ZWOLLE - The Zwolse Beiaard Stichting organized with the assistance of the Nederlandse Klokkenspel-Vereniging on Saturday September 1, 2007 an International Duet Carillon Contest. The carillon of Zwolle consists of 51 bells in the range b-flat0 - c1 - d1 - e-flat1 - chrom. - d5. The new keyboard is a hybrid version of the North-European and American standards.
The carillon was inaugurated in 1930. The city had been able to buy the bells with the interest of money that was set aside for a new bridge across the river that flows along the city. At the time 42 bells were ordered from Taylor. Many years later a few new treble bells were added and only recently, after the renovation of the tower, an e1-flat and B0-flat bell were added.
PRIZE MONEY AND JURY
There were two prizes available: a first price of EUR 1.500 and a second price in the amount of EUR 900. Esteemed members of the jury were Bernard Winsemius, Gideon Bodden and Geert D'hollander. The jury was assisted by a non-voting secretary.
CONTEST
Five duos enrolled for this special and very international contest: An Lommelen and Dina Verheyden (Belgium), Anna Maria Reverté and Koen Van Assche (Spain and Belgium), Bauke Reitsma and David van der Vlies (The Netherlands), Esther Schopman and Hylke Banning (The Netherlands), and Malgosia Fiebig and Toru Takao (Poland and Japan).
After a lunch and the drawing of lots the first duo started at 13.30 hours. Everybody had to perform a compulsary work written by Geert D'hollander and entitled Bolero for Bells. This new piece was commissioned by the Zwolse Beiaard Stichting and will be published soon. It turned out that this impressive piece was by no means easy to play!
Many listeners were seated in the garden of the Municipal Museum. There they were not only able to hear the carillonneurs, but could also watch them on a large flat television screen.
PRIZE-GIVING CEREMONY
At 17.00 hours the prize-giving ceremony took place in the bar of the museum. Of course there were speeches of Pieter Loos, president of the Zwolse Beiaard Stichting, Henk Lemckert, president of the NKV, and Bernard Winsemius, chairman of the jury. But the most important and anticipated moment was the announcement of the winners.
Henk Jan Meijer, mayor of Zwolle, was proud to present the first prize to Malgosia Fiebig and Toru Takao. Except for the compulsary piece they also played two parts from an arrangement of Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel. Winners of the second prize were Anna Maria Reverté and Koen Van Assche. Their free chosen pieces were the Coppélia-Fantasy, a concert paraphrase for carillon duet by Geert D'hollander on Delibes most Romantic Waltzes, and four parts of an arrangement of the Pictures of an exhibition from Modest Moussorgsky. The mayor also presented a certificate of the city of Zwolle to all participants.
On behalf of the participants Koen Van Assche thanked the city of Zwolle and the members of the Zwolse Beiaard Stichting for making this successful contest possible. He also expressed the hope that a new duet contest will not be long in coming, especially since the previous contest took place in Douai in 1994.
