Beaverbrook Community Concert Series

The Beaverbrook Community Concert Series is proud to present an organ recital by Peter Bayer, Coordinator of the series and music director of Kanata United Church.
This concert will take place on 15 February, 2026 at 3:00pm, at Kanata United Church (33 Leacock Dr., Kanata ON).

No need for tickets: just show up! This concert is offered on a pay-what-you-can basis, with a $15 donation recommended.

About the Artist

Peter Bayer holds a BA in Organ Performance and Classics from The Catholic University of America and is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists. While at CUA, he spent a semester studying historical performance of early Italian repertoire in Rome, performing a recital there on the restored 16th-century instrument at S. Barbara dei Librai. He is currently writing his PhD dissertation in the Classics department at the University of Toronto on the theme of the Inner Teacher in Clement of Alexandria, Augustine of Hippo, and the ancient Platonist philosophical tradition. He has recently been blessed with a beautiful wife and twin daughters.

Before becoming director at KUC, he was Bevan Organ Scholar at Trinity College, Toronto, while maintaining a busy schedule as a substitute organist. He was a semifinalist in the 2025 Canadian National Organ Competition and has performed numerous recitals in Washington D.C. and environs, and Toronto, including notably at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, D.C. and St. James Cathedral, Toronto. Peter’s other interests include the history and theory of music, particularly of the seventeenth century, classical English literature, and Medieval and Renaissance art and history.

Program

Ricercar Secondo from Il Secondo Libro di Ricercari (1549)

Jacques Buus (d.1565)

Tiento Lleno de Sexto Tono

Pablo Bruna (1611-1679)

Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot BWV 678 from Clavier-Übung III (1739)

J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam BWV 684 from Clavier-Übung III (1739)

J. S. Bach

“Dorian” Toccata and Fugue in d minor BWV 538

J. S. Bach

Sonata in A major Op.65 No.3 (1845)

I. Con moto maestoso

II. Andante tranquillo

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847))

Here is a bit of an introduction to the theme of this month’s program from Peter Bayer:

“The first two pieces I will be playing are extensive contrapuntal works from two of the greatest organists of their time. Jacques Buus was organist at St Mark’s in Venice and then later at the imperial court in Vienna. He published three volumes of ricercari, the early Italian name for a fugue, as well as some vocal music. His ricercari are grand pieces, some of them (like the one I will be playing) over ten minutes long (the usual length for a ricercar was around three minutes). Pablo Bruna was blind his whole life, but was nonetheless one of the greatest organists in Spain in his time. Tiento is the Spanish term for an organ fugue; and this piece is typical of Spanish organ music of the time in its grandiose extent and development of one theme through many different sections. The two chorale preludes by Bach are from his Clavierubung III, which he published as a sort of summation of his art. These two chorales represent opposing styles, the first on the Lutheran chorale tune to which was sung the Ten Commandments, is Italianate in style, whereas the second, setting the Lutheran chorale commemorating Christ’s baptism, clearly follows French models. Bach’s extensive and virtuosic “Dorian” Toccata shows off the organ’s different divisions while the accompanying and strongly contrasting Fugue is a masterpiece in stile antico or ‘old fashioned’ counterpoint and so fits well with the earlier pieces on this program. The first movement of Mendelssohn’s third organ sonata is a fantasy on the Lutheran chorale, Aus tiefer Not, “Out of the depths I cry to Thee.” The second movement is a gentle song without words for the organ.”

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All of our concerts are held at Kanata United Church, 33 Leacock Drive Kanata ON. Our venue offers limited parking, with street parking
available in the surrounding neighborhood.
The venue is accessible, which includes automatic doors, a dedicated accessible washroom and no stairs required for entry.