Congregational Church celebrates organ’s 100th

A concert was held in Brewer to dedicate the installation of a new Hook and Hastings tracker pipe organ-Opus 2146 on March 28, 1907. Given by Horace Leslie Kent in honor of his parents, Abner and Eliza Kent, the instrument has now led worship services for 100 years.

The organ received extensive renovation and enhancement in 1977 by the Berkshire Organ Co. of Springfield, Mass.

The Second Congregational Church will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the organ at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, at the church, 607 S. Main St.

The event is open to the public and will feature a virtual guided tour of sights and sounds of other organs by Hook and Hastings.

Kevin Birch, organist of St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, will be the guest lecturer and recitalist. Assisting Birch with congregational hymn and vocal selections will be Joan Kroehler, minister of music at Second Congregational Church.

A freewill offering will be taken and a reception will follow the program.

For information, call the church office at 989-7930.

Birch holds a doctorate in musical arts from the University of Iowa with previous studies at New England Conservatory in Boston and the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. His teachers include Yuko Hayashi, Delores Bruch and the late Klaas Bolt.

Since 1992 he has served as director of music at St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, where, in addition to choir training and service playing, he directs the St. John’s Organ Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the church’s historic E.&G.G. Hook organ built in 1860.

Birch is a member of the faculty at the University of Maine School of the Performing Arts, where he teaches organ and harpsichord.

He has performed organ recitals throughout the United States, Europe and South America, and for three national conventions of the Organ Historical Society. He recently played the opening concert at the International Organ Festival in Berlin.

His performances have been broadcast on national Public Radio programs including “Pipedreams,” “With Heart” and “Voice and Maine Stage.” He can be heard on OHS recordings “Historic Organs of Connecticut,” “Historic Organs of Boston” and the recently released “Exsultate – Sacred Choral and Organ Music” with the Chamber Choir at St. John’s in Bangor.