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Carillon Recital Program | August 27, 2023 | 2:00 pm | Julia Ong and Wesley Arai

Bring a blanket or lawn chair, grab some snacks, and enjoy the recitals from the lawn outside the tower!

UCSB’s Storke Tower and its carillon were a gift from Thomas Storke, former publisher of the Santa Barbara News-Press. The instrument consists of 61 bells cast by Petit & Fritsen of the Netherlands, with the bells weighing anywhere from 18 pounds to 2.5 tons, and spanning five octaves.

About the Artists

Julia Ong is a rising fourth-year chemistry major in the College of Creative Studies and she is from the San Francisco Bay Area. Her main instrument is piano, which she has been playing for more than ten years and performed for recitals and charity concerts. Julia is studying carillon because she wants to explore instruments besides piano to continue her music studies. She is also interested in the history and repertoire of the carillon because it is a unique combination of bells and keyboard. Other musical instruments Julia plays include the recorder and the ukulele. She also enjoys tap dancing, reading fantasy fiction, and playing board games. Julia has studied the carillon for two years.
Wesley Arai was appointed Lecturer and University Carillonist at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2018. He plays the 61-bell Storke Tower carillon regularly and teaches carillon to UCSB students. Arai studied carillon with Jeff Davis as an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received BA degrees in Mathematics and Statistics. While earning an MA degree in Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, he continued to play the carillon and subsequently passed the Carillonneur examination of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North
America. Arai then served as Associate Carillonist at the University of California, Berkeley. An active recitalist, Arai has performed extensively across the United States and abroad. He completed a recital tour of Europe in Summer 2022, performing in England, Ireland, France, and Spain, including the 20th Perpignan International Carillon Festival and the 29th Barcelona International Carillon Festival. Other recent performances include recitals in Australia, the dedicatory recital for the carillon at the University of Washington, and performances at the Ninth Berkeley Carillon Festival, the 76th Congress of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, and the Springfield International Carillon Festival. Arai is also an annual recitalist at the Cathedral of St. John
the Evangelist in Spokane, Washington and is a frequent recitalist at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.