Frank Steijns violin and bells (page 5)
May 1st 2018, Frank on Facebook: Sanctuary Song: From fear to joy. I've been composing quite a few pieces by now, for carillon and together with André Rieu. But now, my first big composition for orchestra, choir and soloists will be performed on June 1, 2018 in Maastricht! It has become quite a big performance with over 220 musicians on stage. I guess that's what you could expect when you ask somebody from André's orchestra! The piece is composed for the big festival 'Heiligdomsvaart' (a religious festival, dating back to the Middle Ages) which takes place every seven years in Maastricht. It is about the life of Saint Servaas, the patron of Maastricht. So, if you don't want to wait until 2025 to hear it, book your tickets online now! (See the link below).
Article in Chapeau Magazine: No less than 220 musicians from the three countries of the Euregio on one big stage as accompanists of international opera stars, among them Marjon Lambriks and Huub Claessens. The world premiere of the Sanctuary Song, a composition by the Maastricht composer Frank Steijns, on June 1st at 7 PM in the St. Theresia Church on the Tongerseweg in Maastricht, promises to be a special spectacle. The program of the “Groot Heiligdomsvaart Concert” includes works by Georg Friedrich Händel (Music for the Royal Fireworks), Ennio Morricone (The Mission) and Carl Otto Nicolai (Messe in D-Dur). But the absolute highlight is the Sanctuary Song which is being performed for the first time. This song consists of four different parts. Each part contains a scene from the life of Saint Servaas (the patron of Maastricht). The atmosphere symbolically goes from fear to joy. The work is composed by Frank Steijns, city carillonneur in Maastricht, Weert and Heerlen. In addition, he is known as a violinist in the Johann Strauss Orchestra by André Rieu. Tickets for this very special concert are on sale, Click HERE. € 12,50. Start: 7 PM. Koop tickets=Buy tickets. Bestel=Order. Theme of the 2018 Sanctuary event is: “Do well, without looking back”. A theme that is tangible throughout the city. If everyone in this environment is merciful to the other, then the world becomes more beautiful. And so we are gradually building a culture of meeting.
Click HERE to go to Frank Steijns page 6. Click HERE to go to Frank Steijns, page 4.
Video by RTL Maastricht about the composition of the Sanctuary Song. The life of Saint Servaas in four parts: Anxiety- Sadness - Joy - Love. translation/subtitles: Ineke, John, Ruud.
Heiligdomsvaart procession. 2018.
Heiligdomsvaart concert St. Theresia Church, Maastricht.
June 3, 2018. Frank Steijns on Facebook: Last movement of my 'Sanctuary Song', composed for the Heiligdomsvaart, the religious festival in Maastricht that takes place every seven years. It was premiered last Friday by 220 youthful musicians of Amikejo, and opera stars Marjon Lambriks and Huub Claessens. Lyrics by Dutch poet Daan Doesborgh are not easily translated into English language. It starts with 'Hear, the Mother's Mother talks'. This is the 'Grandmother', the big bell of St. Servaas church in Maastricht. It was cast in 1515 by Moer (which means mother in old-Dutch). Grandmother speaks about the water source in Maastricht that Saint Servaas struck according to legend. You can hear the well depicted in the wind players of the orchestra. The message is that love conquers all fear and sorrow (depicted in the first movements of the composition). The motto of the Heiligdomsvaart is 'Do well and don't look back'. That's the conclusion of the song. Let's all be a source of love.
The ancient “Grandmother” bell (from 1515) is in the garden of the St. Servaas church in Maastricht.
