Carillon Summer Concert Series begins in July

The Carillon Summer Concert Series at Westminster College will welcome four guest carillonneurs to perform on the College’s 42-bell Duff-Armington Memorial Carillon throughout the month of July.

The series will open on Friday, July 7, with a performance by New York City-based Simone Brown. Brown studied carillon at the University of Chicago under Joey Brink and became a member of the Guild of Carillonneurs.  After graduating in 2019, she spent a year living in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, through the Fulbright program, teaching English and visiting Ukrainian carillons. With the support of the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF), she studied with Eddy Mariën, Koen Van Assche, Tom Van Peer and Dina Verheyden at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium, from 2020-2022. After graduating in June 2021, she remained at the Carillon School for an additional post-graduation specialization year, during which time she focused on finding, arranging and performing music composed by women. Brown has performed recitals on carillons in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Lithuania, Denmark, the U.S. and Ukraine.

Annie Gao, a carillonneur and software engineer from Southern California, will be the featured carillonneur on Friday, July 14. Gao began her carillon studies in the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs, where she took lessons from Ellen Dickinson and was co-chair her final year. She completed her Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) carillonneur exam in 2020 and graduated from Yale in May 2021. Gao continued her carillon studies in Europe and the U.S., studying under Geert D’hollander, Boudewijn Zwart and Eddy Mariën.

Janet Tebbel, carillonneur of two carillons in the historic Germantown section of Philadelphia, will perform on Friday, July 21. She has served as carillonneur of the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, playing the 50-bell Taylor carillon since 1979, and has also been the carillonneur of the Miraculous Medal Shrine, with a 47-bell Paccard/Bigelow carillon, since 2002. Tebbel began her carillon studies with R. Hudson Ladd at the University of Michigan and continued to play at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) while earning a master’s degree in organ and church music at the Eastman School of Music. With a grant from the Belgian American Educational Foundation, she spent a year at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium, studying with Piet van den Broek, and earned a final diploma. Tebbel has played recitals throughout North America and Europe and became a GCNA member in 1974. She has served on the GCNA Board of Directors as corresponding secretary and on the Membership Enhancement Committee. She has been featured in videos by Piffaro and Philomusica.

Kayla Gunderson, a recent graduate of the University of Rochester, will be the final featured carillonneur on Friday, July 28. Gunderson began playing the carillon in fall of 2019 during her first semester of college and passed her GCNA exam at the 2022 Congress in Chicago. She was a frequent performer in the university’s live-streamed Sunday concerts and taught carillon lessons to several students for three semesters. In fall 2022, Gunderson regularly performed on the 37-bell carillon in Stockholm, Sweden, during her time abroad. In addition to carillon, she has played piano since she was 9 and clarinet since she was 11.

All concerts begin at noon and are free and open to the public. Seating is on the quad outside of Old Main. Audience members are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and lunch to enjoy during the concerts. In the event of inclement weather, seating will be in Wallace Memorial Chapel.

One of only 55 college carillons nationwide, Westminster’s bells—42 in all—are an integral part of campus life. In addition to ringing the “Westminster Chime” every quarter hour throughout the day, the carillon is regularly played by Paula Kubik, Westminster organist.

For more information about the concert series, contact Diane Gabriel in the Office of Faith and Spirituality at gabriedl@westminster.edu or 724-946-7117. To learn more about the Duff-Armington Memorial Carillon, click here.

Pictured clockwise from top left are Simone Brown, Annie Gao, Janet Tebbel and Kayla Gunderson.

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