Carillons at The University of Michigan

Carillons at The University of Michigan 113 Bells. 2 Towers. For the campus. For the city. For ALL. The University of Michigan has been a leading center of carillon and campanological studies since 1936.

The carillons are played every weekday while classes are in session and for special events. What is a carillon? A carillon is a musical instrument comprised of at least 23 bronze bells, arranged in chromatic sequence, so tuned as to produce concordant harmony when many bells are sounded together. It is played from a keyboard that allows expression through variation of touch. The keys are struck wi

th the half-closed hand, and larger bells are connected to foot pedals. The U-M campus is home to 2 carillons:
Burton Memorial Tower was built in 1936 to the designs of Albert Kahn. Crowning the building is the Charles Baird Carillon, built in 1936 by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough, England. With 53 bells, the largest of which weighs over 12 tons, it is the third heaviest carillon in the world. The 10th floor, where the carillon resides, is open Monday-Friday from 12-12:45pm while classes are in session. Concert admission is FREE. At the heart of North Campus is the Robert & Ann Lurie Tower. It was built in 1996 to the designs of Charles Moore. The carillon was cast and built by the Royal Eijsbouts Bell Foundry of Asten, the Netherlands. It contains 60 bells with the largest weighing 6 tons. The belfry is open Monday-Friday from 1:30-2pm while classes are in session. U-M students from any major may apply to study the carillon as an elective (smtd.umich.edu/lessons), for a master's degree, or as part of the DMA in Sacred Music. The Carillon program is a division of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance Department of Organ. For more information on Department-wide events, please visit the Organ Department page: www.facebook.com/umichorgandepartment

Congratulations to Meghan Wysocki on her graduation and attainment this past year of Associate Carillonneur status in Th...
05/05/2026

Congratulations to Meghan Wysocki on her graduation and attainment this past year of Associate Carillonneur status in The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America! 🎓🔔〽️

Meghan Wysocki recently graduated with degrees in Medical Anthropology and Music, studying carillon under Dr. Tiffany Ng and Carson Landry and organ under Dr. Caroline Robinson. Meghan enjoyed four years in the Carillon Guild at the University of Michigan, including two as president. She serves on the editorial board of the national carillon journal and works for the University's arts prescription program. Outside of her work, you can find Meghan reading, cooking, and listening to live music.

Congratulations Joe Antrim on earning a second degree at U-M and passing the Associate Carillonneur Exam of The Guild of...
04/29/2026

Congratulations Joe Antrim on earning a second degree at U-M and passing the Associate Carillonneur Exam of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America!

Joe Antrim is a graduating Masters student in Biomedical Engineering and a previous Minor in Music. He has studied carillon under Professor Tiffany Ng for over two years, and originally found his passion for learning and performing the carillon during his undergraduate years at the University of Michigan, where he graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Cellular and Molecular Biomedical Science. Outside of the classroom, Joe is also a pianist, vocal musician, and avid downhill ski racer, but finds himself gravitating most often to the heights of Ann Arbor’s Burton Memorial and Lurie towers. After graduating in Spring 2026, Joe will move to Boston to work in the research and development of large molecule biopharmaceuticals, and he hopes to continue his carillon fervor in new towers in New England.

Congratulations to graduating student Sarah Penrose, who recently earned the Associate Carillonneur designation from The...
04/28/2026

Congratulations to graduating student Sarah Penrose, who recently earned the Associate Carillonneur designation from The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America!

Sarah Penrose recently graduated from the University of Michigan School of Information with a Master of Science degree, focusing on User Experience Research and Design. She has studied the carillon since September 2023, first with Carson Landry and then with Dr. Tiffany Ng. However, her interest in the carillon began in September 2022, when she served as a student researcher alongside Dr. Ng on the “A Century of Women and the Carillon” archival and outreach project. Her work involved conducting archival research on underrepresented women in carillon history, updating the www.CarillonWomen.org site with a multimedia timeline of women who were the first in their areas to break glass ceilings, and leveraging community outreach to spread awareness of over 100 years of women's contributions to the carillon field. While studying the carillon, she performed various works by women composers, including Gladys Watkins and Jean Miller, to uphold her dedication to the centennial. She was also an active member of the Carillon Guild at the University of Michigan for two years. This May, Sarah is moving to Knoxville, Tennessee to serve as the Web Designer for the University of Tennessee Tickle College of Engineering.

Join us for some holiday musical cheer at an unusual bell concert location: the North Campus Research Complex!
12/17/2025

Join us for some holiday musical cheer at an unusual bell concert location: the North Campus Research Complex!

Join us this Friday, Dec. 19 at 12:00 PM for our monthly lunchtime concert at NCRC. This month's program will feature bells, carillon, and a Ukrainian dulcimer recently donated to the Stearns Collection.

12/17/2025
Thanks for the feature, The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America! A growing number of U-M carillon students have earn...
08/11/2025

Thanks for the feature, The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America! A growing number of U-M carillon students have earned the GCNA's Associate Carillonneur Exam or Carillonneur Membership certifications, and/or co-presented with Prof. Ng at GCNA Congresses. We're looking forward to continuing our growing student involvement!

