Frank Steijns of André Rieu Orchestra Carillon Stolen

41 Carillon Bells Stolen In a BURGLARY

City carillon player 'Frank Steijns' is hit hard by the disassembly of the instrument ... By our reporter MAASTRICHT (Click on the link at the bottom of the article to see the interview with Frank last night on television news that Ruud has posted on their site.)

The Limburger Dec. 23, 2009: The 41 bells of the mobile carillon of carillon player Frank Steijns were probably stolen by bronze thieves. The musician found the instrument disassembled in the shed where he thought it could be safely stored after each performance, since it is guarded by cameras.

Steijns suffered a great loss by the theft, since the carillon could only be insured for it's metal value of approximately 5000 Euros. The carillon player built the instrument himself. "The value of the many hours in building this instrument can not be measured in monetary terms", says Steijns. The insured value is only a fraction of its true value.

Steijns found the entire carillon disassembled in the storage shed, where ten boxes were found to be broken open, this according to the Maastricht police. Whether things from other victims are missing is being investigated. However, a trailer was found to be stolen, almost certainly used to transport the stolen items. No trace of the carillon bells can be found, and the rest of the instrument was scattered throughout the inner storage area.

The thieves were definitely after the bronze, concluded the musician. Shed and grounds are monitored by two cameras. "One was hanging at six thirty, and the second one filmed how the thieves did their work" says Steijns. Due to privacy reasons, he may not yet view the images. Steijns hopes that smelters have been notified in order to avoid the 41 bells ending up in an oven and disappear forever. Maybe the thieves will become remorseful when they realize what they have done, so hopes the carillon player.

Steijns, is city carillon player for Maastricht, Weert and Heerlen, and played the mobile carillon in 2007 during André Rieu's world tour, who was then the owner of the bells. The tour included one hundred concerts from Tokyo to New York. After the tour Steijns bought the carillon from the orchestra leader.

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Last year the carillon, contained in six boxes each averaging 200 pounds was used on a boat during the first water procession in Maastricht.

Click on link to see a video of the bells as Frank tells how he and André designed them. Also a video TV news clip from last night with Frank telling of the theft: ►http://www.andrerieu-movies.com/FrankSteijns.html

Thanks to John for the great translation as usual and Ineke and Ruud for providing the extra photos and News Video for us.