The program will feature arrangements of such classics as J.S. Bachs Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring and Franz Liszts Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, as well as contemporary favorites, such as Believe from the film The Polar Express and Harold Arlens Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The ensemble will also perform original works composed for handbells, including Laudation by Arnold B. Sherman and Festival Sanctus by Cathy Moklebust.
The 16-member Westminster Concert Bell Choir is composed of undergraduate and graduate students of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, N.J. This year celebrates the 33nd year of the handbell curriculum at Westminster, which was the first institution in the world to develop such a program. Hailed for its virtuosity, the Westminster Concert Bell Choir uses the largest range of handbells in the world 8 octaves, from C1 to C9.
The ensemble has appeared on Public Televisions Mister Rogers Neighborhood and several holiday broadcasts of the Today show. Its holiday performances have been heard annually on National Public Radios Performance Today, and it is included on NPRs Christmas Around The Country II recording. The choir has performed at Carnegie Hall twice during the Christmas season. Most recently, the choir performed The Bells of New York with Josh Groban in the nationally televised lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York.
Westminster Concert Bell Choir Conductor Kathleen Ebling Shaw is a member of the sacred music department at Westminster Choir College, where she teaches classes in handbell training and conducts a second handbell choir. Well known as a handbell clinician, Ms. Ebling Shaw has conducted sessions for the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers both on the national and international level. She traveled with the Westminster Concert Bell Choir in a 15-city North American tour as part of A Royal Christmas performing with Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
Westminster Choir College is a division of Rider Universitys Westminster College of the Arts, which has campuses in Princeton and Lawrenceville, N.J. A professional college of music with a unique choral emphasis, Westminster prepares students at the undergraduate and graduate levels for careers in teaching, sacred music and performance.
Tickets for this performance are $10 for regular admission and $8 for students and seniors. To reserve a ticket, call the church office at 402-474-1505.