Peter Sykes is one of the most distinguished and versatile keyboard artists performing today. He is a core faculty member and principal instructor of harpsichord in the Historical Performance Department of the Juilliard School in New York City, and a lecturer at Boston University, teaching harpsichord and organ performance. He has taught at the University of Michigan, the New England Conservatory, and the Longy School of Music; he was Chair of the Historical Performance Departments at the Longy School (1988-2005) and Boston University (2006-2021) and Co-Chair of the Organ Department at the New England Conservatory (2001-2003). He has been Music Director at First Church in Cambridge since 1986. He holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and Concordia University in Montreal. 

He performs extensively in recital on the organ, harpsichord, and clavichord, and has made ten solo recordings on all three instruments in repertoire ranging from Buxtehude, Couperin and Bach to Reger and Hindemith and his acclaimed first-ever organ transcription of Holst’s “The Planets.” 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.

*Peter Sykes will be on faculty week 1 of the 2025 Amherst Early Music Festival.