This year the carillon will again be transformed into a huge jukebox for an afternoon. Carillonneur Richard de Waardt will bring an impressive list of songs that he can play on the baton keyboard of our carillon. We invite you to request a song from this list at the bottom of the tower, just like with a real jukebox. You can make your request known to Richard by holding up signs with the relevant sequence number towards the tower.
The Jukebox will be waiting on August 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM.
The concert season will start this year on Saturday, May 24. We will welcome the Kamer Orkest Midden Holland (KOMH). They will play together with Boudewijn Zwart. Boudewijn will bring his ‘living room carillon’ to play. Living room and carillon are two words that you don’t often see used together in one sentence, but here they come together in the form of a mobile carillon.
An earlier message already stated that the carillon will be played on Open Monument Day (September 14) from 10:00 to 11:00. In collaboration with the Historische vereniging Moordrecht and Scouting Moordrecht, the church tower will be opened to anyone who dares to climb it. You can enjoy a unique view from 10:00 to 16:00.
Two weeks later, on September 28, the concert season will be concluded with a closing concert in the church. A mobile carillon will be used for a concert with piano, cello and gamba. This will be a worldly concert, because the pianist is American, the cellist Italian and the gamba player French. A starting time has also been decided in the meantime. The concert starts at 20:00, but from around 19:30 people are welcome to come in.
We would also like to mention that we have applied for and obtained the status of cultural ANBI. Read more on the page “Donations and finances“.
On Saturday 24 August, Boudewijn Zwart played the piano in front of the door and Midori Conneman-Maeno played the carillon upstairs in the tower. However, Galerie Mevrouw Boon has mobilised a small army of creative minds for this day for ‘Pop-Up Paris’ and so a choir group settled on the square in front of the church tower. Complete with an accordionist. On the spot it was suggested to make music together and so it happened during this sunny afternoon in Moordrecht. The accordion was also amplified and so we had three instruments and a choir to play together.
Carillonneur Richard de Waardt has used his repertoire to let the residents of Moordrecht choose what they want to hear. Visitors could select a song from the impressive list and hold up the corresponding signs, after which Richard played the chosen song on the carillon. A jukebox the size of a church tower! We also received a visit from Gouwe IJssel News, who wrote a nice article and made a beautiful video report of this concert:
Additionally, more information has become available about the upcoming concerts:
Saturday, August 24 between 3:30 PM and 4:30 PM, Boudewijn Zwart and Midori Conneman-Maeno will perform together on keyboard and carillon. This concert marks the conclusion of various cultural (painting) activities on the Church Square.
Saturday, September 14 between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM, Midori Conneman-Maeno will play the carillon. This also marks the start of the Open Monument Day, during which the historical association of Moordrecht will open the church tower for visitors.
The date for the final concert of the year has also been set.
On Saturday evening, September 28, carillonneur Boudewijn Zwart will bring his ‘living room carillon’ to close off the season with a concert in the village church. He will be joined by a musical collaboration with an American pianist, an Italian cellist, and a French viola da gamba player. A worldly concert indeed!
Stichting Torenmuziek Moordrecht has exciting plans for the upcoming carillon season. We will delight Moordrecht with a series of concerts on one of the largest instruments in existence: the Carillon. Below is an overview, and a detailed table of events is available under the section labeled “Activities.”
Saturday, June 15: The municipality of Zuidplas will welcome new residents with a bus tour through the (currently) four villages of Zuidplas. In Moordrecht, they will be greeted with a concert by Midori Conneman-Maeno.
Saturday, June 22: We welcome guest carillonneur André Kukolja to our carillon.
Saturday, July 20: Richard de Waardt will showcase his talents, turning the carillon into a jukebox. Yes, you read that correctly! Choose a song from the list, and the church tower will play it for you. Curious children may even peek around the corner to see inside the tower.
Saturday, August 24: Various activities are planned in Moordrecht, and we aim to provide musical support. Details are yet to be determined.
Saturday, September 14: Open Monument Day. We are in discussions with the historical association in Moordrecht to potentially open the church tower to the public. Music will also be played.
Sometime in October: We plan to conclude the season with a closing concert. Stay tuned for further details.
On August 26, 2023, we had not one, but two concerts planned! Two concerts with a completely different approach. At the end of the morning, we were able to welcome Frank Steijns on the carillon and Jitse Zonneveld on electric guitar from Limburg. In the evening, we were able to enjoy sultry Mediterranean summer sounds from Boudewijn Zwart on keyboard, Midori Conneman on the carillon and Gerard Spijkerman on the clarinet.
