2026 Festival Concert at Westminster Presbyterian Church

Join us for our annual Festival Concert featuring the Peoria Bach Festival Orchestra and Choir. For over 20 years we have brought remarkable musicians together to perform the living legacy of the Bach family. This year’s Festival Concert gathers that tradition into a single sweeping evening, tracing the family’s musical brilliance across generations—from the elegance of courtly dance to the depth of sacred song. The program will begin with the Orchestral Suite in G minor, BWV 1070, long attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach but now widely credited to his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. The Sinfonia Concertante by Johann Christoph Bach will follow, a vibrant and rarely heard gem that showcases four soloists—flute, oboe, violin, and cello—set against a colorful ensemble of winds, strings, and continuo. After the Intermission, the Peoria Bach Festival Choir will offer Johann Bach’s poignant motet Unser Leben ist ein Schatten (“Our Life Is But a Shadow”), Cantata BWV 78, Jesu, der du meine Seele (“Jesus, You Who [Rescued] My Soul”), and the third chorale from Cantata BWV 79, Nun danket alle Gott (“Now Thank We All Our God”), scored for full winds, strings, and continuo. Featuring a duet for horns, this triumphant setting will send the audience out with gratitude, joy, and the unmistakable brilliance of Bach’s musical world.

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3616323-2?pid=11710

Time: 19:30 - 21:00