Despite the Storm

Westminster Concert Bell Choir

Kathleen Ebling Shaw, Conductor

May 14 – 23, 2023

SPRING TOUR Program

The program will be selected from the following:

Africa David Paich and Jeff Porcaro arr. Roger Emerson

Handbell arr. Carol Lynn Mizell

Allegro Maestoso

Bound for South Australia

George Frideric Handel arr. Frances Callahan

Traditional Sea Shanty arr. Alex Guebert

Despite the Storm Cathy Moklebust

Olivia Dunleavy, flute

I’m Still Standing

Now The Green Blade Riseth

Elton John & Bernie Taupin arr. Kevin McChesney

NOEL NOUVELET arr. Kevin McChesney

Over the Rainbow Harold Arlen arr. Tammy Waldrop

Promise Land Matilda D. Durham Southern Harmony, 1835 arr. Brian Childers

Singin’ in the Rain Nacio Herb Brown arr. Brian Tervo

Tempest Kevin McChesney

The Swan Camille Saint-Saëns arr. Martha Lynn Thompson

Valse No. 2 Peter I. Tchaikovsky from Le Lac des Cygnes arr. Hyosang Park

Wade in the Water African American Spiritual arr. Hart Morris

About the Artists

Westminster Concert Bell Choir

The 15-member Westminster Concert Bell Choir is composed of undergraduate and graduate students at Rider University. Its conductor is Kathleen Ebling Shaw. This year celebrates the 45th 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 that are a new phenomenon in handbell ringing. The Choir supplements their handbell set 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 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 15-city tour entitled “A Royal Christmas.” Most recently, the Choir 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 and Let Freedom Ring! .

Westminster Concert Bell Choir

Kathleen Ebling Shaw, Conductor

Jordan S. Allen, Graduate Assistant

Jordan S. Allen, Plainsboro, NJ

Kayla An, Bethpage, NY

Liberty Ashe, Quakertown, PA

Samuel Day, Narragansett, RI

Olivia Dunleavy, River Edge, NJ

Devin Embrich, West Palm Beach, FL

Jessica Koscak, Tamaqua, PA

Shayna Lee, Brea, CA

Rachel McNamara, North Attleboro, MA

Jordan Mongell, North Andover, MA

Gregory Nappa, Newton, NJ

Samantha Noble, Jersey City, NJ

Ashley Reinhardt, Stroudsburg, PA

Cecilia Simon, Mendham, NJ

Kelly Ye, Hangzhou, China

The Westminster Concert Bell Choir is grateful to have on loan the lower eighth and ninth octave bass handbells, the lower seventh octave Choirchime® Instruments, and the C6 to C8 CymBells® from Malmark, Inc. – Bellcraftsmen, Plumsteadville, PA. On the web: www.malmark.com