‘Bell Fever’ Turns Into a Lifelong Passion for Lisa Lonie

Many staff and faculty members at Salus are well known and respected for their work in their chosen profession. But there are many that take that proverbial left turn out of the parking lot and devote time to a totally different profession. One such person is Lisa Lonie, the executive assistant to president Dr. Michael Mittelman. 

She is a musician and carillonneur at three local Philadelphia carillons. What is a carillon? It’s a set of at least 23 fixed chromatically tuned bells in a tower that make sound when struck with clappers controlled by a manual keyboard. Carillons are musical instruments with origins in Medieval Europe, and are typically housed in the tower of a church or municipal building.

Lonie was introduced to bells when she was a “tween” playing in a handbell choir. The choir’s conductor, Frank Law, was also the carillonneur at the Washington Memorial National Carillon in Valley Forge, Pa., and introduced the members of the handbell choir to the carillon.

“After that, I was hooked,” she said, who refers to it as “bell fever,” a description of the passion for the instrument’s heritage, intimacy and beauty. “But I didn’t want to play bells that only weighed a few pounds. I wanted to ring bells that were measured in thousands of pounds.”

And, that’s exactly what she did. Lonie – who has worked at Salus since 1991 – is ringing in another holiday season as a master carillon player.

Her talent is showcased at many churches and venues, including Longwood Gardens. She now is in charge of three local carillons: the 25-bell carillon of the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square (the oldest carillon in North America); the 48-bell carillon at St. Thomas Church in Whitemarsh, Pa.; and the 67-bell – the largest bell weighing 12,880 pounds - carillon at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J. In 2012, Lonie was named Princeton’s fourth University carillonneur. A position historically held by males, she is the very first female to hold the title in the carillon’s greater than 90-year history. She also teaches carillon at Princeton.

As the carillonneur for St. Thomas' Church and the Church of the Holy Trinity, she was featured in 2018 on 6ABC Action News playing the iconic Philadelphia Eagles fight song on Rittenhouse Square and in Whitemarsh.  “It’s not all about hymns, all the time,” she said.

“Every Sunday I’m performing on two or more carillons,” said Lonie. “It’s my musical passion. Together with my colleagues – yes there are more of us – we manage nine manual carillons in the Delaware Valley.”

Known for her ability to keep the audience’s toes tapping with her creative musical arrangements, Lonie has performed at internationally acclaimed carillon festivals, conferences, as well as for several national congresses of the Guild of Carillonneurs and for international gatherings of the World Carillon Federation. She is a frequent recitalist throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. She also performs with her duet partner, Janet Tebbel, as The Treblemakers. 

The holidays are a special time for Lonie and the big bells, although she gets ready for the season well before Jack Frost starts nipping at noses.

“With the ringing bells, attention is drawn to the holiday season. For me, however, the holidays actually begin at the end of September when I pull repertoire, learn new pieces or dust off old ones and start planning a recital schedule that’s condensed into the last few weeks leading up to December 25,” she said. “The back of my car resembles a mini file room, each folder of repertoire earmarked for a particular instrument, on a certain date for a certain event. You can’t play ‘I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas’ at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, but you can play it at Princeton. You can play ‘Infant Holy, Infant Lowly’ at St. Thomas, but not at Longwood Gardens. And, so it goes.”

Lonie is one of the featured performers on the CD recording, “Princeton Carillon, Class of 1892” and on the NBC television special "Ringing in the Holidays at Longwood Gardens." More than 10,000 copies of her CD, The Bells of Christmas at Longwood Gardens, have been sold.