Philip Baker still looks back in disbelief at the day he fulfilled his lifelong dream of playing the organ at the famous Gothic cathedral, Notre Dame in Paris.
"It's just such a colossal sound," he said. "You release a chord on the organ and you hear it go down the long axis of the room for nine to 10 seconds, and you just feel like, 'My, my, my, did I do that?'"
Playing at Notre Dame is "the number one gig in the world as far as organists are concerned," Baker said. It was an ambition he's had since he first played a church organ at the age of 10. He said he fell in love with the instrument as soon as its sound rumbled through his chest.
"It's just so lovely. There's no other sound like that in the world," Baker said.
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Philip Baker
News 8's Heidi Zhou has more about the man and his passion.
 
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Baker's career as an organist took him to churches across Texas. In 1997 he finally settled at St. Mary Cathedral in Austin. It was there he found the encouragement to go for the big wish.
"I wrote a letter to Notre Dame and sent them my resume and a couple of CDs that I had done. And I didn't hear anything, and I didn't hear anything," Baker said.
Notre Dame finally answered three months later with an invitation. And in April of this year, Baker found himself sitting before the organ that's been filling worshipers' hearts since the 1300s.
"Three of my four children were in the loft with me, and that was a very touching moment for all of us, to realize where we were," he said. "I just had to keep feeling my pulse to be sure I was alive and hearing what I was hearing, and doing what I was doing. I got through with the last chord, and there was a roar and a standing ovation."
Baker said he never imagined a boy from Wichita Falls would grow up to experience that moment, but he did, and that satisfaction is a note that won't stop ringing.
Baker is also an accomplished composer. You can hear him play the organ at St. Mary Cathedral every Saturday and Sunday.
To find out the location and times, visit SMCAustin.org.
