Beaverbrook Community Concert Series

The Beaverbrook Community Concert Series is proud to present “The Fugue,” an organ recital performed by Peter Bayer, Director of Music at Kanata United Church, and Program Coordinator of the series.
This concert will take place on 4 April, 2027 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

“The Fugue”

Annibale Padovano (1527-1575), Ricercar del duodecimo tono (Toccate et Ricercari d’Organo: Venice, 1604)

J.S. Bach (1685-1750), Prelude and Fugue in d minor BWV 539

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), Prelude and fugue in d minor Op.37 no.1 (Three Preludes and Fugues for the Organ, Leipzig/London, 1837/8)

Annibale Padovano, Ricercar del sexto tono alla terza (Toccate et Ricercari d’Organo)

Bach, Pièce d’orgue BWV 572

Mendelssohn, Sonata in C Op.65 no.2 (Six Sonatas for the Organ, Leipzig-London-Paris-Milan, 1844)

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

“This program takes a few snapshots of the development of the organ fugue from its origins in 16th century Italy to the Romantic era. Annibale Padovano, organist of St. Mark’s in Venice, has left some of the finest examples of the Italian ricercar, the original form of organ fugue. The prelude and fugue by Bach on this program is unique as an arrangement for organ of one of his own fugues for solo violin. Bach’s Pièce d’orgue is not a fugue properly speaking but it develops the French Baroque style of organ fugal counterpoint into a monumental work as only Bach could have done. Mendelssohn’s Prelude and fugue in d minor and the fugue which concludes his second sonata are good examples of how Mendelssohn inaugurated the Romantic era of organ music by combining the influence of Bach with the new symphonic style.”

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.