Brahms Goes Baroque

Name: Brahms Goes Baroque
Start: 2026-06-03T12:00:00-05:00
Location: 1420 W Moss Ave, Peoria, IL, United States, Illinois 61606

Schedule

Wed, 03 Jun, 2026 at 12:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

1420 W Moss Ave, Peoria, IL, United States, Illinois 61606 | Peoria, IL

Virtuoso pianist John Orfe will lead us in a dazzling Bach‑inspired journey, tracing the master’s far‑reaching influence across centuries and styles. The program will open with Johannes Brahms’s fleet and fiery Presto nach J. S. Bach—here presented in a unique synthesis of both surviving versions—before turning to two elegant nineteenth‑century tributes to Christoph Willibald Gluck, arranged by Brahms and Giovanni Sgambati, each revealing how Classical poise and Baroque clarity continued to shape Romantic imagination. From there, Orfe brings his trademark precision and expressive depth to Handel’s Keyboard Suite No. 3 in D minor, HWV 428, a work whose dramatic contrasts and intricate counterpoint captivated Bach himself. The evening culminates in Brahms’s monumental Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, a tour de force that transforms a simple Baroque melody into one of the great keyboard epics of the Romantic era. The result will be a richly layered program—part homage, part reinvention—illuminating how Bach’s spirit continues to spark creativity in every age. This concert is FREE. A freewill offering will be taken. For more information, visit www.peoriabachfestival.org.