Monday morning I cleaned like mad, then joined several other American carillonneurs at the final concert of the Mechelen season. It was a very important night and a great way to end the tour.
First, a great concert alternating between jazz on carillon and a live jazz quartet on the ground...
Then, a huge ceremony afterwards celebrating a bunch of big transitions and honors:
-Eddy was finishing his first season as city carillonneur.
-Jo was retiring from the school directorship after 30 years of service.
-Koen was stepping up as the new director.
-Richard was graduating.
-I was celebrating 2 contest victories.
-Geert was celebrating (secretly at the time, though now its public) winning a huge composition contest.
-We were all in the midst of a years worth of celebrations for the 500th anniversary of our instrument.
There was a reception, speeches, ceremonies of transition. Carillonneurs from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and the US were in attendance for the historical event. Afterwards, Gunter, Eddy, Kenneth, and I went out for Frittuur after the ceremony to continue the celebrations, and probably stayed out until 2am.
Tuesday day I was up early shopping for all sorts of can't-get-that-at-home stuff. This included taking one of the new American arrivals out to Antwerp to experience the trains, the city, and the famous dutch herring (and kibbeling and gebbaken mosselen) tradition.It also included raiding the local grocery store.
Tuesday night I had a small party with friends, turkish tea-house style. Below Renaat helps me prepare fresh mint tea for Another Wonderful 2am Night.
And Wednesday early morning, I began my trip home bringing another successful summer carillon season to a close.
Its been a good tour. A relaxed set of concerts, two weeks of new-relationship-team-travel adventure, and two competition victories. The message I'm getting from these contests and their results feels pretty clear: "You're doing well. You've mastered this stage of things (beating the competition that happens to be around at them moment). There is a higher stage (mastery; sustainable internal motivation; etc.) out there. Its time to step into the next chapter."
To close out this chapter, I give you one last slideshow, with a collection pictures I (and Shani) took from within various carillon towers. The theme here is playing with elements of the carillon or of the tower itself as a frame through which to view the world below.
I call it “Windows on the World”. Enjoy!
1 comment:
you're such a fancy video maker :) :) super nice pics! oh, and does the glass carillon have bells made out of glass or is it the tower made of glass?
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