September 10, 2025 - Celebrating 150 Years of the Cathedral Pipe Organ

BOSTON – The Cathedral of the Holy Cross celebrates 150 years of its historic pipe organ of 5,292 pipes: the 1875 E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings, Opus 801. Leo D. Abbott, FAGO, ChM, Director of Music Emeritus of the Cathedral will perform most fittingly on the titular feast of the Cathedral, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. He will play works by Vierne, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Franck, and Hakim including Hakim's Vexilla Regis Prodeunt (The Royal Banner forward goes) based on the Divine Office Hymn for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Leo D. Abbott served as Director of Music and Organist of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross for nearly thirty-three years from 1986-2018. He was the driving force behind the ongoing organ restoration project of the organ of 5,292 pipes. The Cathedral organ is the largest extant Hook pipe organ in the world.
Abbott is a graduate of the Saint Paul Choir School, Cambridge, and the Chaloff School of Music, Boston. He has won first prize in several international and national competitions and was a finalist at the "Grand Prix de Chartres" in 1984. His teachers include Theodore Marier, George Faxon, Clarence Watters, Julius Chaloff, and Naji Hakim. Mr. Abbott has performed throughout the United States, and in France, Belgium, England, and Ireland, and is an active member of the AGO and OHS.

Press Contact: Richard Clark
Phone: 617-542-5682 x32