St. Thomas Church continues carillon series
There’s plenty of local talent on tap for the congregation’s annual Tuesday night series, beginning July 7.
WHITEMARSH Because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, St. Thomas’ Church’s 2020 summer carillon concerts won’t feature any international musicians. But there’s plenty of local talent on tap for the Whitemarsh congregation’s annual Tuesday night series, beginning July 7 with Tiffany Lin and continuing July 14 with James Brinson, July 21 with Tom and Paige Gurin and July 28 with St. Thomas’ resident carillonneur Lisa Lonie.
Lonie has been overseeing the popular warm weather music sessions for the past two decades, and she designs each year’s program around themes that have ranged from movie hits to 2019’s focus on female carillonneurs and composers. Not surprisingly, the pandemic influenced this year’s repertoire.
More specifically, Lonie says she was inspired by “the motto ‘we’re in this together.’”
“My program will focus on music that speaks to helping and supporting one another…tunes such as ‘Stand by Me,’ ‘Lean on Me,’ ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ and ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters,’” she explains. “… also new carillon compositions from Joey Brink, the carillonneur of the mammoth Rockefeller Carillon in Chicago, as well as a beautiful suite based on ‘O Waly, Waly,’ commissioned by Princeton University.”
Lonie, who doubles as Princeton’s carillonneur, is particularly excited by July 21’s appearance by Fort Washington native Tom Gurin and wife Paige. Gurin studied music composition at Yale University where he and Paige both belonged to the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs. Gurin became a member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America in 2017.
“Even though Tom grew up in Fort Washington – very close to St. Thomas’ – he wasn’t introduced to the carillon until he attended Yale,” Lonie says. “And it was through the carillon that he met his wife, Paige. After he graduated Yale, he and Paige attended the Royal Carillon School of Belgium, and both graduated last year. They returned to the United States last summer, and Tom has just (taken) an assistant carillonneur position at Duke University. I was so impressed with his compositional skills that I commissioned a piece from him, which has been published.”
Gurin’s St. Thomas’ program is divided into four sections and will include “Polovtsian Dances,” “Fantasia on Ite Missa Est,” “Amazing Grace,” “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Things with Feathers,” “La Vie en Rose,” “Slow Dance,” “Edelweiss,” “Image No. 2,” “Won’t Say I’m in Love,” “Send in the Clowns” and “Married Life.” He’ll perform the last three as well as “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “La Vie en Rose” with his wife.
Lonie believes the 2020 concerts – as well as the many informal recitals she’s performed throughout the pandemic – “speak to the peace and unity music can bring to people.”
“There’s just something about the bells…the way they resonate in the open air…that can be so calming,” she says. “I think the most significant thing that I’ve been doing – musically, since the pandemic – is continuing to ring the bells. The music never stopped or needed to be altered in any way. Here at St. Thomas’, we have 48 acres of open space. So, there’s plenty of room for people to spread
out and socially distance… or even listen as they walk our labyrinth.
“The church has been doing online Sunday services, but I’ve been up in the tower, playing the carillon every Sunday. And every Sunday at 11 a.m., a nice little group shows up to listen. Now, as people slowly start to come outside again, they can listen from their porch or walk in Fort Washington Park…and still hear the music.”
The 48 bronze bells in
the St. Thomas’ Catherine Colt Dickey Memorial Carillon were cast in The Netherlands. The largest weighs 3,300 pounds; its smallest, 24 pounds. The bells are stationary, and Lonie produces music by using her fists and feet to activate batons and pedals attached to clappers that move against the bells’ lips.
St. Thomas’ Church is located on Camp Hill Road at the intersection of Bethlehem Pike and Route 73. Its free carillon concerts begin at 7 p.m., rain or shine, and are open to the public.