John Klein

American carilloneur, pianist, organist, arranger, author and songwriter.
Born February 21, 1915 in Rahns, Pennsylvania, USA.
Died April 30, 1981 in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, USA.
Versatile John Klein is known in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, and Austria as a distinguished carillonneur. He is also multi-talented as a composer, arranger, teacher, author, organist, and pianist. His music - popular to classical - attracts a wide audience. During his musical career which includes 45 carillon records and 450 published compositions, Klein as appeared at the New York, Seattle and Brussells World Fairs, Montreal Expo 67, the Salisbury, Austria Music Festival and the International Music Festival at Cobh, Ireland. As a guest recitalist on the “Presidential” carillons, Klein has played the bells in Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Chapel, Harry S. Truman Library and Herbert Hoover Memorial Library.
As musical arranger and composer, Klein was first to combine the carillon with orchestra and chorus. He has been musical composer/arranger for stage, screen, radio and television shows and has written chamber music, choral music and commercial jingles.
As author, his two-volume book, “The First Four Centuries of Music” has been translated into foreign languages and his “Art of Playing the Modern Carillon” includes instructions, original compositions, transcripts and arrangements.
Klein has been honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, of which he is a member. He is also a member of the American Guild of Organists. Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith and Nadia Boulanger have been among Klein's teachers.
Klein was educated at the Philadelphia Musical Academy, the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg and Ursinus College, and in private music study with Nadia Boulanger, Igor Stravinsky, Marcel Dupre, and Paul Hindemith. Between 1937 and 1942 he was the chief organist for the Broadstreet Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ohio, and from 1944 to 1957 he was a pianist and composer for recordings, films, radio and TV.