Summer Carillon recitals announced

The 56-bell Memorial Carillon on campus will be featured in a series of recitals on Sunday afternoons, from June 26-Aug. 7, and Thursday evenings, from July 7-28.

University Carillonneur Lyle Anderson and several guests will perform hour-long programs for the benefit of Madison residents and visitors to campus. Although the bells may be heard for a considerable radius from the bell tower, the overlook opposite Washburn Observatory may offer the ideal listening spot, affording stunning views of Lake Mendota and Picnic Point.

The Web site further offers indexes and rankings of traditional North American carillons by state or province, city, number of bells, year of completion and several other criteria. At 56 bells, UW–Madison’s instrument is tied for 25th largest with seven others in North America. More than 140 other carillons range downward from 55 to 23 bells, the minimum qualifying number.

The UW Memorial Carillon originally comprised 25 bells and was installed in March 1936. Further additions and replacements of some bells took place in 1937, 1963 and 1973. It was in 1973 that the present configuration of 56 bells was reached.

W. Norris Wentworth was the university’s first “player of the bells” through 1941. A succession of others followed until John Wright Harvey received the first faculty appointment as university carillonneur in 1960. Following Harvey’s retirement in 1984, Lyle Anderson became carillonneur in 1986.

Only three carillons are located in Wisconsin; the other two are at the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Green Bay and Marquette University in Milwaukee. Marquette’s carillonneur, Mark Konewko, performs two of the recitals here this summer.

The UW–Madison Memorial Carillon is located on Observatory Drive, between Ingraham Hall and the Social Science Building. For further information, contact Anderson at (608) 219-5291, ljanders@wisc.edu.

The schedule for the Sunday recitals, which begin at 3 p.m., includes: June 26 and July 24 by Konewko; and July 3, 10, 17 and 31 and Aug. 7 by Anderson.

The schedule for Thursday recitals, which begin at 7:30 p.m., includes: July 7 by Suzanne Magassy, Canberra, Australia; July 14 by Anderson; July 21 by Jeff Daehn, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.; and July 28 by Anderson.