JUNE 1 – 6, 2025

The Peoria Bach Festival brings the joy and beauty of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) to Central Illinois by offering concerts and educational opportunities for all ages. Held annually since June 2003, it is a collaborative effort featuring local musicians while at the same time attracting national and international talent. The Peoria Bach Festival also seeks to encourage and mentor a new generation of musicians. Founded and hosted for 20 years by Trinity Lutheran Church. Beginning in 2023 the festival moved here, to Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1420 W. Moss Ave., Peoria, Illinois.

Our 2025 festival will tentatively feature:

• Opening Organ Concert (Sunday, June 1, 4:00 pm) View program.

• Young Musicians Concert (Monday, June 2, 12:05 pm) View program.

• Community Musicians Concert (Tuesday, June 3, 12:05 pm) View program.

• Lecture/Demonstration celebrating the 300^th anniversary of Bach’s cycle of chorale cantatas (cantatas based entirely on well-known chorales) by Dr. Martin Dicke, co-founder of the Peoria Bach Festival (Wednesday, June 4, 12:05 pm)
• Concert of Baroque Chamber Music, performed on baroque period instruments (Thursday, June 5, 12:05 pm) View program.

• Concert of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (Friday, June 6, 12:05 pm) View program.

• Festival Concert featuring choir, orchestra, and guest instrumentalists and vocalists (Friday, June 6, 7:30 pm; lecture at 6:45 pm) View program.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution for the 2025 festival before the end of this tax year, please visit westminsterpeoria.org (Donation Portal) or send your contribution to Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1420 W. Moss Ave., Peoria IL 61606.   If making an online donation, be sure to select “Peoria Bach Festival” as the fund. If contributing by check, be sure to write “Bach Festival” in the memo line.

The Peoria Bach Festival is a collaborative effort featuring musicians from Central Illinois and the surrounding regions. Not only does it showcase Peoria’s own musicians, but it also seeks to encourage and disciple a new generation of musicians while at the same time attracting national and international talent. Your generous contributions help us keep the daytime concerts free and make the price of the main event – the Friday evening Festival Concert – affordable.

We look forward to celebrating another week of the joyful and exuberant music of Bach and thank you in advance for your continued patronage.

“As a newcomer to Westminster,  I’ve found it to be a most welcoming fellowship.  I look forward to going to services and events and find the warmth of the congregation to be most helpful to a newcomer to the entire area.  I find sermons challenging … music beautiful and well prepared … and a dignity in the worship that is all too lacking in most Protestant congregations.  Mix this with an open atmosphere where it is OK to question and still be seen as a good Christian, and I know I’ve found one important ‘home’ in Central Illinois.”