Berea College’s Summer Series of Carillon Concerts opens with a performance by guest artist Roy Kroesen, carillonneur of the Centralia Carillon (Illinois). The free concert will be held on Saturday, July 8, 2017 at 7:30 pm (EST) from the John Courter Carillon at Berea College. Guests unable to attend the concert can watch it live via the livestream link here:
https://livestream.com/accounts/5135608/events/7555784
(Note – if asked for an account, simply create a guest account. There is no fee to watch this event.)
Kroesen, born in Enschede, The Netherlands in 1967, was appointed carillonneur of the Centralia Carillon in 2016. He studied organ at the Conservatory in Arnhem, with Cor van Wageningen and Theo Jellema. He studied carillon at the Netherlands Carillon School in Amersfoort with Bernard Winsemius and Henk Verhoef, and also at the Royal Carillon School Jef Denijn in Belgium with Geert D’hollander.
Kroesen holds a master’s degree in carillon, and organ and choir conducting degrees. In the Netherlands he served as a municipal carillonneur in Zwolle, Hoogeveen, Arnhem, and Huissen. He was organist in Hilversum at the Apostolic Society and choir conductor. He served as chairman of the Music Committee of the NKV, (Netherlands Carillon Association). He is carillon- and organ teacher and arranger of music for carillon. Kroesen, who has played numerous carillon recitals in the U.S., Europe, Japan and the island of Curaçao, has won prizes at several international carillon contests. Together with the Zwolse Beiaard Stichting, (Zwolle Carillon Foundation), he organized among others two contests for carillon duet and a carillon composition contest, held in Zwolle.
For the concert at Berea, Kroesen will play the 56-bell carillon located in the Draper Tower on the Berea College Quadrangle. Berea’s carillon, the largest in Kentucky, was named after the late John Courter, an internationally acclaimed carillonneur and former member of Berea College’s music faculty.