Christmas concert features WSU prof Dean Roush to perform Christmas holiday carillon concert

Dean Roush will perform a Christmas carillon concert from noon-1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19, from the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum at 204 S. Main.

Roush is a professor in Wichita State University’s School of Music and the director for WSU’s musicology/composition program. He is also the organist and choirmaster at St. John Episcopal Church in Wichita.

This is one of five annual carillon concerts sponsored by the Sam and Rie Bloomfield Foundation, according to associate professor emeritus Robert Town, who coordinates the annual carillon series.

Other concerts are on or near Easter, Independence Day, Memorial Day and Thanksgiving Day. The carillon can be heard throughout downtown Wichita.

Sam Bloomfield was founder, president and chief engineer of the Swallow Airplane Co. The Bloomfields lived in Wichita from the mid-1930s to mid-1950s. They have never forgotten their ties to the city and university, said Town.

"There are no others who played a more active role in the development of the city’s cultural, educational and charitable resources," Town said. "One of the Bloomfields' significant gifts to the city was the downtown carillon, which is one of the few urban carillons in the nation."