Organ Concerts at the Basilica
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