At Water’s Edge
Westminster Concert Bell Choirs
Gillian Erlenborn, conductor
Ben Kirk, graduate assistant Samuel Messenger, accompanist
Friday, March 28th at 7:30 p.m.
Trinity Presbyterian Church
499 Marlton Pike East
Cherry Hill Township, NJ 08034
Sunday, April 13th at 4:00 p.m.
Gill Memorial Chapel
Rider University
2083 Lawrenceville Road
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Program
Jovano, Jovanke
Macedonian Folk Song
Arr. Michael W. Joy
Deep River Traditional Spiritual
Arr. Janet Linker and Jane McFadden
Samuel Messenger, piano
Le Lac des Cygnes Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake, Act 1, No. 2 Valse Arr. Hyosang Park
I’ve Got Peace Like a River
Westminster Concert Bell Choir II
At the Water’s Edge
Ben Kirk, Alexa Farah, Jessica Koscak, and Cecilia Simon, quartet
Samuel Messenger, piano
Traditional Spiritual
Arr. Linda R. Lamb
Jason W. Krug
Down the River
Jason W. Krug
The Skye Boat Song
Intermission
Traditional Scottish Folk Song
Arr. Matthew Compton
The Great Barrier Reef
Claire Fritz, alto
Ben Glick, tenor
Timothy Sherlock
The Water Is Wide Traditional English Folk Song
arr. Valerie W. Stephenson
Westminster Concert Bell Choir II
Ben Kirk, conductor
Reflections Karen Lakey Buckwalter
Bound for South Australia
Traditional Sea Shanty
arr. Alex Guebert
About the Artists
WESTMINSTER CONCERT BELL CHOIR
The Westminster Concert Bell Choir is composed of undergraduate and graduate students at Rider University. Its conductor is Gillian Erlenborn. This year marks the 47th year of the handbell curriculum at Westminster Choir College who 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. Many of the bells are made of bronze and range in weight from four ounces to eleven pounds; the Choir also uses the large “Basso Profundo” aluminum-cast bells. The Choir supplements their handbell set with a six-octave set of Malmark Choirchime® instruments from C2 to C8 – the widest range in existence.
Known widely across the country for its annual performance tours, Westminster Concert Bell Choir has visited more than 40 States. Most recently, the ensemble traveled the southeast in January 2024.
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 NBC television personalities Katie Couric and Willard Scott joined the ensemble. 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 and was featured on New Jersey Network’s State Of The Arts program.
In December 2002, the ensemble joined Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a critically acclaimed 15city tour entitled A Royal Christmas. The Choir also joined singer, Josh Groban, appearing at NBC’s nationally televised Lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
The Choir has made eleven recordings: The Pealing Bells, Westminster Concert Bell Choir, Christmas Bells, 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, Let Freedom Ring! and is featured on the recently released recording An Evening of Readings and Carols (The 30th Anniversary Live Recording)
WESTMINSTER CONCERT BELL CHOIR I
Gillian Erlenborn, conductor
Ben Kirk, graduate assistant conductor
Mackenzie Berry, Frederick, MD
Katrina Blowitski, Southampton, PA
Jessie Zixi Deng, Jiangxi, China
Alexa Farah, Northvale, NJ
Claire Fritz, Elizabethtown, PA
Jiayun Gao, Shanghai, China
Ben Glick, New Holland, PA
Sean D. Haugh, Point Pleasant, NJ
Ben Kirk, Lumberton, NJ
Jessica Koscak, Tamaqua, PA
Luke McNamara, Somerset, NJ
Cecilia Simon, Mendham, NJ
Haley Soule, Middleboro, MA
WESTMINSTER
CONCERT
Gillian Erlenborn, conductor
BELL CHOIR II
Ben Kirk, graduate assistant conductor
Joshua D. Bacomo, West Babylon, NY
Jeremy T. Burt, Winfield, NJ
Maya Cooper, Fairfax, VA
Casey E. Decker, Edison, NJ
Xavier Desrosiers, Southampton, PA
Jonah DeVinney, Boca Raton, FL
Amy Daniela Hernandez, Trenton, NJ
Ana Klarmann, Waldorf, MD
Aaron M. Lynch, Rochester, NY
Anna Maher, Ipswich, MA
Briseis R. Munoz, Laveen, AZ
Alivia G. Nawrocki, Marlton, NJ
Lena M. Santore, Buena, NJ
About Rider University & Westminster Choir College
Located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Rider University is a private co-educational, student-centered university that emphasizes purposeful connections between academic study and real-world learning experience. Rider prepares graduates to thrive professionally, to be lifelong independent learners, and to be responsible citizens who embrace diversity, support the common good, and contribute meaningfully to the changing world in which they live and work.
The College of Arts and Sciences is dedicated to educating students for engaged citizenship, career success, and personal growth in a diverse and complex world. The college cultivates intellectual reflection, artistic creativity, and academic maturity by promoting both broad academic inquiry and in-depth disciplinary study, while nurturing effective and ethical applications of transferable critical skills. The College consists of four schools: the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, the School of Communication, Media, and Performing Arts, the School of Science, Technology, and Mathematics, and Westminster Choir College.
Culturally vibrant and historically rich, Westminster Choir College has a legacy of preparing students for thriving careers as well-rounded performers and musical leaders on concert stages, in schools, universities, and churches, and in professional and community organizations worldwide. Renowned for its tradition of choral excellence, the college is home to internationally recognized ensembles, including the Westminster Symphonic Choir, which has performed and recorded with virtually all of the major orchestras and conductors of our time. In addition to its choral legacy, Westminster is known as a center for excellence in musical pedagogy and performance.
Upcoming Performances
WESTMINSTER JUBILEE SINGERS: PSALMS, HYMNS, AND SPIRITUAL SONGS
Saturday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.
Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER CHAPEL CHOIR: STEP INTO THE WORLD
Sunday, April 27, 3 p.m.
Gill Chapel
WESTMINSTER ORGAN STUDIO RECITAL
Monday, April 28, 7 p.m.
Gill Chapel
ARTBEAST
Friday, May 2, 3 p.m.
Rider University
SENIOR DANCE CAPSTONE SHOWCASE
Friday, May 2, 7:30 p.m.
Bart Luedeke Center Theater
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
Friday, May 2, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 3, 2 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 4, 2 p.m.
Yvonne Theater
WESTMINSTER CHOIR: THE SENSE OF SENSES
Saturday, May 3, 5 p.m.
Gill Chapel
