Carillon Players
Jeff Davis was appointed University Carillonist in July of 2000. He began carillon studies in 1984 with Berkeley's first University Carillonist Ronald Barnes. Prior to his tenure at Berkeley, Davis was University Carillonist at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
Davis passed the examination of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America in 1988 and has since served that organization in a variety of offices, currently as a juror on the Johan Franco composition committee. Davis was the President of the GCNA from 1996-2000, and was a Director from 1996 to 2001. Davis has also been the GCNA representative to the Committee of Delegates of the World Carillon Federation.
Davis gives recitals throughout the U.S. and Europe. He has been a guest artist in the Ann Arbor Festival, the Barcelona International Festival, and has twice represented the Guild in artist recitals at congresses of the World Carillon Federation. He was awarded the Berkeley Medal for distinguished service to the carillon in 1993.
A composer as well as carillonist, Davis studied composition with Don Gillis, Deems Taylor, and Howard Hanson. He attended the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan, and was made a Distinguished Alumnus in 1974. His works, in a wide variety of media, have not been performed nearly enough.
Compositions and arrangements for carillon and other instruments by Jeff Davis are published by The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, American Carillon Music Editions, the Berkeley Carillon Institute, and ScoreExchange.com.
John Agraz began his carillon study with Robert Grogan at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC in 1970, while serving in the US Army. On his return to California, he played the Sather Tower chime occasionally from 1972 to 1977, and in 1979 he joined the Berkeley carillon staff. He has played regularly since then, continuing his studies with the late Ronald Barnes of UC Berkeley in the 1980's. In 1993 he was a recipient of the Berkeley Medal for distinguished service to the carillon. Mr. Agraz is also in charge of the maintenance of the Berkeley carillon and practice instruments.
A carillonneur member of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America since 1988, he has served on its Board of Directors and as a juror on its Examination Committee and on the Ronald Barnes Memorial Scholarship Committee. Mr. Agraz is currently employed as a clinical laboratory scientist in the HLA & Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at the Children's Hospital & Research Center in Oakland.
David Hunsberger has been one of the assistant carillonists at the University of California (Berkeley) since 1983, and during the 1999-2000 academic year was Acting University Carilloner. He studied carillon at The Riverside Church in New York City with the late James R. Lawson, and at the Rees Carillon in Springfield IL, with the late Raymond Keldermans. He holds the Berkeley Medal for distinguished service to the carillon.
His recital activity has included participation in carillon festivals in Leuvain (Belgium), Utrecht (The Netherlands), Dijon and Chambéry (France), Wellington (New Zealand), Lake Wales FL, Springfield IL, and Berkeley, as well as numerous tours in the United States, Canada, Holland, Belgium, France, and Australia.
Mr Hunsberger has held one or more corporate offices in The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America at all times since 1976, in addition to numerous committee appointments; currently he is treasurer, a director, and chair of the legal committee.
Mr Hunsberger holds the BMus degree cum laude from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea OH, both the MMus and PhD degrees from Washington University in St Louis MO, the JD degree from the University of California (Berkeley), and the Associate certificate of the American Guild of Organists. He has taught music at Washington University and at Webster College in St Louis, and at the Thailand Theological Seminary in Chiang Mai. He has held the post of organist-choirmaster at First Congregational Church of Webster Groves, in St Louis MO, First Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara CA, and St John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley. He is now a contracts analyst at the University of California, and organist-choirmaster at Zion Lutheran Church in Piedmont CA.
Richard P. Strauss studied carillon with Ronald Barnes at the Washington (DC) National Cathedral. He was Cathedral Carillonneur at the Washington National Cathedral from 1976-84 and Carillonneur at the Albany (NY) City Hall from 1987-91. Strauss designed and built carillon keyboards for Central Christian Church, San Antonio TX, in 1983, and for University of California Berkeley, in 1984. The same design was built by others for Albany City Hall in 1986, the Bok Tower in 1987, St. Stephen's Church, Cohasset MA, in 1989, and Duke University Chapel in 1992. In 2000, for the Verdin Company in Cincinnati OH, Strauss designed the "Keyboard 2000" to rationalize European and American dimension standards. Keyboard 2000 was built by Verdin Company for Berea (KY) College in 2000, and for the Thomas Rees Carillon, Springfield IL, in 2001. In 2006 the basic dimensions of Keyboard 2000 were adopted by the World Carillon Federation for the WCF's "Keyboard 2006." Strauss continues working as a consultant, designer, and technician. He was awarded the Berkeley Medal in 1983.
Wesley Arai began studying carillon with Jeff Davis in 2004. He received B.A. degrees in Mathematics and Statistics with a minor in Music from the University of California, Berkeley. Originally from Los Angeles, Wesley returned to his hometown to pursue graduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a M.A. degree in Mathematics. During his time in Southern California, he played the carillon regularly at UC Santa Barbara.
Wesley passed the advancement examination of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America in 2008. In addition to the carillon, he has studied piano, trombone, and voice, and has perfomed in a number of different concert bands, marching bands, jazz bands, orchestras, and choral groups. He enjoys arranging music, and occasionally performs some of his own arrangements on the carillon. Wesley currently works as an actuary for an insurance company in the Bay Area.
