Naperville Carillon concerts to celebrate the holidays

Naperville City Carillonneur Tim Sleep and Carillonneur Jim Brown will play special concerts during November to honor national holidays and special days.

On Sunday, Nov. 11, the regular recital will feature a Veterans Day Program from 3 to 3:30 p.m. Tim Sleep will play patriotic music that will feature the tolling of the 6-ton bourdon, "Big Joe," in remembrance of the 100th anniversary of the ending World War I.

"The tolling is coordinated with carillonneurs all over the world on that day," Sleep said. "I will also play a special piece that was commissioned in honor of the installation of a Peace Carillon at Park Abbey in Leuven, Belgium, and the ending World War I. The Peace Carillon is the result of the cultural cooperation between the cities of Neuss and Leuven, which had entered into a disastrous conflict in August 1914."

The piece that will be premiered in Belgium, in Naperville and in at least 50 more locations is entitled "A Sacred Suite" by Flemish carillonneur and composer Geert D'hollander.

On Nov. 15, National Pancreatic Cancer Day, two identical concerts at noon and 7 p.m. will be performed to honor artists and actors who have died from pancreatic cancer. The lights on Moser Tower along the Riverwalk will be turned purple that week in remembrance of Pancreatic Cancer Week. Some of the artists and actors that will be remembered are: Aretha Franklin, Luciano Pavarotti, Henry Mancini, Steve Jobs, Dizzy Gillespie, Roger Williams, Alan Rickman, George Halas and Jack Benny.

At noon on Nov. 22, Naperville Carillonneur Jim Brown will play his annual concert of early American music in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday. At noon on Nov. 23, Sleep will play a concert of holiday favorites to kick off the December holiday season.

The Millennium Carillon recitals are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.