Koen Van
Assche
Koen Van
Assche, born in
1967 in
Antwerp, Belgium, studied music and took flute lessons in Antwerp,
began
learning to play the carillon at the Royal Carillon School Jef Denyn in
Mechelen in 1981, and graduated from that institution in 1986. He is
city
carillonneur of Herentals, Louvain, and Turnhout, and has won prizes at
several
international carillon competitions. Koen Van Assche gives
regular
recitals in Europe and has performed many times in the USA, including
at the
three carillon festivals in Springfield, Illinois, Lake Wales, Florida,
and
Berkeley, California. He is also known for his performances of music
combining
carillon with other instruments. He has recorded several CD's for
carillon
including one of "The Four Seasons" of Antonio Vivaldi and one of
music by Frédéric Chopin. He was a guest professor at the
master class of the
Scandinavian Carillon School in 2000 and the Roosevelt Academy of Music
in the
Netherlands and has served on the juries of many carillon competitions
and
examinations. Mr. Van Assche is also a board member of the Flemish
Carillon
Guild and a member of the Executive Committee of the World Carillon
Federation.
He is the author of a playing method for the carillon and teaches
carillon at
the academies of music in Haaltert (Ninove), Borgerhout and Lier.
The Art of Playing
the Carillon: a Short History of the Various Playing Techniques
The first carillon
keyboards were invented 500 years ago. Since then transmissions have
been
steadily improved and different types of keyboards developed until a
world
standard was adopted in 2006. How did carillonneurs adapt to this
process and
what influence did it have on their way of playing?