The Friends of Messiah will welcome organist Peter Sykes to the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday, Dec. 6, for the annual Messiah Festival, directed by James Sharrock. Joined by the Apple Hill String Quartet, vocal and instrumental soloists, and a community chorus, Sykes will perform on the church’s historic 1867 tracker organ for the Christmas section of Handel’s Messiah.
Sykes is a distinguished performer on organ, harpsichord, and clavichord, holding degrees from the New England Conservatory and Concordia University. He is associate professor of music and chair of the Historical Performance Department at Boston University, serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and has been director of music at First Congregational Church in Cambridge since 1985.
The 4 p.m. performance is free and open to all in the church’s fully accessible sanctuary.