Arts

Buck Lyon-Vaiden
Carillonneur, McDonogh School (Owings Mills, Maryland)

Again this year, McDonogh's resident carillonneur Buck Lyon-Vaiden will be playing the first concert of our Fourth of July celebration, which coincides with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America — our semiquincentennial.

Most, if not all, of the pieces will be familiar to audience members. He will open with four patriotic songs followed by two pieces by more contemporary composers. The next section will contain one folk song by Stephen Foster, plus three pop songs from the 1960s. Closing this concert will be four pieces of a sacred and reflective nature to ponder how, as a nation, we can find peace and harmony where we each live and throughout our nation.

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, Tennessee, 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 (GCNA), 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.

Concert Program: Buck Lyon-Vaiden

Gerald Martindale
Carillonneur, Exhibition Place Carillon (Toronto, Canada)

This will be the second time Gerald Martindale has performed a concert at McDonogh. In 2016, he performed his first concert at the School and was scheduled to play again in 2024, but unfortunately, he was caught in the global digital outage that summer when many international flights were canceled.

Martindale's first position as carillonneur began in 1997 at the historic Metropolitan United Church of Toronto, Canada. After retirement from the church in 2016, he began playing the Exhibition Place Carillon, also in Toronto. Martindale holds a bachelor's degree in musical arts from the University of Windsor and associate diplomas in organ from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. He is also a member of two community choirs.

For the past 26 years, Martindale has been actively engaged as a background performer, having acted in 364 film and television productions. He has completed 22 concert tours of the United States and 11 tours of Europe. Last summer, he performed 15 recitals in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, and France.

Concert Program: Gerald Martindale

Keiran Cantilina
Assistant Carillonneur, Church of the Covenant in University Circle (Cleveland, Ohio)

This will be the first time Keiran Cantilina has performed a concert at McDonogh. His concert program includes a variety of classical pieces, compositions for the carillon, and a wide variety of pop arrangements.

Cantilina's interest in the carillon began as an undergrad at Cornell University, which has a historic 21-bell chime. His interest continued as a grad student at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, where he studied the carillon with Dave Johnson at the House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul. With Dave's support, Cantilina was awarded a grant to spend a year at the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" in Mechelen, Belgium — the world's oldest and largest carillon institute. He earned his diploma, "met onderscheiding" (cum laude), and graduated with a prize as one of the finalists of the International Queen Fabiola Carillon Competition. During this time, he also attained carillonneur status in the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA). Cantilina is currently active in the GCNA as a member of the Board of Directors and a juror on the guild's exam committee. He is also a member of the World Carillon Federation (WCF).

Cantilina currently lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is Assistant Carillonneur at the Church of the Covenant, a historic church in Cleveland's University Circle. He was recently elected president of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the McGaffin Carillon. Outside of the carillon, Cantilina works as a biomedical engineer for the Cleveland Clinic.

Concert Program: Keiran Cantilina

Dr. Michelle Lam
Associate Carillonist, The Netherlands Carillon (Arlington, Virginia)

This will be the first time Dr. Michelle Lam has performed a concert at McDonogh. Dr. Lam's program includes extensive notes to accompany the less familiar pieces.

Dr. Lam began her carillon studies at Wellesley College, which she continued in graduate school at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, from which she earned a Ph.D. in economics in 2023. She attained carillonneur status from the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) in 2022 and serves on its Board of Directors, while also chairing the GCNA's Finance Committee.

Dr. Lam's recitals and work in the carillon community focus on highlighting people of color, women, and lesser-played works. With co-author Dr. Elisa Tersigni, she published "The North American Carillon Community Survey" in 2025 — the first comprehensive study of the continent's carillon culture, with a focus on diversity and accessibility.

Dr. Lam works as an antitrust economist in Washington, D.C. She is Associate Carillonist of the Netherlands Carillon in Arlington, Virginia, and holds the same position at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. — the largest Roman Catholic Church in North America and one of the 10 largest churches in the world.

Concert Program: Dr. Michelle Lam

John Gouwens
Carillonneur, The Presbyterian Church (La Porte, Indiana)

This will be the first time John Gouwens has performed a concert at McDonogh.

John Gouwens has an extensive history with carillon, beginning in 1978 when he achieved carillonneur status in the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA). Gouwens studied carillon at Indiana University Bloomington, the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, and the University of Kansas, and holds degrees in music from the latter two institutions.

For almost four decades, Gouwens was Organist and Carillonneur of the Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana, also serving as Choir Director during many of those years. He has performed at many congresses of the GCNA and the World Carillon Federation (WCF) and made eight European concert tours, playing recitals in Germany, Poland, Denmark, Spain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Gouwens has also been an active member of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) and the GCNA, where he served 43 years on GCNA's Committee for Music Publications. Throughout the decades, he has been a prizewinner in competitions for organ playing, improvisation, composition, and carillon playing.

Gouwens is a prolific composer of music for carillon, is the author of two books for teaching carillonneurs, and is active as a consultant on carillon installations. Since 2019, he has served as Organist and Choirmaster of St. Paul's Episcopal Church and as Carillonneur of The Presbyterian Church, both in La Porte, Indiana. He has also served as Carillonneur of Ball State University since the university's bells were installed in 2003.

Concert Program: John Gouwens