Description
About the carillonneur
Monika Kaźmierczak is a city carillonneur of Gdańsk, Poland. She is a graduate of the Academy of Music in Gdańsk and the Netherlands Carillon School in Amersfoort, where she studied with Arie Abbenes and Bernard Winsemius. During her studies, she received several scholarships, including the Mayor of Gdansk’s scholarship for the best student in the department (2002) and the Huyghens scholarship from the Dutch government (2003-4). In 2007, thanks to a cultural scholarship from the City of Gdańsk, she took master classes from Geert D’Hollander in Belgium. Kaźmierczak teaches carillon and other subjects at the Music Academy in Gdansk. She is a laureate of several international carillon competitions and a finalist of the 2008 Queen Fabiola competition. As a performer, she is internationally in demand, playing concerts across Europe and the United States. She has collaborated on creative projects such as performing solo recitals for the acclaimed early music festival Actus Humanus in Gdańsk. Kaźmierczak is the founder and director of ongoing musical initiatives such as the Gdańsk Carillon Festival. Since 2012, she has held a Doctor of Arts degree, specialized in carillon playing. She also conducted the Gdansk Burghers' Choir (Chór Mieszczan Gdańskich) for 11 years and was a president of the Polish Carillon Society. In 2021, she was awarded the highest cultural prize in her city: Splendor Gedanensis.
Featuring national and international carillonneurs, the annual Summer Carillon Concerts are held at 7 p.m. Tuesdays in June. Guests are invited to bring lawn chairs, blankets and picnics and enjoy the music from the Main Quadrangle or on the Seminary grounds near Luther Statue. In the event of rain, guests may gather under the archways and tower on campus.
The carillon at Concordia Seminary is one of only 170 such instruments in North America. The 49 bells have been played atop the 120-foot Luther Tower since 1971, and are dedicated to all pastors who have served The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
