Carillon Concerts To Continue Saturday On Norwich Parade

NORTHFIELD - Bring a picnic to Norwich University's Upper Parade green this Saturday and enjoy a free, hourlong concert played by Mr. Anne Kroeze on the Charlotte Nichols Greene Memorial Carillon.

The concert begins at 1 p.m.

For six Saturdays in a row, beginning June 27, guest carillonneurs will perform these free concerts.

Mr. Kroeze was born in Stadskanaal, The Netherlands on December 25, 1975. He studied organ, piano and church music at the conservatories of Zwolle and Utrecht. At the Dutch Carillon School at Amersfoort his teachers were Arie Abbenes and Bernard Winsemius.

Mr. Kroeze won prizes at various carillon competitions and was first prize winner of the international carillon competition at Springfield, Illinois in 2000 and Winterswijk (The Netherlands) in 2001. As a carillonneur he is appointed in Emmeloord and Leeuwarden in his home country.

He also plays the organ and piano with four choirs and is a choir director.

Norwich's carillon, housed in the Adams Bell Tower, is one of only two such instruments in the state of Vermont. The carillon is the largest musical instrument in the world, and its history dates 500 years back to the Low Countries of Europe. The instrument consists of at least two octaves of carillon bells arranged in chromatic series and played from a keyboard. The instrument is sometimes known as "the singing tower."

Concert schedule:

Sat, June 27 - Mr. Anne Kroeze, The Netherlands

Sat, July 4 - George Matthew Jr., Norwich University and Middlebury Carillonneur, Brandon, Vt.

Sat, July 11 - Sergei Gratchev & Elena Sadina, Mechelen, Belgium and Middlebury Russian School Faculty

Sat, July 18 - Gordon Slater, Canadian Dominion Carillonneur Emeritus, Ontario

Sat, July 25 - Alexander Solovov, Mechelen, Belgium and Middlebury Russian School Faculty

Sat, August 1 - Julia Littleton, Associate Carillonneur, The Netherlands Carillon, Arlington, VA

The public can contact 802- 485-2318 or email nucarillon@ norwich.edu for more information.

This concert series is sponsored in part by WCVT 101.7 FM.