Arts

Friday, June 27: Janet Tebbel and Lisa Lonie

Since the early 1990s, Janet Tebbel and Lisa Lonie have been performing duets as well as being recognized soloists. Together, they have appeared in many carillon festivals in North America (including Canada) and Europe. 

Jan is the carillonneur of two carillons in the historic Germantown section of Philadelphia. The First  United Methodist Church of Germantown is an instrument of 50 bells, where Jan has been the carillonneur since 1979. She is also the carillonneur of the Miraculous Medal Shrine, which has an instrument of 47 French bells that she has presided over since 2002. She has been very active in the GCNA (Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, which includes Canada) and is currently the Vice-President. Although she retired a few years ago from full-time music teaching, she keeps busy with church organ work and conducting handbell choirs in addition to being responsible for two carillons. 

Lisa is the carillonneur of Princeton University, St. Thomas’ Church, Whitemarsh, PA, and the oldest carillon (1882) in North America, located at the Church of the Holy Trinity (Rittenhouse  Square) in Philly. She is an active member of the GCNA, having served on its Board of Directors,  been the former chair of the Examinations Committee. As a teenager, she began her study of the carillon with the instrument in Valley Forge, PA. She has also been a recitalist throughout the U.S.,  Canada and Europe, as well as having performed in international carillon festivals as well as guest carillonneur for the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists (AGO). Lisa has also made CD recordings for Princeton University and a CD of Christmas music at Longwood Gardens in  PA. She is also the Assistant Chief of Staff of Haverford College. 

Janet Tebbel and Lisa Lonie Program

Friday, July 4: Buck Lyon-Vaiden

Buck Lyon-Vaiden, a member of the Foreign Language Department of McDonogh School for 36 years before retiring in 2007, became interested in the carillon while a student at The University of the South in Sewanee, TN, where he began studying under Albert Bonholzer in 1963. He played there regularly until his graduation in 1967. He continued his studies with Frank Dellapenna after the installation of the McDonogh Carillon in October 1978. An associate member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, he plays the McDonogh Carillon for various school events. He has organized the McDonogh Summer Carillon Concert Series since its inception in 1979 and continues to serve as the School Carillonneur.

Buck Lyon-Vaiden Program

Friday, July 11: Wesley Arai

Wesley Arai is the University Carillonist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he plays the 61-bell Storke Tower carillon and maintains an active carillon studio and gives lessons. He studied carillon with Jeff Davis at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received BA degrees in Mathematics and Statistics with a minor in Music. While earning an MA degree in Mathematics at UCLA, he became a Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA). Wesley has performed in the US, in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and recently in Australia. He has performed at the Berkeley Carillon Festival, the Congress of the GCNA, the Springfield, IL International Carillon Festival, the Perpignan, FR International Carillon Festival, and the Barcelona International Carillon Festival. He is a recitalist at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, WA, and at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA. Wesley has also studied piano, trombone, and voice, and has performed in a number of different concert bands, marching bands, jazz bands, orchestras, and choral groups. His day job is as an actuary.

Wesley Arai Program

Friday, July 18: Margaret Pan

Margaret Pan is a freelance carillonneur based in Boston. She began studying carillon in 2007 at Princeton University, graduated from the Mechelen Carillon School in 2012, and was a fellow at Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, FL, in 2015. Margaret has performed across Europe, North America, and Japan and has been a featured recitalist at Congresses of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) and the World Carillon Federation. Recent performance highlights include international festivals at Bok Tower (2024) and Barcelona (2023) and the rededication of the Metropolitan United Carillon in Toronto (2022). Margaret was the winner of the 2017 international competition in Springfield, Illinois, and third laureate in the 2019 Queen Fabiola competition in Mechelen, Belgium. Margaret has taught beginning students at UC Berkeley and the University of Toronto and given masterclasses at Yale and Toronto. She has also served on the GCNA exam committee for over a decade, first as a juror and currently as co-chair. Margaret's academic degrees (SB and PhD) are in physics and astrophysics, and she works as an astronomer at the Smithsonian Institution studying planetary dynamics in our and other solar systems.

Margaret Pan Program

Friday, July 25: Austin Ferguson

A native of Longview, Texas, Austin Ferguson studied carillon with Lynnette Geary, University Carillonneur at Baylor University. As a student at The University of Texas at Austin, he studied music theory and government. From 2011-2015, he led the UT carillon program, playing daily recitals on the Kniker Carillon and providing student carillon instruction. In February of 2017, Austin was named the fourth Carillonneur of Mayo Clinic, where he plays ten weekly recitals on the 1928 Rochester Carillon, the only carillon in North America owned by a medical center. Under his tenure, the carillon program at Mayo has expanded to include such programs as an annual music commission, composition contests, a summer recital series, livestream-broadcasted recitals, and a weeklong performance intensive for carillon students.

A Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, Austin sits on the Heritage Music, Legal, Nominations, and Ronald Barnes Memorial Grant committees and served as Co-Editor of Carillon News, the Guild’s newsletter, from 2014-2024. He was elected to a seat on the Guild’s Board of Directors in 2020 and finished his term in June 2023, before completing one term as Corresponding Secretary from 2023-2024. In addition to his work at the Mayo Clinic, Austin keeps busy as Organist and Choir Accompanist at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Rochester and teaching a full piano studio.

Austin Ferguson Program