Robert Donnell
Robert Donnell received his musical training in Canada, the United States and Europe. He was appointed carillonneur of the Cutten Memorial Carillon at St. George’s Church in Guelph, Ontario, following its inauguration in 1926. In 1936 he was appointed assistant to Percival Price in Ottawa. After graduating from the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium, in 1938, Donnell succeeded Price as Dominion Carillonneur in 1940. From 1939 to 1942, Donnell also studied orchestration and composition in New York City under Bernard Wagenaar, at the Juilliard School, and under William Flanagan, at the New York College of Music, then served with the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1942 to 1945. He was a charter member of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America and sat on its board of directors, serving as music advisor, as president, and as host of the Guild’s congresses in Ottawa in 1955 and 1967. After retiring as Dominion Carillonneur in 1975, he continued to play at the Rainbow Tower Carillon in Niagara Falls, Ontario, where he performed guest recitals until his death in 1986.
