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Summer 2024 Community Carillon Recitals

In summertime, there is beauty in the bells - as we present our series of Carillon Community Recitals. Pack a lawn chair or blanket and be there "with bells on" when our Carillon Recitals tower over Yonge and St. Clair. Download the recital program.

Guest Carillonneurs
June 12 at 1:30 p.m. Minako Uchino
June 19 at 12:30 p.m. Kimberly Schafer
July 3, at 12:30 p.m. Elisa Tersigni
August 14, 12:30 p.m. Deborah Henning

BIOGRAPHIES

Dr. Minako Uchino
Minako Uchino began her music studies at age 4 in Tokyo and started playing organ in grade 8. She pursued a medical career, completing her training as a radiation oncologist. In 2009, while studying medical education at the University of Toronto,

Dr. Uchino discovered the carillon at Soldiers' Tower and began studying under Roy Lee.
She has played recitals in Toronto, Ottawa, and Japan, including for the 150th Anniversary of Friendship between Japan and Belgium recital at the Belgian Embassy of Tokyo in 2017. In 2019, she became the first Japanese member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. Since 2022, Dr. Uchino has studied carillon, organ and figured base full-time at Carleton University in Ottawa. She is currently at the Royal Carillon School in Belgium, pursuing her passion for music.

Dr. Kimberly Schafer
Dr. Kimberly Schafer is a dedicated carillon performer, bell researcher, and bell advocate. She has performed the carillon in residence at The University of Michigan, The University of Texas, Princeton University, The University of Chicago, and St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church in
Chicago and performed guest recitals in the United States, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.

Her interest in the history of bells led her to translate André Lehr's Campanology Textbook into English and write her musicological PhD dissertation at The University of Texas at Austin on carillons at American universities. In 2023, she served as the consultant to St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church in Chicago on the complete renovation of their historic Gillett & Johnston carillon to much acclaim. She currently serves as the editor of the GCNA Bulletin, which is the premier research campanology journal in North America.

Dr. Elisa Tersigni
Dr. Elisa Tersigni is the Wayne C. Vance Carillonist at the Metropolitan United Church. She began learning carillon in 2014 while completing her PhD in Reformation literature at the University of Toronto. In 2020, she was elected a Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) and won a Barnes Grant from the GCNA for her research promoting diversity and equity in the North American carillon community. Elisa has performed recitals in Belgium, Canada, Japan, the UK, and the US, and can be heard playing every Sunday on the Metropolitan's carillon.

Deborah Hennig
Deborah Hennig has a background as a classical pianist and a degree in Piano Performance, both of which have been influential in her carillon playing. Deborah discovered the carillon in 2012 and was instantly intrigued by the instrument's unique musical and technical possibilities. She began lessons with Dr. Andrea McCrady at the Peace Tower Carillon in Ottawa, Canada, but her studies were soon interrupted when Deborah moved from Ottawa to Hong Kong. In late 2019, she relocated to Belgium so that she could resume her carillon studies full-time at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen.

Deborah graduated with High Distinction from the Royal Carillon School in September 2021 and achieved her Carillonneur accreditation with the Guild of Carillonneurs of North America the same year. She has given numerous carillon concerts in Belgium, The Netherlands and North America.

Deborah moved back to Canada in 2022 and is now a resident of Stratford, Ontario. Her professional career was in marketing and communications for performing arts organizations across Canada and in Hong Kong.

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