Peoria Concerts – Peoria Illinois’ Bach Festival is Unique

For a city the size of Peoria, we are extremely lucky to have a week-long Bach Festival in Peoria.  With its Peoria concerts, the mission of the local event is:  The Peoria Bach Festival seeks to inspire and enrich the lives of the people of Central Illinois by offering world-class performances and educational opportunities for all ages featuring the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries.

Held annually since June of 2003, originally at Trinity Lutheran Church in Peoria, the Bach Festival is collaborative effort featuring local musicians while at the same time attracting national and international talent while also encouraging and mentoring a new generation of musicians. 

Andrew Bruhn, the Director of Choral Activities at Illinois State University, will be the primary conductor of the festival.  He is a prolific composer: in 2017, he won the Illinois American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Composition Contest and has been a finalist in other national composition contests.  Andrew received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Music from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, his Master of Sacred Music degree in choral conducting from Luther Seminary and St. Olaf College, and a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance from Wheaton College.

Get the Full Experience: Full Peoria Concerts Schedule

Who should attend? The festival is designed for a wide range of music lovers: local families, students, lifelong Bach fans, and anyone eager to broaden their cultural horizons. 

Period Instruments Concert on Tuesday, June 2

The Friends and Rivals: A Baroque Chamber Concert on Period Instruments concert on Tuesday evening will give insight into German musical world in the early 1700s which was a lively web of collaboration, competition, admiration, and the occasional professional snub.  No one stood at the crossroads of these relationships more than Johann Sebastian Bach. This program, Friends and Rivals, brings together the composers who shaped Bach’s world, challenged his ambitions, and enriched his musical imagination.

Played on period instruments, it opens with Georg Philipp Telemann, Bach’s closest friend and the first choice for the Leipzig Thomaskantor position – a job he politely declined, clearing the way for history to unfold. Alongside him stands George Frideric Handel, the cosmopolitan superstar Bach long hoped to meet, whose brilliance he admired from afar. The spotlight then turns to Christoph Graupner, the second runner‑up for the Leipzig post, whose refusal (due to a salary dispute) finally opened the door for Bach to step into his legendary role. From there we move to Carl Heinrich Graun, a younger contemporary and frequent visitor in the Bach household – more friend than rival, but a vivid voice in the same musical landscape. Rounding out the program is Johann Friedrich Fasch, one of the most celebrated composers of his day and a respected acquaintance of Bach’s, invited to apply for the Leipzig position but perfectly content to remain at his court appointment. Together, their works paint a vibrant portrait of the artistic world Bach inhabited – a world of mutual influence, friendly rivalry, and shared devotion to musical craft.

Dr. John Orfe Will Perform on Wednesday, June 3 

Virtuoso Pianist, John Orfe, has earned critical acclaim for his interpretations of five centuries of keyboard repertoire ranging from the canonic to the arcane. The core pianist and a founding member of the GRAMMY-Winning new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, Orfe is also pianist for Present Music in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he premiered and recorded the organ part of Raven Chacon’s Voiceless Mass, which won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music.  He has performed in Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, Roulette, the World Financial Center, and Symphony Space in New York; Disney Hall, Mondavi Hall, and Hertz Hall in California; the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; and venues in Beijing, Nanning, Seoul, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krakow, Amsterdam, Berlin, Bremen, Bolzano, Cork, Hamburg, London, Lima, San Jose, Quito, and Saõ Paolo.  He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from the University of Rochester, as well as Master of Music, Master of Musical Arts, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Yale School of Music.

Secure Your Peoria Bach Festival Tickets 

For those who have not experienced the Westminster Presbyterian Church organ, you will be in for a treat.  The organ was designed by Pieter Visser, a native of Holland, who learned the art of organ building in his homeland before settling in the United States. From intimate chorale settings to dazzling toccatas and soaring, majestic chords, this concert invites listeners into the spiritual and sonic world that shaped Bach’s imagination and continues to inspire organists and audiences alike. 

The Sunday at 4 pm concert, the concerts at Noon on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are free, however do require that you register to attend.  Donations are appreciated.  The Tuesday and Friday evening performances are $20 for Adults and $10 for Students. To receive the student discount, enter the code STUDENT. Ages 12 and under are free. Reserve your Peoria Bach Festival tickets and find full details about the festival, the concerts and the artists who are performing at peoriabachfestival.org