Peter Sykes

Biography

Peter Sykes is a member of the organ department faculty at the University of Michigan, a core faculty member and principal instructor of harpsichord at the Historical Performance Department of the Juilliard School in New York City, and teaches organ and harpsichord at Boston University. He also has been Music Director at First Church in Cambridge since 1985, directing the choir and playing their 1972 Frobenius organ. He performs extensively in recital and has made ten solo recordings of organ and harpsichord repertoire ranging from Buxtehude, Couperin and Bach to Reger and Hindemith and his acclaimed organ transcription of Holst’s “The Planets.” Newly released is a recording of the complete Bach harpsichord partitas on the Centaur label, and an all-Bach clavichord recording on the Raven label; soon to be released will be the complete Bach works for violin and harpsichord with Daniel Stepner. He often performs and teaches in Europe, and has been a judge in numerous harpsichord and organ playing competitions. A founding board member and current president of the Boston Clavichord Society as well as past president of the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies, he is the recipient of the Chadwick Medal and Outstanding Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory, the Erwin Bodky Prize from the Cambridge Society for Early Music, and the Distinguished Artist Award from the St. Botolph Club Foundation.