John Romeri is fast becoming the go-to guy for cultural entrepreneurship in St. Louis. This time the music director of the Cathedral Basilica and executive director of the Cathedral Concert Series has pulled off a major coup: next week’s Saint Louis French Festival. From a simple acorn of a single organ recital, a mighty spreading oak has grown.

The festival, which runs nearly a week from Feb. 24 through March 1, is to include two speeches by the French ambassador to the United States, an art lecture, a theatrical performance, a musical afternoon and a tour of the Basilica, in addition to the organ recital and two lectures.

Both the recital and the lectures will be by Lynne Davis an American-born and –trained organist and scholar, who, Romeri says, “spent the last 30 years in France achieving unbelievable heights in the French organ world.” The recital will be on Sunday, Feb. 28 at the Cathedral Basilica.

Her first lecture, at the History Museum on the preceding Friday will examine Chartres Cathedral’s miraculous architecture and stain-glass windows. A significant historical tid-bit is that it was under the patronage of Blanche of Castile, mother of our sainted namesake, Louis IX, that Chartres was built.

On the following Monday, at the Basilica, she will explore and demonstrate the organ music of France, especially that of Louis-Nicolas Clerambault.

Romeri has brought a whole raft of local institutions on board for this celebration of the city’s various French connections: historical, musical and artistic.

The University of Missouri-St. Louis had sought to get French Ambassador Pierre Vimont to speak here. That appearance was facilitated with the help of the Alliance Francaise of St. Louis. Ambassador Vimont will speak at the Millennium Student Center on Feb. 24t. (The lecture, “Franco-American Cooperation in the Middle East,” is free, but those interested in attending must register at 314-516-7299.) The Alliance will also host a lunch the next day at the St. Louis Club at noon.

Other events will be offered at various St. Louis venues by a variety of St. Louis cultural and educational organizations.

Feb. 25 will see a lecture at the Art Museum about its French holdings; the lecture will be repeated Friday evening at 6, as part of a particularly busy day for the festival that will include a 20-minute theater piece, “Veuve Chouteau” at the History Museum. This work dramatizes the thoughts of our city’s founding mother about the Louisiana Purchase. Later that afternoon, a tour of the Cathedral Basilica and of the Great Cathedral Organ will be offered in both French and English. Davis’ lecture on Chartres is that evening, followed by a wine and cheese reception.

Saturday will feature art and music education, plus some walking. The History Museum’s Anne Woodhouse provides an introduction to the museum’s St. Louis French Heritage collection, after which people may take a self-guided tour of that collection. That’s at 11. At 1:30, the Art Museum offers a second chance for late-winter exercise: its own self-guided tour of SLAM’s French collection. That’s to be followed an hour later by live music. French native Maryse Carlin, with five fellow musicians from the St. Louis Symphony, will perform works by French composers ranging from Couperin to Poulenc.

Sunday is the Davis performance at the Cathedral Basilica. Cost is $12 (314 533-7662). Her lecture is there the next evening at 7:30, an event co-sponsored by the American Guild of Organists.

Romeri admits that getting his brain child born was quite an effort. “It took a little doing, that’s for sure. Only through the excellent assistance of my right-hand man Scott Kennebeck, and the rest of our wonderful Cathedral Concert staff could I ever pull off such adventures.”

Asked whether any more such adventures are in the offing -- next year? maybe in five years? -- Romeri demurred. That being the case, the Saint Louis French Festival is shaping up, perhaps, as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Wisdom suggests it should not be missed.