 Although the Kochmore Organ will miss this year's holiday concert at Merrill Auditorium due to its two-year renovation, the Friends of the Kochmore Organ will still be holding their traditional holiday concerts. Kathleen Grammer, the Friends' Executive Director, talked with Leslie McVane about the schedule and the status of the organ's rebuilding project. Well, Kathleen, the 100-year anniversary continues with more exciting things coming up. It does. It does. The holiday festivities are starting now. They are. We are. The Kochmore Organ, of course, is out for renovation and we're taking Christmas with Cornell's on the road. How exciting. Is this the first for the Kochmore group to be going on the road? Actually, when Merrill Auditorium was being renovated in the late nineties, they did do a concert at St. Luke's Cathedral. But we're going a little bit farther afield and going up to Lewiston and doing a performance on December 11th at the Basilica of St. Peter and Paul. So we're very fortunate to be at that location. I bet the sound will be interesting in there, too. It's a gorgeous cathedral, larger than St. Luke's, of course, and a beautiful Cassavent organ in the balcony. The Andruscagon Chorale, the parish ringers in the Festival Brass, will be joining Ray. How lovely. Yeah, it's going to be a great performance and we'll be using video stream because of the size of the cathedral and the fact that the organ is in the back, in the balcony. So there'll be the video in the front so people can actually see him playing. See him playing. How wonderful. Yeah, and the bells and the choir will be up front. Oh, how exciting. That sounds like fun. Yeah. Multimedia. Multimedia. Yes. And not to leave St. Luke's out. You are doing another performance there. We are in Portland on December 18th, Tuesday, at 7.30 at St. Luke's, and if you need more information you can go to our website, www.foko.org, and check us out there. Now, will the same people be playing at St. Luke's will be in Lewiston? The parish ringers in the Festival Brass and the Renaissance Voices with Harold Stover as director will be with us in Portland. Lovely. I'm looking forward to that. Now this has become a little bit of a tradition going to St. Luke's over the years, or is this just the second one? As I said, when the auditorium was being renovated, we did do a short summer series there in the late 90s, and I believe they did Christmas with Cornels also. And I know the organ will be back and running next year, probably. It's due back September 2014, and... Oh, so we've got a couple of years. Oh, yeah, we do. We'll be on the road for a while. So this won't be the only two road trips we'll be doing? No, no, no. We'll be doing some other concerts as well in the summer. Oh, terrific. To be continued. To be continued. And we can maybe look forward to next Christmas being at least these two venues, and maybe more. And perhaps. Perhaps. Well, we're going to see how these go. We're kind of testing the waters and see how these go, so we're looking forward to it. I think there are so many people looking for beautiful music during the holidays. It's somewhat soothing and calming when we're rushing about and trying to deal with not only our personal lives and the holidays, but the world in general. And to have something like this to go to I think is quite lovely. Well, and Ray, he puts together a really, really nice program, one that always, always flows and has something for everyone. We're very, very fortunate to have him as our municipal organist. He's amazing. I've seen him, and I know how, what a presence he is on his own, you know, and then when he sits down to play, it's magic. It is. It's truly magic. And sometimes he has surprise outfits on. Oh, always. Always. Well, I look forward to that as well. So one more time, they can reach you at. At fokio.org or call the office at 553-4363 and get information about tickets. And how much are the tickets? In Lewiston, they're $15 pre-sale, $20 at the door, and in Portland, $20 and $25 at the door. Terrific. Well, you'll see me in line anyway. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Happy holidays. Same to you.