The new bell is in the tower carillon of the St. Servaas church
Limburger, 31st of August 2018. by Pascale Thewissen. Translation by Ineke and John. Carillon is like good cognac: nice, but the youth does not warm up to it, How do you make the carillon 'sexy' again? That is the main question during the Festival "Klinkend Erfgoed" (Resounding Legacy). By placing a heavy beat under it, for example. City carilloneur Frank Steijns about the future of music by bells. He was five years old back then, and Frank Steijns already knew he wanted to be a carilloneur. "My father was city carillonneur of Maastricht. I was still a little boy when in 1976 he warmed up the new carillon. The old one had burnt down in 1955. The entire Vrijthof was filled and I thought: that's what I want." Legacy Steijns - besides being a carillonneur and also a violinist with André Rieu - has a mission: he wants to make bell music hip again. The carillon - and also the organ - dusting it off, showing it off and ensuring that the bells are not only being used for church music only. That is exactly the focus of the Festival "Klinkend Erfgoed" which starts Friday in Maastricht and lasts until next Wednesday. Steijns: "We have a very good legacy, the carillon of the town hall is 'the pièce de résistance' of baroque bell-casting art. It does not get any better than that. Also the organs of the Saint Servatius Church and Our Lady's Basilica are from a sublime era, so if we wanted to do it anywhere well, it might as well be here in Maastricht." New daylight We, in this case, they are Steijns, Marcel Verheggen, the organist of the Sint Servaas Basilica, and Hans Leenders, cantor-organist of Our Dear Lady's Basilica. "The three of us govern the sounding legacy of Maastricht, and together we created a program in which we want to feature these old instruments. We are going to make crossover programs." Normally when you play a carillon, you just hear the bells. But now we are going play them along with synthesizers, we have a soprano who will be singing up in the tower and DJ's who will come and play there. We'll connect the bells to opera and jazz, to trance and technico." Wooden tower So will Steijns performs Saturday evening at half past eight at the Bruis festival. It promises to be quite spectacular. "Dance, trance the bells" is what Steijns' concert will be called, and producer/composer is Robin Kampschoer. In a kind of wooden tower Steijns will play his mobile carillon, with an underlying heavy beat. "They have never done that anywhere before. I wonder how the audience will react. I hope they think: that sounds nice." An idea competition has also been sent out; "Hack the Bells" with an approach of: "what would you do with a carillon?" From that really great ideas have arisen, but I cannot say too much about that until the award ceremony." Also on the program: a bells relay, with carillons from Dutch and Belgian Limburg, Venlo, Heerlen, and from Weert to Peer - are all being played by international carillon students. In turmoil. Steijns: "When I started in 1994, this was a 17th-century instrument which you had to treat as such: you had to play Bach and Mozart on it and my father did that very nicely, but I never saw anyone from the terraces look up high or whistle along with the song. The song: "Most dreams are a deception" by Marco Borsato (Dutch singer) was a hit at that time. I thought: then I'll play that music. The entire carillon world was in an uproar, because that's not how you treat such an old instrument. But the people on the terraces liked it. Sting In the meantime we are 25 years further along. Two weeks ago, the carilloneur of Utrecht gave a concert of Sting-and-The Police songs in the Domtower. This is how we try to bring the carillon back to the people. We need to make the transition from an old-fashioned and dusty instrument to an instrument which also has a future. It's a bit like a good cognac: very tasty, but the youth does not have a taste for it. Unknown is unloved, is what he is trying to say, and that's exactly what he wants to change. Soniferous The carillon of the town hall. The organ of Our Lady's Basilica and the organ of the Saint Servatius Basilica. They belong to the 'sounding legacy'. If it is up to the foundation "Klinkend Erfgoed Nederland", Maastricht will be the center in 2020 during the European year of the Sound Legacy. In June, a 'bid book' was presented to Susan Lammers, general director of the National Cultural Heritage Agency, with ideas, plans and activities. The Festival "Klinkend Erfgoed Maastricht", which starts today and lasts until Wednesday, is a pilot program that must demonstrate the feasibility - programmatic and financial - of "Sounding 2020
Festival ”Klinkend Erfgoed” (Resounding Legacy), Maastricht. August 30th - September 4th, 2018. video by Marjo Le Comte.
Frank Steijns, Gildas Delaporte, Ward Vlasveld.
Video: Resounding legacy. A performance of Frank on the bells and Ward Vlasveld on the piano, September 2nd in the city of Heerlen. “All of me”. Wow! This is different! Fantastic!!
Frank Steijns, bells, and Martine Wijers, piano, at the Resounding Legacy Festival in Weert and Venlo, (Limburg), the Netherlands.
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