By Jay Sorgi • Posted July 11, 2025

The Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Center City Philadelphia is offering a series of midday opportunities for people to experience God’s presence through solemn and majestic sights and sounds. All while beating the summer heat during the lunch hour.

The free Summer Organ Series will take place on three Wednesdays this summer — July 30, Aug. 27, and Sept. 17 — at 1 p.m. inside the Cathedral Basilica.

“I anticipate that these are on the shorter sides, about 30 minutes, the perfect lunchtime length,” said Mark Loria, the principal organist for the Cathedral Basilica.

The concerts are intended for “folks who might be free in the area, in need of air conditioning, physical relief, and perhaps some spiritual relief as well,” he added.

“The cathedral becomes everyone’s home on those days. I would want everyone to feel welcome to come and listen to the sacred music (of) the organ concert,” said Father Dennis Gill, rector of the Cathedral Basilica.

“The instrument produces a beautiful sound, and the music that Mark will be playing during the summer concerts, although it will be outside of the context of worship, there will be something sacred about it that will lead people to praise God.”

Father Gill suggested the series as a precursor to the Cathedral Basilica’s role in next year’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday in Philadelphia.

“One thing that we hope to do is to have a concert close to the 4th of July or somewhere during the summer in honor of the 250th anniversary,” he said.

“I want to anticipate that, to have people be aware of coming to the cathedral for opportunities to listen to music outside of the celebration of the sacred liturgy. With that in mind, I proposed this summer concert series.”

The concerts link to the historic importance of the organ in the Catholic liturgy.

The Second Vatican Council, in its 1963 document Sacrosanctum Concilium, declares the pipe organ “to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church’s ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man’s mind to God and to higher things.”

“We experience the organ as a function of the liturgy,” said Charlene Angelini, the director of liturgy for the Cathedral Basilica.

“What makes the instrument that we have so special — and pipe organs alike throughout the city — is the idea that it is actually powered by air and that there’s breath coming through the pipes. When you think of the word of God or the way that we express or evangelize, we really are evangelizing from the (organ) bench in a very specific way. It’s a beautiful analogy to those who are speaking the Word or the breath of God, inspiring us.”

The organ inside the Cathedral Basilica is one of the largest in the city, with almost 4,650 pipes. Part of the original organ from 1868 remains, while most of it has gone through extensive renovations from 1920 through the 1980s.

“The organ is helping us (in how) the quality of the sound that we hear informs our praise,” Father Gill said.

“It helps us worship with more than our minds in how it’s giving shape to thoughts and ideas that aren’t even spoken within us, but they take on a clarity in as much as they move us in the direction of God.”

Loria has been planning the works he will perform during the summer concerts, featuring those from a combination of historical composers, some who are still alive, and one who has Philadelphia ties.

Composers include “Johann Sebastian Bach, really one of the great titans of organ composition and really just Western music in general; Felix Mendelssohn; Maurice Duruflé who is really, truly one of my favorite organ composers; some living composers such as Brenda Portman and my friend Alejandro Consolacion, an organist in Manila, Philippines. He’s really just a beautiful musician, beautiful composer,” said Loria.

“There’s a composer who’s no longer with us but is associated with Philadelphia, George Walker. A few years ago, I did a transcription for the organ of his ‘Lyric for Strings.’”

The late Walker, an African American composer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, studied at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music in the 1940s.

The concerts will be presented over three Wednesdays this summer in the seat of Philadelphia’s Catholic Church, a place that invites visitors to reflect on the grandeur of God’s love for his people.

“The architecture, the lighting, it instantaneously says that it’s a special place,” Angelini said. “Giving people this brain break in the middle of their day to experience the beauty of the building and the sonorities swirling around, this amazing (instrument) at Mark’s hands. I think it will be a beautiful experience for them.

“It’s just a beautiful and unique opportunity to allow people to experience music in a beautiful space, not specifically tied to a Mass, but a getaway, a respite from the heat and from the daily tasks that we find ourselves doing,” Angelini said.

“Have people come and experience this lovely instrument, which takes on really somewhat of a human persona that speaks to you.”