First NightⓇ Boston Celebrations at the Plaza

Kevin Neel

Sortie in B-flat major (Joseph-Guy Ropartz, 1864-1955)

Two Chorale Preludes:
    Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen (Johannes Brahms, 1833-1897)
    In dulci jubilo (Marcel Dupré, 1886-1971)

From Rubrics (Dan Locklair, b. 1949):
    IV. The peace may be exchanged
    V. The people respond “Amen!”

Erica Johnson

Cathedral Windows (Sigfrid Karg-Elert, 1877-1933):
    III. Resonet in laudibus
    IV. Adeste Fideles

Three Pieces (Cécile Chaminade, 1857-1944):
    Pièce dans le style ancien, Op. 74 (arr. Johnson)
    L’Ondine (The Water Sprite), Op. 101 (arr. Johnson)
    Valse-Arabesque, Op. 98, No. 4 (arr. Thomas)

Richard J. Clark

Ascent to Freedom (Richard J. Clark, b. 1969):
    IV. Moderato e spiccato, Go Down Moses, Elevation Toccata
    V. Adagio e cantabile, How Can I Keep from Singing?

Adoration (Florence B. Price, 1887-1953)

Adagio for Strings (Samuel Barber, 1910-1981)

Improvisation on We Shall Overcome (Carl W. Haywood, b. 1949)

Kevin Neel, Director of Music and Organist at All Saints, Worcester

Kevin Neel enjoys a versatile career as organist, collaborative pianist, and conductor. He was named in the Diapason Magazine’s 2019 Class of “20 under 30,” which recognizes young talents in the fields of organ and harpsichord performance, organ and harpsichord building, carillon, and church music.​​​ He has been heard at the organ in numerous venues, including Symphony Hall (Boston), the Cathedral of St. Philip (Atlanta, GA), Methuen Memorial Music Hall, College of the Holy Cross (St. Joseph’s Chapel, Worcester), and Church of the Advent and Trinity Church (both in Boston). He also has appeared in numerous venues in the Southeast. Additionally, he has performed as the organ and piano accompanist for multiple choral ensembles in the New England area, including ongoing engagements with The Boston Cecilia and Heritage Chorale of Framingham.

He is Director of Music and Organist at All Saints, Worcester, where he directs the All Saints Choir (choristers and adults), manages special music events, oversees music education programs, plays the Rice Memorial Organ (Aeolian Skinner Op. 909), and collaborates with Worcester-area music and arts organizations. He also teaches private organ lessons at All Saints. 

Previously he was Organist and Chapel Choir Director at Emmanuel Church, Boston. He holds a Masters of Sacred Music degree from Boston University in Choral Conducting with primary professors Ann Howard Jones, Scott Allen Jarrett, and Peter Sykes, and a Bachelors of Music degree from Indiana University in Organ Performance with primary professors Janette Fishell, Bruce Neswick, Jeffrey Smith, and Todd Wilson. Kevin is originally from the Charlotte, NC, area, where he studied organ with David Lowry and Shirley Fishburne and piano with Patsy Surratt.

Erica Johnson, Director of Music and Liturgy at Sacred Heart Parish, Newton

Erica Johnson, DMA, is a Boston-based organist, keyboardist, and church musician. She is the College Organist and Instructor of Organ and Harpsichord at Wellesley College and Adjunct Organ Instructor for the School of Theology of Boston University. Her leadership and advocacy for the historic Fisk instrument in Wellesley’s Houghton Chapel continues to generate a blossoming of interest in the organ by many students. As an organ instructor, Erica has taught at the UNC School of the Arts, Salem College, and the Oberlin Conservatory. 

She currently serves as the Director of Music and Liturgy at Sacred Heart Parish in Newton. Additionally, she was Organ Scholar at The Memorial Church of Harvard University from 1999-2001. As a grant recipient of the Beebe Fund for Musicians, she studied for two years at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, Germany, with Harald Vogel. Her years in Germany yielded two honors: the 2004 International Arp Schnitger Prize awarded by the Arp Schnitger Gesellschaft, and the 2002 NDR Musikpreis. 

More recently, Erica has presented programs for the Boston Early Music Festival, the Westfield Center, the Göteborg International Organ Academy, and recitals around New England. She holds degrees from Oberlin College, Oberlin Conservatory, New England Conservatory, and the Eastman School of Music.

Richard J. Clark, Director of Music of the Archdiocese Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. He previously served for twenty-eight years at St. Cecilia Parish, Boston. He has also served as Chapel Organist (Saint Mary’s Chapel) at Boston College for two decades.

His compositions have been performed worldwide, including performances in Russia of his organ work Ascent to Freedom by American virtuoso Mark Husey and various performances by the American Boychoir under the direction of GRAMMY-winning conductor Fernando Malvar-Ruiz. His 2025 “A Triptych on ‘Lumen ad revelationem’” was premiered by Jennifer Pascual and performed extensively throughout the United States. In 2022, Clark’s “Te Deum” for orchestra, soloists, and chorus was commissioned for the fiftieth anniversary of the Choer d’Ile-de-France. It premiered in Paris at the Levallois-Perret at l’Église de Saint-François de Sales and the Conservatoire Maurice-Ravel. 

The American Organist magazine praises Clark’s Gregorian Impressions for its “engaging developments,” and the Boston Musical Intelligencer hails his “compelling” and  “emotionally committed” playing. The Boston Globe calls the music of the Holy Cross Cathedral Choir “stirring” and “profound.”  Ministry & Liturgy Magazine has called his music “transformative” as well as “expertly arranged and prayerfully sung.”

He has served as conductor for Pueri Cantores and on the faculty of the Sacred Music Symposium in Los Angeles, California.

He appears with trumpeter Richard Kelley in the album “Recordings,” which includes Requiem pour une américaine à Paris, and the 2022 release Fearfully and Wonderfully Made CD, which includes a collaboration with GRAMMY-nominated poet E. Ethelbert Miller. His 2021 release of the Boston Cathedral Singers From the Bell Tower has been featured on Rome Reports TV, and SIRIUS XM’s Sounds from the Spires with Dr. Jennifer Pascual.