From "De Limburger" By Franks Buschman
The Maastricht city carillon player Frank Steijns, did forego the American Tour with André Rieu in favor of the European Carillon Festival. And now he is at home with a broken fibula.
For the past fifteen years he has been climbing up in the church towers, including the Saint Servaas basilica in Maastricht. He has climbed thousands and thousands of steps, sometimes through narrow passages into the crest of the churches. Never did anything go amiss.
But, in the transportation of his mobile carillon from Maastricht to Weert on Wednesday, something did go amiss. Right there in the street, in a very insignificant manner, Steijns, (city carillon player for Maastricht-St Servaas and city hall, Weert and Heerlen's St.Pancratius church) and since 1994, violinist in André Rieu's Orchestra, had just loaded his portable carillon into a small truck. Six frames each of 200 kilos (440lbs) with 41 bronze bells.
"There is a specific way in which you can safely load them. Everything went just fine again this time. Everything was loaded and I jumped off the tailgate. I landed wrong." With the fall he also scraped his nose and chin. A passerby called the doctor who arrived shortly on the scene. Steijns could not be admitted to the hospital in Maastricht right away, so he decided to drive on to Weert.
"I drive an automatic, so I did not need to use my left leg. I thought that I had severely twisted my ankle, and it would be alright. Above all, I definitely wanted to go to Weert so I would not miss the first day of the Eurocarillon Festival". After all, he is the head man of the festival organization. "I had to let the tour through America with André Rieu go by the wayside. I wanted to experience this Carillon Festival where players from all over Europe will be attending. We have a beautiful program with performances in squares and churches in Maastricht, Weert, Heerlen, Achen, Hasselt and Neerpelt."
But the X-ray in the St. Jans Gasthuis (hospital) in Weert showed that Steijns had broken his leg (fibula) just above his left ankle and that same evening he underwent surgery.
Also that evening he spent a lot of time on his laptop changing the programs of the festivities and asking other carillon players to substitute his performances.
"Rieu, who was one of the first to send me a text message from Las Vegas, always says: "The show must go on", and so it must. I do not want the festival public to notice that I myself will not be able to perform for a while. They should be able to just enjoy the other carillon players."
Translation © by John
7 comments:
What a bummer. We wish Frank a speedy recovery.
John
How very sad. I am so so sorry.
In Maastricht, he often plays in the evening (after climbing all those stairs) and prior to the JSO concerts. And In 2006, he gave a carillon recital over at the Basilica. There was a special commemoration, which not being Dutch, the name escapes me. It was outstanding, however. Very talented man.
Hope he will be on stage at the Rieu weekend concerts.
Laurie
I too wish Frank a speedy recovery and hope that we will see/hear him playing his violin in Maastricht!!
Sue
Oh no!! Just when we get excited about our trip, poor Frank is trying to have everything rearranged. He must be very upset to miss the performaing opportunity at the festival, but we wish you speedy recovery, Frank!
Oh, that's a shame! I'm sure it won't hold Frank down for long, though. Those who attended the U.S. concerts sure seemed to miss him & we hope he's back on their next skip around the country. (He should be skipping by then, right?)
~Chris T.
So very sorry to hear of Frank's mishap. I hope all of you going to Maastricht will still have the opportunity to hear him on his violin at Andre's concerts.
Eileen
I attended the 13June2009 concert in Tacoma, Washington, USA and was deeply disppointed that Frank was not there as he's my favorite (even outranking Andre). I am sory to hear of his inury and wish him a speedy recovery. ~Namaste~ Amy M from Auburn, WA
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