2025-02-13 Memorial concert
From Jonathan Lehrer
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PROGRAM BELOW:
2/13/25: A Memorial Concert
Jon Lehrer, University Carillonist
Beaumont Tower, 1pm
Artist’s Note: This concert offers a reflective space rather than a scripted arc of emotions and tends towards the slow and contemplative. There is value in casual outdoor music and we needn’t make a concert hall of the circle. As with last year, arrive and depart when and how you wish. Listen, sit, walk, gaze, reflect, focus, drift; there is no one right way to attend and the music is here to serve you, not the reverse. Perhaps you’ll find something of value along the way.
I. Requiem
Da Pacem Domine Geert D’Hollander (b. 1965)
A Somber Pavan Ronald Barnes (1927-1997)
Cloudless Sky Naoko Tsujita (b. 1984)
Requiems honor the deceased and each piece in this section honors someone or someones we’ve lost. Da Pacem speaks generally of all who have died; A Somber Pavan, for one special person; and Cloudless Sky between them and perhaps closest to home, dedicated to those who died in a single tragic event.
The literal translation of requiem is rest, and survivors need rest as well. We bury the dead but hopefully not the difficult parts of our inner lives. May this music and beautiful natural setting offer you some rest today.
II. Cycles and Memories
Andante Espressivo from Concerto Grosso I Ronald Barnes
Memory Liesbeth Janssens (b. 1971)
Fields of Gold Sting (b. 1951) arr. J. Brink
Healing, relationships, and nature move in cycles rather than straight lines. Memory is an active dynamic process, shifting, rewriting, fading, and returning over time. We reflect on both phenomena in this segment.
Andante Espressivo repeats several times. One part is the same on every repetition, but the subsequent part shifts and evolves over the course of the piece. We return and return yet never to the exact same place.
Music can connect us to other times and places in our lives. Memory was the musical interlude for last year’s memorial service and most of us have not heard it at all since that ceremony. Perhaps part of you remembers it. What has unfolded since?
Fields of Gold was written about romantic love, but its themes of connection, transience, memory, yearning, and nostalgia can apply to any of our relations and losses. Grief reflects love for what we no longer have and memory, though bittersweet, can still be a gift. “You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley. You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we walk in fields of gold.”
III. Days and Dreams
Daydreaming Geert D’Hollander
Reverie Joey Brink (b. 1988)
Sonatine Stefano Colletti (b.1973)
Our days and our dreams are precious and get cut short far too often. These pieces invite remembrance and return. In this context, Daydreaming and Reverie are rather self-explanatory.
The Sonatine, with its A-BA form, has been likened to the cycle between daily life and sleep and dreams; but there is disagreement on which section represents waking life and which represents sleep. I find this fascinating. How often do we experience the same events with someone and yet understand them completely differently? And how often does that difference go completely unnoticed?
Our concert ends in a whisper, merging back into the ordinary soundscape of North Campus as we slowly transition to the rest of our day. Thank you for joining us. I hope this concert has been of service to you.
---
Jon Lehrer is the 6th University Carillonist of Michigan State University. A graduate of Yale University and the Royal Carillon School of Belgium, Jon is also a laureate of 5 international competitions for carillon: The Queen Fabiola Carillon Competition, three competitions of the Dutch Carillon Guild, and the Alexius Julien Baroque Competition. A regular on the international stage, he has also toured as a soloist on behalf of the Canada Council for the Arts and as an entertainer on the North American renaissance festival circuit. Jon was once a data scientist and cancer researcher but finds more meaning teaching the next generation of carillonists and creating moments of beauty for a busy university community.
2/13/25: A Memorial Concert
Jon Lehrer, University Carillonist
Beaumont Tower, 1pm
Artist’s Note: This concert offers a reflective space rather than a scripted arc of emotions and tends towards the slow and contemplative. There is value in casual outdoor music and we needn’t make a concert hall of the circle. As with last year, arrive and depart when and how you wish. Listen, sit, walk, gaze, reflect, focus, drift; there is no one right way to attend and the music is here to serve you, not the reverse. Perhaps you’ll find something of value along the way.
I. Requiem
Da Pacem Domine Geert D’Hollander (b. 1965)
A Somber Pavan Ronald Barnes (1927-1997)
Cloudless Sky Naoko Tsujita (b. 1984)
Requiems honor the deceased and each piece in this section honors someone or someones we’ve lost. Da Pacem speaks generally of all who have died; A Somber Pavan, for one special person; and Cloudless Sky between them and perhaps closest to home, dedicated to those who died in a single tragic event.
The literal translation of requiem is rest, and survivors need rest as well. We bury the dead but hopefully not the difficult parts of our inner lives. May this music and beautiful natural setting offer you some rest today.
II. Cycles and Memories
Andante Espressivo from Concerto Grosso I Ronald Barnes
Memory Liesbeth Janssens (b. 1971)
Fields of Gold Sting (b. 1951) arr. J. Brink
Healing, relationships, and nature move in cycles rather than straight lines. Memory is an active dynamic process, shifting, rewriting, fading, and returning over time. We reflect on both phenomena in this segment.
Andante Espressivo repeats several times. One part is the same on every repetition, but the subsequent part shifts and evolves over the course of the piece. We return and return yet never to the exact same place.
Music can connect us to other times and places in our lives. Memory was the musical interlude for last year’s memorial service and most of us have not heard it at all since that ceremony. Perhaps part of you remembers it. What has unfolded since?
Fields of Gold was written about romantic love, but its themes of connection, transience, memory, yearning, and nostalgia can apply to any of our relations and losses. Grief reflects love for what we no longer have and memory, though bittersweet, can still be a gift. “You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley. You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we walk in fields of gold.”
III. Days and Dreams
Daydreaming Geert D’Hollander
Reverie Joey Brink (b. 1988)
Sonatine Stefano Colletti (b.1973)
Our days and our dreams are precious and get cut short far too often. These pieces invite remembrance and return. In this context, Daydreaming and Reverie are rather self-explanatory.
The Sonatine, with its A-BA form, has been likened to the cycle between daily life and sleep and dreams; but there is disagreement on which section represents waking life and which represents sleep. I find this fascinating. How often do we experience the same events with someone and yet understand them completely differently? And how often does that difference go completely unnoticed?
Our concert ends in a whisper, merging back into the ordinary soundscape of North Campus as we slowly transition to the rest of our day. Thank you for joining us. I hope this concert has been of service to you.
---
Jon Lehrer is the 6th University Carillonist of Michigan State University. A graduate of Yale University and the Royal Carillon School of Belgium, Jon is also a laureate of 5 international competitions for carillon: The Queen Fabiola Carillon Competition, three competitions of the Dutch Carillon Guild, and the Alexius Julien Baroque Competition. A regular on the international stage, he has also toured as a soloist on behalf of the Canada Council for the Arts and as an entertainer on the North American renaissance festival circuit. Jon was once a data scientist and cancer researcher but finds more meaning teaching the next generation of carillonists and creating moments of beauty for a busy university community.
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