(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Westminster Concert Bell Choir, conducted by Kathleen Ebling Shaw, will present a concert titled “Come What May” on Saturday, May 4 at 7:30pm in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, N.J. The program will feature music that reflects the joy of spring and will include original works; transcriptions of light classics such as Morning by Edvard Grieg and Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov; hymn tunes of the Lenten and Easter seasons; folk songs from Japan, Australia and Macedonia; plus Americana favorites.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors and are available at 609-921-2663 or online at www.rider.edu/arts.
Celebrating its 41st anniversary season, the Westminster Concert Bell Choir is composed of students at Rider University’s Westminster Choir College, which was the first institution in the world to develop such a program. Hailed for its virtuosity, the ensemble performs on the largest range of handbells in the world – 8 octaves, from C1 to C9. Many of the bells are made of bronze and range in weight from four ounces to 11 pounds; the choir also uses the large “Basso Profundo” aluminum-cast bells that are a new phenomenon in handbell ringing. The choir supplements its handbells with a six-octave set of Malmark Choirchime® instruments from C2 to C8 – the widest range in existence.
The Westminster Concert Bell Choir has appeared on Public Television’s Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and several holiday broadcasts of the Today show, including one in which the ensemble was joined for a performance by NBC television hosts Katie Couric and Willard Scott. Its holiday performances have been heard annually on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, and it is included on NPR’s Christmas Around The Country II recording. The choir has performed at Carnegie Hall twice during the Christmas season. Most recently, the choir was featured on New Jersey Network’s State Of The Arts program. The ensemble joined Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a critically acclaimed 15-city tour titled “A Royal Christmas.” The Choir has made 11 solo recordings.
Celebrating her 28th year as conductor of the Westminster Concert Bell Choir, Kathleen Ebling Shaw is a Westminster Choir College alumna and a member of the Sacred Music faculty at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where she teaches classes in handbell training and conducts a second handbell choir. Well known as a handbell clinician, Mrs. Shaw has conducted sessions for the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers both on the national and international levels. Her 2018 engagements included West Texas Handbell Festival, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians’ Music and Worship Conference at Montreat and the HMA Directors’ Seminar in Grand Rapids. She traveled with the Westminster Concert Bell Choir during the critically acclaimed 15-city North American “A Royal Christmas” tour, performing with Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. She has produced eight recordings with the Westminster Concert Bell Choir: Westminster Rings!, Praise and Adoration, Christmas at Westminster: The Westminster Concert Bell Choir, By Request, Westminster Concert Bell Choir: 30th Anniversary Collection, A Time To Dance, An English Christmas and Let Freedom Ring.
Mrs. Shaw is the recipient of an Alumni Merit Award from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in recognition of her dedication to the art of handbell ringing and her enthusiasm and accomplishments in the classroom as well as the concert hall.
Westminster Choir College of Rider University is located at 101 Walnut Lane in Princeton. To learn more about this concert and other Westminster performances, please go to www.rider.edu/arts.
