Summer Carillon Recital Series

Timothy Short
The House of Hope Presbyterian Church

Tim Short joined the House of Hope staff as Music Associate in 2018. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Mount Union University, and a Master of Music degree in organ performance from Drake University where he was a Graduate Fellow. A longtime musician and educator, he assists with the Choir School program, and he has a specific interest in the use of handbells for the enrichment of worship through musical offerings, as accompaniment to hymns or sung liturgy, and as a musical complement to prayer. He enjoys the creative and experimentational process of combining bell ringing with other instruments or voices.

Jennifer Lory-Moran
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Jennifer Lory-Moran has been the advisor for the Cornell University Chimes program in Ithaca, New York since 2000. Cornell University has a 21-bell chime that is one of the largest and most frequently played chimes in the world.  Jennifer has played the chime there for over 30 years. In addition to regularly playing concerts on the chime at Cornell, Jennifer has often performed on the carillons at the University of Rochester and Alfred University. While chimes and carillons are both sets of tuned bells which are hung stationarily (not swinging), the techniques used to play them can be very different, depending on the playing stand that has been installed. Jennifer learned to play the chimes at Cornell University as an undergraduate. She started studying the carillon in 2012, but with the nearest carillon being 2 hours away from her home, the long drives made it difficult to practice very often. In response, she fully embraced being a “distance learner”, enrolled in the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium, and started taking lessons over Skype using a carillon practice keyboard in her living room. She continues to take lessons in this manner and appreciates the improvements to video conferencing software that have made this possible!

Wade FitzGerald
Indiana University, Bloomington

Wade FitzGerald earned his Master of Music in Organ Performance in May 2024 at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Drs. Christopher Young and Janette Fishell. During his time there, he also served as the University Carillonneur and Associate Instructor of Carillon. A native of Tampa, Florida, FitzGerald started piano lessons at age five. He enrolled at the University of Florida in 2015 and began studying the carillon with Dr. Laura Ellis the following year. During college, he worked as a substitute pianist at several churches and as an accompanist for the Gainesville Youth Chorus.

FitzGerald was inducted into the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America in 2019 and graduated from UF shortly thereafter with a B.M. in piano and a B.S. in biology. In 2020, FitzGerald served for five months as Blanchard Carillon Fellow at Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida, where he studied with award-winning carillonneur and composer Geert D’hollander. In 2021, FitzGerald moved to Pennsylvania, where he began playing the carillon and studying organ with Jeffrey Brillhart at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. In his free time, FitzGerald enjoys hiking, nature photography, reading (particularly cosmic horror), catching snakes, and learning languages.

Geert D’hollander
Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, Florida

Belgian-American composer and carillonneur Geert D’hollander has studied piano, chamber music, choral and orchestral conducting, fugue and composition at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, Belgium, and graduated from the Royal Carillon School, with honors. He composed more than 80 compositions, mostly commissions for carillon and was first prizewinner in more than 30 international competitions.

In 1997, D’hollander was appointed as University Carillonist and Professor of Carillon at the Department of Music at UC Berkeley. In 2008, he was awarded the Berkeley Medal for “Distinguished Service to the Carillon”. Before he moved to Florida, Geert was teaching carillon and carillon composition at the Royal Carillon School “Jef Denyn” in Mechelen, Belgium, and was city carillonneur of the historical instruments of Antwerp Cathedral (1655), the belfry of Ghent (1660), and the Basilica of Lier (1704).

In 2012 Geert D’hollander was named Bok Tower Gardens’ (Florida) fourth full-time carillonneur, one of the most unique and prestigious positions in the world. He frequently gives master classes in Europe and the U.S., and performs all over the world.

Carillon Duets with Carillonneur Emeritus Dave Johnson and Music Associate/Carillonneur Timothy Short
The House of Hope Presbyterian Church

Dave Johnson was appointed carillonneur in 1993 and served as our carillonneur for 30 years, retiring in 2023. He is active in The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America and has performed recitals throughout the United States. He was an elected member of The Guild’s board of directors from 1999 to 2005, was again elected in 2010, has served on various committees, was its recording secretary for ten years, and in June 2010 was elected its president. Dave received his B.A. from Hamline University, M.A. from Stanford University and Ph.D. in American Intellectual History from the University of Kansas. He is the author of two histories of Hamline, a 150th anniversary history of House of Hope and a 50th anniversary history of Presbyterian Homes and Services of Minnesota. He taught history at Kansas Wesleyan University, the University of Kansas and Pacific Lutheran University.