- 08/07/2020
- Maastrichter
Frank Steijns (André Rieu Orchestra) celebrates 25 years of city carillonneur Heerlen with ten anniversary concerts that will take place in August (including the youngest carillon player in the world).
The concerts below are allowed to continue if people keep their distance. Emile Roemer is delighted, as is dean Hans Bouman and theater director Bas Schoonderwoerd. The anniversary of the city carillonneur draws people from all over South Limburg to Heerlen in August.
The Romanesque St. Pancratius Church in the center of Heerlen has one of the most beautiful and modern carillons in the Netherlands. The people of Heerlen, together with the State Mines, donated this to the city on 2 August 1964. The first carillonneur Harry Lückers was succeeded five years later by Mathieu Steijns, who was also a teacher at the Heerlen music school at the time. He passed the baton to his son Frank Steijns 25 years ago.
Frank supervised the renovation in 2011/12, added two bells and DSM’s super-strong Dyneema fiber has been driving the 49-bell carillon ever since. The link with the mining past was thus strengthened; now five years after the Year of Mines M2015, Frank also commemorates the coal mining heritage. Frank Steijns (violinist and arranger with the André Rieu Orchestra) also plays the carillon in Maastricht and Weert and often takes his mobile carillon with him on André Rieu concert tours. This makes him the most playing carillonneur in the world.
Frank Steijns is celebrating his silver city carillon anniversary in Heerlen with ten concerts and special guests. Concerts from the church tower are allowed to take place because there is sufficient space on the adjacent squares in the Heerlen city center. Mayor Emile Roemer, dean Hans Bouman and Parkstad Limburg Theater director Bas Schoonderwoerd embrace this unique initiative that supports performing artists – especially now in this bizarre time. The public can sit safely on the terraces of the cafes and restaurants or listen while standing from the squares: Bongerd, Pancratiusplein and Wilhelminaplein. The one and a half meter distance standard is easy to guarantee.
One of his guests is the youngest carillon player in the world, the Belgian Elien Van den Broeck. Elien is a Belgian karate champion, who started playing carillon at the age of nine and is now – 7 years later – already the regular player of the carillon of the Abbey of Postel (Belgium), which has been the stopping place of the Norbertines since the 12th century. Frank also invites one of the Netherlands’ greatest violin talents, Enzo Kok (winner of the Princess Christina Competition), among several other guests. Beethoven comes along (in connection with the Beethoven year, the 250th birthday), as well as J.S. Bach and Simon ten Holt; pop and jazz are also reviewed.
Sunday 9 August 3 pm – Guests: violinist Enzo Kok & clarinetist Emil Szarkowicz.
Thursday 13 August 7 pm – App Your Song (requests, solo Frank Steijns).
Sunday 16 August 3 pm – “t Bronze-green Carillon – accordionist Carlo Plaum.
Saturday, August 22, 1 p.m. – J.S. Bach (Frank Steijns, solo).
Saturday 29 August 7 pm – Canto Ostinato meets Jazz – Jeroen van Veen & Mike Del Ferro.
These concerts are taking place thanks to the support of Parkstad Limburg Theaters, Province of Limburg, Municipality of Heerlen, FSI Foundation, HeerlenMIJNstad, Rabobank, Cucina Italiana, SLIM Jazz & buro Marcel van der Heyden.
In short, Frank Steijns, with the help of these parties, treats South Limburg to a special concert series – completely corona-proof – in the center of Heerlen from the Pancratius Church Tower!
