To celebrate the restoration of the glorious 1875 E. & G.G. Hook & Hastings Organ, Kevin Birch is performing a concert of organ music by New England composers from the late 1800s, plus by one contemporary composer.

Nick Wallace, of Wallace Pipe Organs (based in Gorham, ME and restoring some of the finest pipe organs in New England), will talk about the organ’s restoration and answer questions. E. & G.G Hook & Hastings Organs are known for bright and rich tones, with reeds being “full and resonant,” creating “a solemn majesty of sound,” according to a company brochure at the time.

Birch will perform works by four New England composers: Dudley Buck (1839-1909, organist and composer credited with writing the first organ sonata in 1868); Eugene Thayer (1838-1889, an organ virtuoso and composer); Arthur Foote (1853-1937, whose compositions are known for their melody and lyricism); and recent works by Cambridge-based composer Carson Cooman (b. 1982, concert organist and composer of new music).

Kevin Birch studied at New England Conservatory in Boston and Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. His teachers include Yuko Hayashi, Delores Bruch and the late Klaas Bolt. He is a member of the music faculty at University of Maine teaching organ and harpsichord.