Thursday 4 August 2005, at 8.00 pm

Leo Abbott, organ

Leo Abbott is Music Director and Organist of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. A native of Boston, he is a graduate of the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School and the Chaloff School of Music. His teachers have included Theodore Marier, George Faxon, Clarence Watters and Flor Peeters in organ, Naji Hakim in improvisation and Julius Chaloff in piano. He holds the Fellow and Choir Master certificates of the American Guild of Organists. Mr Abbott has won first prizes in several international and national organ performance competitions, and was a finalist in the 1984 Grand Prix de Chartres competition in France. He has given recitals throughout the USA and elsewhere. The Cathedral of the Holy Cross houses the 101-rank E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings Organ, opus 801, built in 1875. Mr. Abbott's compact disc recording on this organ has received wide critical acclaim. The Massachusetts Historical Commission recently awarded a grant to the Cathedral for repairs and a replica console for the instrument, the largest remaining example of the builder's artistry.