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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Berkshire Bach Society (BBS) announces its annual Harpsichord Festival with two concerts at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Stockbridge.

On September 21 at 4:00 PM, Peter Sykes will give a recital to celebrate his 50th anniversary debut in 1974. On October 19 at 4:00 PM, Elliot Figg and Caitlyn Koester will perform Skeletons of the Opera, a concert of transcriptions of baroque operas for harpsichord, four hands.

“Berkshire Bach is thrilled to present our harpsichord recitalists in two special concerts that showcase both the players and the instrument in repertoire spanning the Baroque spectrum,” said Terrill McDade, Executive Director of The Berkshire Bach Society. “It’s a chance to hear these great musicians in the virtuosity and drama that characterize Baroque music—from Purcell to Bach, from chamber music to the opera house—with all the great contrasts and distinct humors that characterize the music of the period.”

According to a press release:

Peter Sykes, familiar to Berkshire Bach audiences as the organist on the series The Organ Masters, is considered one of the most distinguished and creative keyboardists performing today. He is also a leading teacher of the art of harpsichord playing, holding positions in the historical performance departments of The Juilliard School, Boston University, and the University of Michigan, and is a founding board member and current president of the Boston Clavichord Society. In his September recital, he will play a new instrument that he describes as “spectacular” in both appearance and sound, acquired in 2024 through an inheritance from one of his students. It is a slightly different instrument from the one he used in his debut recital: an instrument that he and his father built in 1974, that he has modified over the years, and that he still owns and uses for performing and teaching.

This is his first solo harpsichord recital for Berkshire Bach.

In the second concert of the Harpsichord Festival, keyboard duo Elliot Figg and Caitlyn Koester offer an entertaining glimpse into the world of Baroque theatre as they return to perform Skeletons of the Opera, transcriptions of Baroque opera for harpsichord, four hands. Berkshire Bach audiences may recall the duo’s two-harpsichord recital last season, in which they performed music by members of the two great keyboard dynasties of the Baroque era, the Couperin and Bach families. This year they expand the programme to include theatre music by Henry Purcell, GF Handel, JB Lully and the rarely heard Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, musician to Louis XIV and one of the few known female composers of the period. The programme offers an opportunity to hear the distinct national styles of English and French opera side by side. They perform BBS features on the two-manual Dowd harpsichord in the Bach New Year’s concerts.

Join Berkshire Bach for the 2024 Harpsichord Festival at 4pm on September 21 and October 19 at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Stockbridge. Tickets: $45 Non-members $40 BBS members $10 Cultural Pass. Children under 18 and students with valid ID are free.