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  1. Music for National Indigenous People’s Day

Melody for Kinyaa’àanii No. 1, Conner Chee, b. 1987

On the Back of the Turtle, Beverley McKiver, b. 1958

Conner Chee is a Navajo pianist and composer known for combining classical music with Navajo culture. “Kinyaa’àanii,” the name of one of the four Navajo clans, translates to “Towering House”—a name that Chee notes has an interesting parallel to the carillon. Beverley McKiver is an Anishinaabe pianist and composer. Her composition tells the story of the creation of Turtle Island, now known as North America. In her composer’s notes, she states that “the piece is composed in four sections of 28 measures each to acknowledge the four directions of Turtle Island and the teachings of the turtle.”

  1. Movie Music

Tale as Old as Time, from Beauty and the Beast Alan Menken, b. 1949

L’après-midi, from Amélie Yann Tierssen, b. 1970, arr. Liesbeth Janssens

Forbidden Colours, from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Ryuichi Sakamoto, b. 1952

arr. Tiffany Ng

  1. Sounds of Summer

July 3 – A Hall of Mirrors Jenny Olivia Johnson, b. 1978

Gymnopédie no. 1 Erik Satie, 1866–1925, arr. Gordon Slater

The word gymnopaedia comes from Greek words gymno (“naked”) and pais (“child”). Gymnopaedia was an annual summertime festival in which boys and girls performed choruses and dances in honour of Apollo, the god of sunlight, music, and the protection of children. While these were joyful festivals, Satie’s piece paradoxically calls for somber playing.

  1. Celebrating Pride

Pink Pony Club Chappell Roan, b. 1998, arr. Joey Brink

Y.M.C.A. Village People, arr. Austin Ferguson

I’m Coming Out Bernard Edwards, 1952–1996 and Nile Rodgers, b. 1952

arr. Tiffany Ng

Dr. Elisa Tersigni is the Wayne C. Vance Carillonist at the Metropolitan United Church and a regular performer at the University of Toronto. She began learning carillon in 2014 while completing her PhD in literature and book history at the University of Toronto. In 2020, she was elected a Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) and, in 2024, she completed her diploma in carillon at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium. Her research on the carillon has been supported by a Barnes Grant and has appeared in The Bulletin, the GCNA’s academic journal. She can be heard playing Metropolitan’s carillon every Sunday from 10:30 to 11 AM.