Stichting Torenmuziek Moordrecht

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.

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.

In 2022, the carillon can be heard regularly again over the Moordrecht roofs. Our ‘house carillonneur’ Midori Conneman regularly takes place behind the baton keyboard and former carillonneur Maarten Siebel also regularly puts the carillon to work from Berlin with new sounds via the carillon computer. In addition, the following scheduled events took place:

Wednesday, April 27, Midori Conneman played on King’s Day prior to the aubade.

Saturday, June 18, Midori Conneman played during the Moordrecht fair.

On Saturday, August 20, Boudewijn Zwart, one of the Netherlands’ most famous carillonneurs (also pianist), together with our own carillonneur, Midori Connenan, concluded the first event Saturday during Mediterras Moordrecht in a special way. With Boudewijn at street level behind the piano and Midori high up in the tower behind the carillon, the two played Mediterranean music together. The dreamy sounds sounded through the streets and over the roofs of Moordrecht.

On Saturday September 3, Boudewijn Zwart (piano), Wim Ruitenbeek (carillon) and Hans Broekhuijzen (saxophone) played together the final chord of Mediterrean Moordrecht 2022. The hour-long concert, in which the three musicians (literally) played at different heights, became – how appropriate also – closed with the melancholy ‘Hijo de la luna’ (‘Son of the moon’) by the Spanish band Mecano.

Saturday 10 September Midori played ‘Kunst Na De Arbeid’ together with Harmonie during open monument day

Friday, October 14, about 75 visitors were able to enjoy beautiful music in the Dorpskerk. Boudewijn Zwart not only brought along beautiful instruments (his chest organ and chamber carillon), but he was also accompanied by organist Gerben Budding, oboist Theo-Hans Kuijvenhoven and cellist Judith Groen. The passion for music and for the extraordinary instruments drove this fun and beautiful music evening.

On Wednesday, October 26, the carillon played together with the church organ. Kees, the regular organist from Moordrecht played the organ together with a guest organist and Midori played the carillon. Below you’ll find an impression of the organ playing.

In 2022, the carillon can be heard regularly again over the Moordrecht roofs. Our ‘house carillonneur’ Midori Conneman regularly takes place behind the baton keyboard and former carillonneur Maarten Siebel also regularly puts the carillon to work from Berlin with new sounds via the carillon computer. In addition, the following scheduled events took place:

Wednesday, April 27, Midori Conneman played on King’s Day prior to the aubade.

Saturday, June 18, Midori Conneman played during the Moordrecht fair.

On Saturday, August 20, Boudewijn Zwart, one of the Netherlands’ most famous carillonneurs (also pianist), together with our own carillonneur, Midori Connenan, concluded the first event Saturday during Mediterras Moordrecht in a special way. With Boudewijn at street level behind the piano and Midori high up in the tower behind the carillon, the two played Mediterranean music together. The dreamy sounds sounded through the streets and over the roofs of Moordrecht.

On Saturday September 3, Boudewijn Zwart (piano), Wim Ruitenbeek (carillon) and Hans Broekhuijzen (saxophone) played together the final chord of Mediterrean Moordrecht 2022. The hour-long concert, in which the three musicians (literally) played at different heights, became – how appropriate also – closed with the melancholy ‘Hijo de la luna’ (‘Son of the moon’) by the Spanish band Mecano.

Saturday 10 September Midori played ‘Kunst Na De Arbeid’ together with Harmonie during open monument day

Friday, October 14, about 75 visitors were able to enjoy beautiful music in the Dorpskerk. Boudewijn Zwart not only brought along beautiful instruments (his chest organ and chamber carillon), but he was also accompanied by organist Gerben Budding, oboist Theo-Hans Kuijvenhoven and cellist Judith Groen. The passion for music and for the extraordinary instruments drove this fun and beautiful music evening.

On Wednesday, October 26, the carillon played together with the church organ. Kees, the regular organist from Moordrecht played the organ together with a guest organist and Midori played the carillon. Below you’ll find an impression of the organ playing.

In August, the carillon helped to give Moordrecht a Mediterranean atmosphere.

On September 11, it was open monument day and the tower and the carillon were open to the public. Visitors were allowed to climb the tower and the bravest among us could enjoy the view from the tower wreath. Of course, the carillon was also played on this monument day! Carillonneur Richard de Waardt let visiting children play on the carillon and turned the tower into a real jukebox. At the entrance to the tower, visitors were allowed to look up their favorite song from a list of 100 available songs. They could hold up signs with this number so that Richard could see the number through the reverberation holes and look it up in an impressive pile of sheet music. Click the lists below for a large version.

Children working on the carillon under the guidance of Richard:

On September 18, the carillonneurs Midori Conneman-Maeno and Boudewijn Zwart gave a concert; Midori on the carillon and Boudewijn on the piano at the entrance. Both are connected via microphone/headset to enable interplay. See the video below for an impression:

Below they jointly perform Louis Armstrong’s “Wonderfull World”.

As we know there has been an abrupt end to the legendary Dutch rockband Golden Earring because George Kooymans can not perform any longer because of the motor neuron disease ALS. A great and spectacular farewell concert was unfortunately no longer possible.

Instead of a farewell concert the loyal fanbase started an initiative to play Golden Earring songs throughout the Netherlands on several carillons, as well as ours. In Moordrecht we played the song “That Day”, a recording can be played below.

On the 25th of July 2020 Richard de Waardt played requests. Requests could be made at the jukebox on the Kerkplein.

Midori Conneman played on Saturday the 29th of August together with Boudewijn Zwart on keyboard.

The season was completed on Saturday the 12th of September with the Beiaard-PLUS concert by Wim Ruitenbeek (carillonneur); Rudolf Weges (trumpet); Boudewijn Zwart (piano)

In January 2019 we introduced ourselves to the town council with a short pitch.

We outlined the foundations’ activities with this powerpoint presentation.

In September the spire was re-opened on ‘open monumentendag’ by  councilor Jan Verbeek. Our announcement can be seen in the flyer which we distributed. The newspaper AD Groene Hart made a big announcement and Hart van Holland wrote a lovely report of the event. (See below, click to enlarge)

The series of concerts was concluded on the 26th of October by Boudewijn Zwart in collaboration with Gerard and Johanneke de Wit. (see the Poster of this concert)