Our last concert of the summer carillon series approaches! Join us on Monday at Lurie Tower! 7 PM, open to all!! Claire ...
07/26/2025

Our last concert of the summer carillon series approaches! Join us on Monday at Lurie Tower! 7 PM, open to all!! Claire Janezic is an American carillonist living in Belgium. She’s currently a Masters student at the Lemmensinstituut (Leuven, BE) studying carillon in a pedagogical context with Carl van Eyndhoven. She also receives carillon lessons from Koen Cosaert. Claire’s carillon journey began at the University of Rochester, graduating in 2022, where she also taught carillon and organized a weekly carillon concert series. Her carillon education continued under Koen Van Assche at the Royal Carillon School ‘Jef Denyn’ (Mechelen, BE), through a Fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation. After graduating in June 2023, Claire studied with Geert D'hollander as a Blanchard Carillon Fellow at Bok Tower Gardens (FL, USA). In 2024, she was laureate of the International Carillon Competition "Queen Fabiola" (Mechelen, BE) and won the first prize of the International Carillon Interpretation Competition (Brielle, NL). Claire currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, and is the assistant carillonneur of Turnhout. She has performed concerts in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and the US, both as a solo artist and as a member of the Carillon duo “Fellowship of the Ring” with Sydney Nguyen (USA).

Come out this coming Monday (7/21) to our third recital of the Summer Carillon Concert Series, held at Burton Memorial T...
07/20/2025

Come out this coming Monday (7/21) to our third recital of the Summer Carillon Concert Series, held at Burton Memorial Tower! This week’s performer is Trevor Workman. Trevor was appointed Carillonneur by Bournville Village Trust in 1965. Now in his 60th year as Carillonneur, Trevor continues to give twice weekly recitals on Bournville Carillon throughout the year. He has completed extensive recital tours of Europe and the United States and regularly plays in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
In 2018, Trevor was recognised by the late Queen - HM Queen Elizabeth II when he received the British Empire Medal in the Birthday Honours list for “Services to the British Carillon Society and to the Community of Bournville.”
In 2019, Trevor was honoured and privileged to be invited to be a member of the jury for the ‘International Queen Fabiola Carillon Competition’ in Mechelen, Belgium. He is currently serving a second term in office as President of the Carillon Society of Britain and Ireland (CSBI) and is active in promoting the carillon and the carillon art in England.

We additionally encourage you to check out Dr. David Lorch’s gorgeous LEGO recreation of Burton Memorial Tower (pictured attached)! It will be exhibited outside the tower during the concert. See you there!!

UPDATE: Jon Lehrer will be performing our second summer carillon concert this coming Monday, July 14th! The concert, tit...
07/12/2025

UPDATE: Jon Lehrer will be performing our second summer carillon concert this coming Monday, July 14th! The concert, titled "Something Old, Something New," will still be on Central Campus, performed on the Baird Carillon, at 7 PM. Jon Lehrer is the 2nd University Carillonneur of Grand Valley State University and the 6th University Carillonneur of Michigan State University. A graduate of Yale University and the Royal Carillon School of Belgium, Jon is also a laureate of 5 international competitions for carillon, including the Queen Fabiola, the NKV, and the Alexius Julien Baroque Competitions. A regular on the global stage, he has also toured for the Canada Council for the Arts as a concert soloist, and on the North American renaissance festival circuit as a musican-entertainer. Jon was once a data scientist and cancer researcher but now focuses on creating moments of beauty for a busy university communities, advancing the carillon art, and instructing the next generation of carillonneurs.
 

Our first summer recital is coming up! Join us next Monday (July 7th) at Lurie Tower for the first recital of our summer...
07/02/2025

Our first summer recital is coming up! Join us next Monday (July 7th) at Lurie Tower for the first recital of our summer series. Our first performer is Annie Gao! Annie is a carillonist and software engineer from the sunny suburbs of Southern California. She first met the carillon in 2017 as a member of the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs, completed her Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) Carillonneur exam in 2020, and graduated from Yale in 2021 with a combined B.S./M.S. in Computer Science. She then had the tremendous privilege of continuing her carillon studies internationally with Geert D’hollander, Boudewijn Zwart, and Eddy Mariën, and along the way, was selected for the quinquennial Kors Monster Festival Performance Nomination (2024), as well as The Diapason's "20 Under 30" list (2025). She has taught carillon performance masterclasses all over the United States, and currently serves the GCNA as chair of the Emerging Artists Grant committee and jury member of the Carillonneur Exam. In her free time, Annie enjoys competitive ping pong, puzzles and brainteasers, good reads, and opportunities to explore and improve her fascinatingly bad sense of direction.
Annie’s program is available at the link in our bio.
See you there!

Address

881 N University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI
48104

Opening Hours

Monday 12pm - 12:45pm
1:30pm - 2pm
Tuesday 12pm - 12:45pm
1:30pm - 2pm
Wednesday 12pm - 12:45pm
1:30pm - 2pm
Thursday 12pm - 12:45pm
1:30pm - 2pm
Friday 12pm - 12:45pm
1:30pm - 2pm

Telephone

+17347644414

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