International Carillon Festival in Springfield's Washington Park continues this weekend

 Send a link to a friend  Share

[June 04, 2022] 

The International Carillon Festival in Springfield's Washington Park features a great slate of world-class performers.

This Saturday and Sunday evenings you can enjoy free entertainment, fresh air, and even get in some fitness during the 2022 International Carillon Festival. Events take place evenings in Washington Park surrounding the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon.

The annual festival resumes after a two-year hiatus due to covid restrictions. The festival opens with local artist performances then followed by two world renown carillon performers offering classical renderings each evening.

The carillon is an uniquely situated, outdoor instrument whose music is available for all to enjoy. It can be appreciated by families playing catch with their children in the park, by a couple strolling through the Rose Garden on their first date, by an elderly citizen sitting on a park bench beneath an oak tree enjoying the breeze and by friends enjoying a picnic on a blanket in the grass. The carillon is an instrument for all these and many more.

Saturday

5:30 p.m. - Excitement has been building since the recent publication of a novel by former Springfield resident and author, D.R. Ransdell. The work of fiction “Carillon Chase” revolves around the International Carillon Festival and highlights the Springfield area.

Author D.R. Ransdell said, "At the time I was growing up, the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon was in its infancy. It was the third largest free-standing carillon in the U.S. Today it is the fifth largest, but it is an absolute treasure for Springfield and for Central Illinois.

No experience replicates listening to a bell concert from the comfort of Washington Park. I trust that Springfield’s wonderful carillon will be a treasure for generations to come. My childhood wouldn’t have been the same without it."

The book will be available to buy and D.R. will be present for book signing and meet-and-greets throughout the festival evenings.

6 p.m. - Welcoming dance and music provided by The Springfield Ballet Company
Adam Sage, Artistic Director Caitlin Helton Scherer, Ballet Mistress.

6:30 p.m. - Doug Gefvert

  1. Allegro moderato from “Sonata V” Giovanni Battista Martini (1706-1784)

  2. Elegie for Carillon James R. Lawson (1919-2003)

  3. Romance in C Edwin Nielsen (1907-1983)

  4. Les Cloches des Clochards Suite for Beiaard
    (The Bells of the Beggars Suite) Jurriaan Andriessen (1925-1996)
    L’Aube (Dawn)
    L’Indigence (Poverty)
    Sous les Ponts (Under the Bridge)
    La Seine (The Seine)
    La Richesse (Wealth)

  5. Fantasy-Pastoral Ronald Barnes (1927-1997)

  6. Little Waltz for Piano Anatoli Liadov (1855-1914)

  7. Love Duet from “Samson et Dalila” Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)

  8. Nessun Dorma from “Turandot” Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
    Arrangements for carillon: 1. Adolph Rots; 6. Ronald Barnes; 7. Suzanne Magassy; 8. Ann-Kristine Christiansen
    Compositions for Carillon

7:20 p.m. - Carson Landry

  1. Ari Ari Hyo-won Woo (b. 1974)

  2. Mountain Pastorale Laura Hewitt Whipple (1920-2005)

  3. Moto Perpetuo Geert D’hollander (b. 1965)
    Themes and Variations

  4. Theme with variations Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman (1892-1971)

  5. Aria Sebaldina Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)

  6. Variations on “Ode to Joy” Brian Swager (b. 1959)
    Arrangements for carillon: 5. Bernard Winsemius

[to top of second column]

Sunday, June 5

6 p.m. - Welcoming music provided by the Trinity Wind Ensemble under the direction of Jan Zepp.

6:30 p.m. - Monika Kaźmierczak
Music from Poland (with some Polish-American twists)

  1. From “Warsaw Organ Tablature” Jan Podbielski (1680?-1730?)
    - Praeludium
    World Premiere

  1. Crumbs From His Table (George Crumb in memoriam) Katarzyna Kwiecień-Długosz (*1978)
    A piece written especially for this festival and this carillon. Katarzyna is a composer from Poznań
    (central Poland), fascinated by carillon. One of her most important role models was George Crumb to
    whom she decided to dedicate her newest carillon piece.

  2. Mazurka, Polonaise Maria Szymanowska (1789-1831)

  3. From “Preludes Opus 28” Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
    No. 4 in e minor
    No. 20 in c minor

  4. A Chopinesque Prelude Geert D’hollander (*1965)

  5. Mazurka op. 50 nr 1 Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

  6. Valse in Ab major Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872)
    From Poland’s Neighbor Lithuania

  7. Preludium in memoriam M. K. Čiurlionis Giedrius Kuprevičius (*1944)

  8. From “Suite in modo polonico” Aleksander Tansman (1897-1986)
    Entrée
    Kujawiak
    Alla pollacca
    Oberek
    Arrangements for Carillon: 1. F.Stanisz ;3 ,4 ,7 ,9. Monika Kaźmierczak; 6. Christian Win

7:20 PM - Carlo van Ulft

  1. From “Piano Sonata 11, KV 331” Wolfgang A. Mozart (1756 - 1791)
    Theme and Variations
    Alla Turca

  2. Beautiful Dreamer Variations Adolph Baumbach (1830 - 1880)

  3. Hungarian Dances Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
    Hungarian Dance 6 in D Major
    Hungarian Dance 5 in e minor
    Hungarian Dance 7 in D Major

  4. Sprookje (Fairy Tale) Jef Rottiers (1905-1985)

  5. Estudiantina Emil Waldteufel (1837 - 1915)
    Arrangements for Carillon: 1, 2, 3, 5 Carlo van Ulf

Thematic Summer Concerts will resume throughout the months of June, July and August. These concerts, together with all International Carillon Festival Concerts, will be live-streamed and viewed by carillon fans from around the world although nothing compares to the ambiance of attending carillon concerts live in Washington Park.

Last, but certainly not least, the Rees Carillon Society, in cooperation with the Springfield Park District, has agreed to fund an “internship” for a young, aspiring carillonist.

The addition of the intern means that for the first time in the 60+ year existence of the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon, the carillon will resound daily between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. between June 1 and August 31.

"Please join us in beautiful Washington Park during our festival evenings and our numerous summer concerts and you, too, can become a carillon enthusiast!" - Carlo van Ulft, Director/Carillonist Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon.

[Text provided] 

Back to top