Visitors to the campus quadrangle tonight are going to be awed. So will Bereans for miles around the campus. Renowned carillon performers Richard Gegner and Richard Watson will be dancing on the batons and pedals in Draper tower starting at 7:30.
Richard D. Gegner is Carillonneur at The Mary M. Emery Memorial Carillon in Mariemont, Ohio. He became affiliated with The Emery Memorial Carillon in 1967 as an Assistant Carillonneur and was appointed Carillonneur in 1972. Mr. Gegner became a carillonneur member of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America in 1971 and served as Corresponding Secretary and on the Guild Board of Directors for 18 years. Mr. Gegner is coordinator of Carillon Activities for The Thomas J. Emery Memorial and has presented carillon recitals at Riverside Church in New York City, The University of Toronto in Canada, Alfred University (NY), Calvary Episcopal Church (Williamsville, NY), The Deeds Carillon (Dayton, Ohio), The Crystal Cathedral (Garden Grove, CA), Christ Church Cranbrook (MI), and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI). Besides his duties at The Emery Memorial Carillon, Mr. Gegner is Organist and Choir Director at the United Church of Christ in Oakley, and Carillonneur for The Carroll Chimes Bell Tower in Covington, Kentucky’s Mainstrasse.
Richard M. Watson, born in 1946 in Madison, Wisconsin, received his musical training privately and at the University of Wisconsin; while at the University, he served as assistant University Carillonneur (1963-1968). He was appointed University Carillonneur and Lecturer in Music at Samford university, Birmingham, Alabama in 1968. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1973 to become director of the Cast Bell Chime and Carillon Division of The I. T. Verdin Company, and has been a full time designer of carillons and chimes and consultant on bell tuning and acoustics since that time. With William C. Meeks, he founded Meeks, Watson & Company in 1991; the firm, located in Georgetown, Ohio, is engaged in bell founding, chime and carillon building and renovation work. Mr. Watson has been active as a guest carillon recitalist since 1966; he became a Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America in that year, has served as a director of this professional organization, and has presented recitals and papers at several of the Guild’s annual Congresses. He made a presentation for the Bell Founders’ Forum during the 2000 World Congress of Carillonneurs in Springfield, Illinois, joining bell founders from Holland, France and Norway. He received the Berkeley Medal in 1983 for outstanding service to the art of the carillon. Mr. Watson became Carillonneur at The Emery Memorial Carillon joining Mr. Gegner in 2005, and also serves as coordinator of Carillon Maintenance. Mr. Watson is organist of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Cincinnati, and director of music for Synods of the Anglican Province of America.
Related Links:
November 9, 2010 — Berea College to Rename Carillon after John Courter
August 6, 2012 — Program Poster