| News
from PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Office of Communications
22 Chambers St.
Princeton, New Jersey 08542
Telephone 609-258-3601; Fax 609-258-1301
For immediate release: June 13, 2003
Contact: Patricia Allen, (609) 258-6108, pallen@princeton.edu
Carillon concert series kicks off 11th season
First Sunday concert begins June 22
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Princeton University announces its 11th annual Summer
Carillon Series beginning Sunday, June 22 through Sunday, Aug. 31, at
Cleveland Tower on the historic Graduate College campus on Springdale
Road.
The concerts, Sundays at 1 p.m. throughout the summer, will feature acclaimed
guest carillonneurs from across the nation and Europe. They will perform
on the University's renowned the Class of 1892 Bells, the fifth largest
carillon in the country and one of the top ten in size worldwide. These
musicians of exceptional talent and passion represent diverse backgrounds
from full-time recitalists to weekend performers, including a family physician,
a retired corporate executive, a cancer researcher, a Yale University
political science student and a psychologist and book author who is also
a Princeton alum.
"While our backgrounds are often quite different, carillonneurs share
a love for bells and the carillon's extraordinary 500-year history," said
Princeton University Carillonneur R. Robin Austin, who will open the new
season performing the first recital. "Our guest carillonneurs always respond
enthusiastically to our invitation to perform in the series because of
Princeton's stature as the owner of one of the world's largest and finest
carillons."
The carillon is a set of bronze bells played on a wooden keyboard. Originally
installed in 1927 with 35 bells, today The Class of 1892 Bells have 67
concert-pitched bells.
Featured performers this year will include:
- June 29: Trevor Workman, carillonneur of Bournville
Village, England, has toured Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France,
Denmark and the United States. He has released numerous CDs and video
recordings of the Bournville Carillon including "Celebration Sounds
of Bournville" in 1996 and his recent recording, "Classic and Romantic,"
released in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of H.M. Queen Elizabeth
II.
- July 20: A duet program will be performed by organist and music
instructor Auke de Boer, the city carillonneur in Dokkum and
Groningen, The Netherlands, and Adolph Rots, city carillonneur
for four municipalities in The Netherlands, a carillon instructor at
The Netherlands Carillon School, an organist, cantor and college instructor
of music pedagogy.
- July 27: A native of Hong Kong, Tin-shi Tam, the Cownie
Professor of Music and university carillonneur at Iowa State University,
is a celebrated artist. She has given recitals in Asia, Australia, Canada,
Europe and the United States. She was a featured recitalist at the Festival
International de Carillon en Côte d'Or, France in 2001, the 12th
International Carillon Festival at Bok Tower Gardens, Lakes Wales, Fla.,
in 1997 and the 53rd Congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North
America at Princeton University in 1995.
Guest musicians will perform a range of selections from the traditional
to the unexpected during the hour-long concerts. In addition to Christian
hymns, classical pieces by Handel, Bach and Haydn, and works composed
especially for carillon, programs will feature folk, American standards,
show tunes and contemporary works from the songbooks of Rodgers and Hammerstein,
George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton and Stephen Sondheim.
Some carillonneurs also will offer their own compositions and improvisational
ringing.
"Our series offers the public a very special opportunity to hear some
wonderful music performed by the greatest carillonneurs from Europe and
the U.S.," said Austin, a member of the Guild of Carillonneurs, a prestigious
67-year-old professional organization. "The carillon's location on the
Graduate College campus, sheltered from traffic and other urban noises,
has created an ideal and attractive setting for performers and audiences
alike."
The carillon was refurbished in 1993 after nearly 25 years of neglect
following the 1967 death of the University Bellmaster Arthur Bigelow.
During the retrofit, the bells were rescaled, upgraded to concert pitch
and a mammoth new bell was added. This bell, known as the bourdon, sounds
"G" and weighs 12,880 pounds.
The carillon program is part of University Chapel Music and is made possible
by an endowment established by the Class of 1892. For more information
about the schedule of performances, check the Summer
Carillon Series Web site.
|