Peggy Wolverton, organist of Covenant-First Presbyterian Church, 717 Elm Street, downtown, is performing a free organ concert featuring music of the Baltic States.

“Covenant-First is likely the only church in the U.S. where this music is heard!” she says. “We in the West have become quite familiar with choral and orchestral music of the Baltic States, but our exposure to music for the organ and other genre has been considerably less.”

She’ll be performing on the church’s historic, century-old Austin Pipe Organ. Built by the Austin Organ Co. of Hartford, Connecticut, it was considered one of the largest organs in this part of the country, with 51 stops and more than 3,100 pipes.

Her concert, 4 p.m. Sunday April 22, will survey the music of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. She says she became interested in that repertoire partly out of “self-defense,”  she says. Her husband, Dr. Vance Wolverton, a former professor of music at NKU, is a leading authority in the choral music of the Baltics. As he has edited and published choral scores, he’s been given many organ scores by the composers and conductors that he’s met along the way.

“Over the years I have played many of the pieces for church and in recitals, most significantly for the Baltic Institute (2004) at Seattle’s University Presbyterian Church and a lecture recital for the AGO National Convention (2012) at Downtown Presbyterian in Nashville,” she says.

Composers on her program include Estonian Rudolf Tobias, who wrote more than 30 chorale preludes (she’ll play two of them), an organ concerto and an oratorio, among many other works. Other Estonians represented will be Ester Mägi and Peeter Laja.

Music by three Latvian composers will follow, including a Te Deum by Pēteris Vasks, who is considered Latvia’s leading contemporary composer.  She writes in the program: “His music might be described as a voice of sorrow and of hope, the voice of a tormented nation. Te Deum is an optimistic work in praise for the Creator which begins with a majestic Gregorian melody followed by lyrical episodes and ending with an inspired song of the soul.”

Of the Lithuanians, Juozas Naujalis is “the father of Lithuanian art music because of his contributions to nationalism and the liberation movement. … The Prelude in G major is an unabashed Romantic paean of full harmonies and bright sonorities. One can easily imagine this piece enlivening a festival Mass at the Cathedral in Vilnius.”

About the organ: Built by the Austin Organ Company and installed in 1915, the organ, celebrating its 102nd birthday this year, was given by Mrs. W. W. Seely in memory of her husband, Dr. William Wallace Seely. Following a fire in April, 1960, the organ was completely restored by Charles D. and James Hildreth and has since been updated and renovated in 1974, 1999, and 2000.

For more information, visit covfirstchurch.org.