International Carillon Festival

Carillon Festival, International

First full week in June

The only event of its kind in the world, the International Carillon Festival in Springfield, Illinois, attracts carillonneurs from France, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, New Zealand, and the Netherlands as well as from the United States. The centerpiece of the festival is the Rees Memorial Carillon, housed in a tower given to the community by Thomas Rees, publisher of the Illinois State Register from 1881 to 1933. Rees first became interested in the art and skill of playing bell music while visiting Holland and Belgium. The tower holds 66 bronze bells cast by a 300-year-old Dutch foundry and covering a range of five-and-a-half chromatic octaves. The bells are played manually by means of a keyboard.
The festival, instituted in 1962, features the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Franz Schubert (1797-1828, see also Schubertiade ), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), and other compositions arranged for the carillon and played by internationally acclaimed masters of the instrument. The performances take place in Springfield's Washington Park, where listeners can sit the recommended 300 or more feet away.

CONTACTS:
Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon
Washington Pk.
Springfield, IL 62703
217-753-6219; fax: 217-546-3139
www.carillon-rees.org

SOURCES:
MusFestAmer-1990, p. 55

Celebration days:
2011: Jun 5 - Jun 11
2012: Jun 3 - Jun 9
2013: Jun 2 - Jun 8
2014: Jun 1 - Jun 7
2015: Jun 7 - Jun 13