Damme has new city carillonneur
The Dam carillon is no stranger to Jean-Pierre Hautekiet. He often played there as a guest carillonneur.
Since 1994, the tower of the town hall in Damme has housed a carillon with 39 bells with a combined weight of 1,168 kilograms. The two oldest clocks, the Neringen clock and the Victory Clock, date from the end of the 14th century. 25 clocks date from the 1960s, the others from the 1980s and 1990s. The stick keyboard meets European standards, which means that carillonneurs from the wider region can give live concerts there. That happens on special occasions. An automatic chime provides a tune every half hour.
At the time, the Dam city council called on the Bruges city carillonneur Aimé Lombaert to complete the Dam carillon. From 2009 Frank Deleu took on the task and title of city carillonneur. On 17 February 2009, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen officially appointed him as the first city carillonneur of Damme. Deleu was also the city carillonneur of Menen, Izegem, Kortrijk and Bruges.
Pride
The new city carillonneur Jean-Pierre Hautekiet from Bredene graduated in 1988 from the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen. He has also been city carillonneur in Ostend since 1997, since 2001 in Veurne and since 2008 deputy city carillonneur in Bruges.
We are proud of our carillon, which has been contributing to the atmosphere in our historic city center since 1994,” says Mayor Joachim Coens. “We are grateful to Frank Deleu that he took on the task of city carillonneur for such a long period and that he delighted us or had us delighted with beautiful concerts. We are convinced that we have found an equally passionate successor in Jean-Pierre Hautekiet. We look forward to a further good collaboration full of pleasant carillon tunes and concerts.”