musician and continues to concertize from time to time.