SU Brown and Church Carillon Dedication Concert Features Carillonneur Joey Brink

SALISBURY, MD---One of the world’s leading young carillonneurs performs the dedication concert for Salisbury University’s new Brown and Church Carillon 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 6.

The public is invited to bring lawn chairs and blankets and sit under the stars to hear 29-year-old Joey Brink. Rain location is the fourth-floor Assembly Hall of the Patricia R. Guerrieri Academic Commons.

Brink is the first American to win what is widely considered to be the world’s most prestigious carillon competition: He earned first prize and the audience prize in 2014 at the International Queen Fabiola Carillon Competition in Belgium. The carillonneur has toured North America and Europe extensively as a performer. “Joey Brink is an internationally celebrated musician and teacher,” said Augusta Read Thomas, University of Chicago professor of composition. “His mature, creative, intelligent and engaging artistry will inspire people.”

In 2015, Brink became the sixth University Carillonneur in the history of the University of Chicago, where he performs daily on the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon at Rockefeller Chapel.

Brink said he gets in shape by climbing the carillon’s 542 steps each day. At SU, it will be somewhat easier: There are less than 90 from the fourth floor tower entrance to the performance chamber.

Though carillonneurs need an extensive background in music, they come from varied backgrounds. Brink began his carillon training as an undergraduate at Yale University, from which he holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering. His thesis focused on the design of realistic-touch practice carillon keyboards. After graduating from Yale in 2011, he was awarded a Belgian-American Educational Foundation fellowship to study at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium, from which he graduated with greatest distinction.

An award-winning carillon composer, he works with graduate composition students at Chicago. He released his first album, Letters from the Sky, in 2016.

Brink has prepared a one-hour program designed to appeal to all listeners. Selections include classics by Bach, Chopin and Puccini; film themes from Beauty and the Beast and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory; and even some Leonard Cohen.

Dedications of new carillons are rare and “I’m very honored to be playing,” Brink said. “This will be my first dedication recital, to both attend and perform!” Carillonneurs from throughout the mid-Atlantic have indicated they intend to attend.

The SU carillon was made possible by at $2.4 million gift from Delaware entrepreneur William Church, in memory of his long-time partner, Samuel Brown. Music lovers, both have been generous supporters of SU for many years. The two largest bells, weighing slightly under 2.5 tons each, are inscribed with their names.

Prior to the concert, a short dedication ceremony will honor them and the lights on the tower officially will be turned on. Admission to the concert is free and parking will be available at the Scarborough Student Leadership Center lot and others on main campus. Besides Red Square, seating will be available on the Campus Mall and Holloway Hall Lawn.

Crowning SU’s Patricia R. Guerrieri Academic Commons, the Brown and Church Carillon, with 48 bells and a four-octave range, is one of fewer than 200 traditional carillons in North America, according the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. This is the only one at a university in Maryland and one of only three in the state. Its 147-foot tower is believed to be the highest enclosed structure in Wicomico County.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.