Bruul 52, 2800 Mechelen, Belgium

Graduate program

Master’s degree in Carillon. Offered jointly with Missouri State University, USA.

Program

Laureaats Diploma. Six years. Studies include carillon performance, history and science of the carillon, arrangement, harmony and composition, improvisation, campanology, part-singing, keyboard, handbell choir. Students may commence from age eight.

The School, the first and largest of its kind in the world, was founded in 1922 by the carillonneur Jef Denyn, after whom the school was later named. It is a state-subsidised education institute offering a specific study program with courses at the two levels of secondary education. Students can continue their study to obtain a ‘Laureate’s Diploma’, or a ‘Diploma of Excellence’. There are good relations with Belgian Higher Institutes of Art and with a number of international music institutions. The School publishes many musical and literary works on carillons and carillon playing. International students can follow an intensive course in which the weekly classes are grouped in a few sessions in the school year. Facilities include four practice keyboards, a school carillon, an historical library, sheet music, a valuable archive and a fine collection of bells, rare books, manuscripts and art objects. Branches of this school are located at the Catholic University of Leuven, at the music academies in Ronse, Roeselare, Peer, Halle (Belgium), and at the Belgium-Flanders Exchange Centre in Osaka, Japan. Every five years the School organises the Queen Fabiola International Carillon Competition. Classes are taught in Dutch, French, English, German, Russian and Esperanto. In 2016 a new mobile three-ton 50-bell carillon was built in Mechelen and is available for use throughout Belgium.

August 2021