Piano student newest ASU carillonneur

When he was a first grader at a Montessori school in Tucson, Andrew Boyle’s parents signed up him for piano lessons because they thought he would like it.

“I liked being taken out of class for a lesson,” Boyle said.

Those “out-of-class” times paid off. Boyle, a senior studying piano performance with Arizona State University professor of music Robert Hamilton, has been selected as the Arizona State Credit Union Student Carillonneur for 2015-2016. He will receive a $1,000 scholarship from Arizona State Credit Union.

Boyle is a first-prize winner in the ASU Concert of Soloists Concerto Competition and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. He also won a prize at the Jacob Flier International Piano Competition in New York City.

Boyle, a graduate of Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, Arizona, said, “I have a great love for performing classical music at the piano. Together with Lucas Stratmann, a violinist from the Juilliard School I put together a recital at the Tempe Center for the Arts that was nearly sold out.

“I have also played music at wedding, ceremonies, my own church, hospitals and nursing homes because playing music is a joy which is wonderful to share, no matter the genre.”

Boyle said he wanted to play ASU’s Symphonic Carillon, which was a gift to the University from student government in 1966, after realizing that “its sonorous bells were not merely automatic or controlled by computer but could have a human performer behind them.

“Sitting in a tree by the Memorial Union listening to what I had suddenly realized was a rendition of a suite by J.S. Bach ringing out over the campus pathways, it occurred to me that the sounds I had been hearing might come from an instrument and not just an amplified MIDI soundtrack.

“It will be a great privilege to play this unique instrument at ASU because bringing music anonymously to so many people is a small but important way to speak to them through art.”

Audreonna Morris, manager of the ASU branch of the credit union, said, “Arizona State Credit Union has been a proud sponsor of the Carillon Society for many years, and we have awarded Andrew with the Student Carillonneur Scholarship for 2015-2016.

“We are pleased to award such a talented and well-rounded student with the scholarship. On behalf of the Credit Union I’d like to congratulate Andrew and thank the Carillon Society for such a wonderful partnership!”

For more information about the carillon, go to www.asu.edu/carillon, or send an e-mail to carillon@asu.edu.