Stichting Torenmuziek Moordrecht

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 Waard 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)

The chrurch tower was dressed in scaffolding in 2018, afther the weather vane was blown of the tower in the January storm.

We hoped we could organise a festive re-opening in september that year, but more restoration was necessary so that took a year longer.

Because of this event there where only 3 concerts in 2018:

• 24th of June 2018: Chardy van Riel played as a guest carillonneur
• 7th of September 2018: Ensemble of Maarten on the carillon and KVT Harmony during the village fair
• 15th of September 2018: Boudewijn Zwart with Campana Concort in the village church

2017 was a busy year for the carillon with a series of concerts in various shapes. The carillon played together with keyboard, accompanied a singer, played together with Harmony ‘Kunst na den Arbeid’ and was part of the ensemble ‘Campana Consort’. Besides that many solo concerts took place. Read it all in the 2017 programme booklet.

The first concert in 2016 took place at July the 2nd, where Midori Conneman-Maeno and Maarten Siebel played together on the piano and the carillon. Later that year the Moordrecht’s Carillon Festival took place with guest musicians Gideon Bodden, Boudewijn Zwart and KVT Harmony ‘Kunst na den Arbeid’. Download the flyer here

The fifth Moordrecht’s Carillon Festival 2015 consists of 6 concerts: three by well-known Dutch carillonneurs (one concert in conjunction with a harpsichordist and a hoboist), three by local musicians of which one solo concert on ‘Monument Day’ (September 12).

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Photos copyrighted ED DIERSMANN