2005 GCNA Congress
The annual congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North
America was held June 13’17 on the campuses of Grand Valley State
University in Grand Rapids and Allendale, Michigan. University Carillonneur
Julianne Vanden Wyngaard was the host. Recitalists for the congress were
Tin-shi Tam, Ray McLellan, Todd Fair, and Ms. Vanden Wyngaard. On the Allendale
campus is the 48-bell Eijsbouts carillon that was installed in 1994. The
48-bell Beckering Family Carillon built by Paccard in 2000 is on the Grand
Rapids Pew campus. Milford Myhre gave a masterclass. Grand Valley organ faculty
member Gregory Crowell gave a presentation on historic keyboard instruments.
Jeremy Chesman gave a presentation on carillon degree programs in North
America. The next GCNA congress will be held June 13’17, 2006 at Yale
University, New Haven, Connecticut.
New Carillon Compositions
The Johan Franco Composition Fund committee of the Guild of
Carillonneurs in North America, chaired by John Gouwens, is responsible for three
new carillon compositions.
Pealing Fire, by the
American composer Libby Larsen, was commissioned by the committee. Larsen has
written for all manner of instrumental and vocal media, solos, and ensembles. Pealing
Fire is a fresh addition to the repertoire,
bringing together numerous idiomatic bell figurations, along with the
“Veni creator” plainchant that is woven throughout the piece.
Neil Thornock, a doctoral student in composition at Indiana
University, won the first prize in the Johan Franco Composition Competition
with his Sonata in three movements. The
second prize was awarded to Geert D’hollander of Belgium for his Two
Poems for Children.
Merger of Taylor with Eayre & Smith
John Taylor Bellfounders Ltd. of Loughborough, England, has
announced a merger with Eayre & Smith Ltd. of Melbourne, effective July 1,
2005. Not bellfounders themselves, Eayre and Smith is an engineering and
bellhanging firm whose primary focus is on installation, service, and repair of
tower bells intended for English-style bell ringing, or “change
ringing,” with rope and wheel. It has been in business for about 30 years
and had become the largest independent bellhanging company in the United
Kingdom. John Taylor Bellfounders continues a line of bellfounding that has
been unbroken since the middle of the 14th century and is now one of the
largest bellfoundries in the world. The largest bell in Britain, “Great
Paul,” the massive bourdon bell at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London,
was cast in Loughborough in 1881 and weighs 17,002 kilos/37,483 pounds. There
are several significant Taylor carillons in the United States, including
Washington National Cathedral, Duke University Chapel, and Bok Tower Gardens.
The new business will be known as Taylors Eayre & Smith
Ltd. Production will continue at
both sites in the short term while redeployment of equipment and facilities
takes place at the present Taylor foundry in Loughborough.
