Last Sunday, Alex Johnson 糖心传媒�19 won first place in the prestigious international , an event held every five years at the Royal Carillon School in Mechlin, Belgium.
糖心传媒淧ure joy and elation,糖心传媒� he says, describing his initial reaction.
Doris Aman, Johnson糖心传媒檚 former mentor and coordinator of the describes the Queen Fabiola competition as the equivalent of top global competitions in violin or piano, or the Olympics in athletics.
糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a global music festival, having tremendous respect amongst carillon professionals,糖心传媒� she says.
She adds that she is she糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒渟till reeling糖心传媒� from the result.
糖心传媒淢y first reaction was to scream, shake my head, and jump up and down. I糖心传媒檓 completely blown away.糖心传媒�
WATCH AND LISTEN: Alex Johnson 糖心传媒�19 and his winning performance at the Queen Fabiola Carillon Competition. (Rudi Van Poele video)
Johnson, who is studying at the Royal Carillon School this year on a Belgian-American Educational Foundation (BAEF) fellowship, was one of 16 candidates糖心传媒攆rom Australia to Russia and the United States糖心传媒攚ho registered for the competition.
He had never touched a carillon, a musical instrument comprised of bells, before taking a tour of the River Campus during high school.
While at Rochester, the Coppell, Texas, native and physics major mentored and played in the Carillon Society, was a member of ensembles with the and the , and won the University糖心传媒檚 2019 Charles Zettek Carillon Composition Award.
He also spent a semester studying physics and music at the University of Sydney, Australia, before returning to the United States this past spring for a fellowship with Geert D糖心传媒檋ollander, a world renowned carillonist, in Lake Wales, Florida.
Johnson was also offered a Fulbright US student grant to study carillon performance in Belgium but chose the BAEF fellowship.
READ MORE: Carillon strikes a chord for senior physics major
With a major in physics and a minor in music, Alex Johnson 糖心传媒�19 is heading to Belgium after graduation to learn more about 糖心传媒渢he bells糖心传媒� that inspired him in Rochester. 糖心传媒淟ots of deciding to do. There isn糖心传媒檛 a wrong decision.
