Carillon Society names first student carillonneurs

November 03, 2006

Tom Peterson and Michaela Stephens have been selected as ASU's first student carillonneurs.<separator></separator>Peterson is the winner of the Arizona State Savings & Credit Union & Friends $1,000 scholarship, while Stephens, who will serve as assistant student carillonneur, received $500 from the Carillon Society.<separator></separator>They will join ASU carillonneurs William Swayze and Kevin Snow in performing on ASU's symphonic carillon, which was given to the university by Associated Students of ASU in 1966.<separator></separator>The carillon is a memorial to ASU students, faculty and staff who have given their lives in service to their country.<separator></separator>Peterson, a Glendale, Ariz., native who is majoring in music composition, has played the piano for many years.<separator></separator>“My father is a pianist and an organist – and, as a result, I have played the piano for as long as I can remember,” he says.<separator></separator>He has had several of his compositions premiered at Arizona Music Educators Association annual concerts, and his works have been performed by the Apollo High School Band, the Desert Foothills New Horizons Band, the University of Texas-San Antonio concert choir, and by several ASU students and ASU tuba professor Sam Pilafian.<separator></separator>Peterson also plans to write music for the ASU Symphonic Carillon.<separator></separator>Stephens, a native of Freeport, Ill., is majoring in electronics engineering technology. She has played the piano since she was 6, and she studied the carillon for five semesters at Brigham Young University (which has a tower and cast-bell carillon).<separator></separator>Stephens, who lives in Chandler, said she loves playing carillons.<separator></separator>“It doesn't matter to me that the ASU carillon is electronic rather than mechanical,” she says. “As long as I can share music with lots of people, I am happy.”<separator></separator>ASU's Symphonic Carillon has 148 bells, and the Carillon Society is raising funds for an additional 100 bells to complete the carillon, and additional speakers. The cost is $14,000 for 49 Flemish bells and $10,311 for harp-celeste bells. Individual bells can be sponsored for $250 each.<separator></separator>Speakers are an additional cost.<separator></separator>For more information about the ASU Symphonic Carillon or its carillonneurs, contact Judith Smith at (480) 965-4821 or (carillon@asu.edu).

Arts Student