Carillon & Organ Performance (for academics, see CV below)
An energetic proponent of music written from the twentieth century to today, Tiffany Ng has commissioned over a dozen acoustic and electroacoustic pieces for carillon and organ from composers such as Ken Ueno, Geert D'hollander, and Paul Coleman. She has toured with these works through eleven countries playing over eighty concerts, including the opening recital of the 2008 World Carillon Federation Post-Congress Festival in Lommel, Belgium.
As a student of Geert D'hollander at the Royal Carillon School "Jef Denyn" in Belgium, Tiffany graduated magna cum laude in 2006 and earned the first perfect thesis score in the school's history. Early lessons with Jeff Davis inspired her to pursue carillon studies seriously, and she is now honored to serve on Berkeley's carillon staff, where she teaches performance and carillon history through the DeCal program.
Justin Ryan has played the carillon since 2000, first learning in Berkeley while earning a B.A. in Music. He has since performed regularly in Denver, Amsterdam, New York City, and Spokane, most often heard playing original carillon works. Justin has performed throughout Europe and North America, including for the International Carillon Festival at the Bok Tower in Florida, the Houses of Parliament in Ottawa, and for three Congresses of the Guild of Carillonneurs. As the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, he studied the instrument at the Netherlands Carillon School in 2003-04. Justin is currently completing a master's degree in musicology from the University of Denver; his thesis is on the acoustics, mechanics, and psychology of the carillon, chronicled at carillontech.org. Justin was inducted as a Carillonneur member of the Guild in 2003, having studied with Arie Abbenes, Todd Fair, and Jeff Davis. He also plays the trombone, tuba, guitar, and accordion, among others, and has taught music and photography at the elementary through university levels.
Stephanie Chang is a fourth-year student studying sociology and dabbling in foreign languages. Like many Asian children, she plays piano and a bit of cello. If finances and reality were not an issue, she would travel the world and eat good food. She enjoys pomegranate season, playing taiko, the music of Philip Glass, and Rachel Maddow's articulate sarcasm. This is her third year playing the carillon, the love of her college life.
Alyssa Kehlenbach is a 2nd year undergraduate student from Long Beach, CA. She is planning on majoring in Integrative Biology. She has played piano for about 13 years and French horn for 6, but when visiting the Berkeley campus she discovered the carillon and became determined to learn how to play it. In her free time she enjoys playing mellophone in the Cal band, knitting and watching Bones.
Andrew Lampinen is a second year physics major from Davis, CA, where there are fewer cows than everyone apparently expects. Ever since he got to Berkeley, he has wanted to learn carillon, so he won't simply be another musician who plays piano and guitar and other generic instruments. In his spare time, he enjoys theatre, photography, parkour, and reading.
Andrew Or is a first year Electrical Engineering and Computer Science major from Hong Kong. He has been playing piano since he was around seven. His favorite composers are Joe Hisaishi and Nobuo Uematsu. He is also a big fan of "The Planets" by Gustav Holst, especially Jupiter and Venus. He has performed works of Joe Hisaishi and Nobuo Uematsu in Hong Kong as piano soloist. He also enjoys writing music that he hopes can one day become movie main themes. One thing that will always makes his day is salmon belly sushi.
Nathan is a third-year graduate student pursuing research in astrophysics, and hails from the Philadelphia area. His passions include puzzles, cats, and coffee, ideally enjoyed all together on a rainy day. Other hobbies include downhill skiing and strategy board games. He has played piano since early childhood and is overjoyed to be learning a new instrument.
Dane is a 3rd year student majoring in Cognitive Science. He began playing music in 4th grade. Since then, he has enjoyed getting into jazz music, marching in drum and bugle corps, and playing in the UC Berkeley wind ensemble. Impressed by Sather Tower's carillon, Dane had always considered working to become a carillonist, but thought he had to be a pianist. When he found out otherwise, he was excited, and he is now thrilled to be in the program!
Raphael Townshend is a second year undergrad studying the mildly glorious major of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Being a French-Canadian at heart, he enjoys a good bottle of maple syrup and a day on the ski slopes. He has played piano on-and-off since a young age, but saw the light and started on the carillon. He hopes to one day found his own start-up but will settle for anything he enjoys. In the mean time he is more than happy to entertain the Berkeley campus with some nice tunes on the bells.
Sara Winsemius is a third year environmental science major with a forestry minor from Santa Cruz. In her fifth semester of carillon, she has also played the piano for 11 years, sung in choir for many years, and enjoys music theory very much. When not practicing or studying, she frolics in the woods, pulls invasive plant species, and inspects native plants and insects. She also enjoys drinking tea, playing with her sister's cat, and sleeping.
Jody Zhang is a second-year intended Business Administration major. She has played piano for eleven years and violin for a few on the side. At Berkeley, her two favorite things to do are hiking up at night to the Big C and looking out from the top of the Campanile. She also enjoys bike rides, oil painting, and especially skiing during the wintertime. She has admired and been intrigued by the carillon for several years and is delighted to study it!
Diana Zheng is a second-year undergraduate hailing from Piedmont (Fenton's, anyone?). She has been playing piano for twelve years and also had a brief career as a violist. Ever since learning that Berkeley taught carillon three years ago, she has desperately wanted to learn. Who wouldn't want to be able to play such a cool instrument? When she has free time, she loves to read, draw, and fiddle around with the guitar.