Frank and Jitse started off calmly with Mediterranean numbers, but then moved on to the heavier work. It seems almost impossible to combine metal/hard rock with a carillon, but Frank and Jitse have made a number of classic rock songs suitable for a combination of carillon and electric guitar. A fun fact is that every carillon is unique and they have to ‘transpose’ each song to make it sound good. This also applies to our carillon in Moordrecht. Below is a video from the perspective of the carillonneur and one from the guitarist.
Against all expectations of the rain radar, we were able to enjoy a sunny evening, fitting for the conclusion of Mediterranean Moordrecht. Gerard, Boudewijn, and Midori provided a full evening of dreamy music.
In the video below, you can clearly hear how the three artists with completely different instruments complement each other and also how they fully utilize the volume range.
Extra bonus info: Normally, no one can see this, but here we see the carillon up close in action. The carillon is located on the Hollandse IJssel side of the church tower (right in the video) and right next to it is the cabin with the stick keyboard (left in the video, not in view).
On July 1, Midori Conneman-Maeno and Boudewijn Zwart played the opening concert of Mediterraans Moordrecht together. Boudewijn on the piano on the ground floor and Midori on the carillon, but clearly visible to the public through TV and video link.
Boudewijn and Midori have taken us to the Mediterranean Sea with an extensive repertoire of sounds. In between, Boudewijn also taught us all about the how and why of carillons in bell towers. Carillons originally had the purpose of drawing people’s attention to the fact that the time is going to be indicated by the hour strikes. A well-known melody that was used for this was the ‘Westminster Chimes’ of the parliament building in Westminster:
Over the centuries wealthy cities have competed to build increasingly prestigious carillons, many of which are still in use today.
Another fun fact: the sound of the piano is amplified by speakers at the top of the tower, next to the carillon itself. If we were to place the loudspeakers downstairs, the height of the tower would cause an audible delay between the two instruments!
On Saturday afternoon, August 12, it was Richard de Waardt’s turn to perform his skills on the carillon. Richard is the carillonneur of the Roterdam City Hall and the Laurenskerk. This carillonneur knows how to get the carillon to do his bidding; From Bach to Coldplay, from Duncan Laurence to Andre Hazes and from Sela to Ramses Shaffy. The nice thing was that the audience could choose songs; Richard has practically transformed the carillon into a real Jukebox! The audience was allowed to choose a song from the list and hold that song up to the bell tower to ‘select’ their song.
For the 2023 season we still have the final concert of Mediterraans Moordrecht planned on August 26, with artists both in the afternoon and in the evening. Come and listen!
There are plenty of plans for the carillon this summer. An overview of the planned concerts for 2023 can be found under the heading ‘Activities’. Keep an eye on this section for additional concerts and times. Below is a selection of what to expect:
On Saturday, July 1st, Mediterraans Moordrecht will kick off with an evening concert by Boudewijn Zwart, who may even bring a guest artist along. Hopefully, the Mediterranean weather will also be present!
On Saturday, August 12th, Richard de Waardt will transform the carillon into a true jukebox with his broad repertoire. Visitors can request songs from street level by holding up signs for Richard, who will be playing the baton keyboard up in the tower.
On Saturday, August 26th, carillonneur Frank Steijns and guitarist Jitse Zonneveld from far-off Limburg will close out Mediterraans Moordrecht with a final concert. This duo is best known for their fantastic cover of Mötorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’ on the carillon in Weert, but they will prove that they have much more to offer in Moordrecht, so don’t miss out!
From 20:00 on that day, Boudewijn Zwart and Midori Conneman-Maeno will provide a fairytale summer evening concert.
The organizers of Mediterranean Moordrecht have won the municipality of Zuidplas culture prize 2022 for their efforts to bathe Moordrecht in a Mediterranean atmosphere with a wide range of activities and decorations. Part of this prize was a cheque that they can spend on a cultural charity within the municipality. We were pleasantly surprised to hear that the organizers of Mediterranean Moordrecht endorsed the Stichting Torenmuziek Moordrecht as payee. At a regular meeting of the stichting, the organizers personally handed over the check.
We would like to thank the organization of Mediterranean Moordrecht and also the Stichting Cultureel Netwerk Zuidplas and will use the cheque to organise a great activity in 2023.