The Westminster Concert Bell Choir’s new recording – Westminster Concert Bell Choir: 30th Anniversary Collection – celebrates the 30th year of the handbell program at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

It features selections from six of the ensemble’s seven recordings, made under the baton of either founding director Donald Allured or current director Kathleen Ebling-Thorne.  Works range from Fugue in G minor “Little” by Johann Sebastian Bach to arrangements of the Irish folk tune Be Thou My Vision and the jazz classic Take Five.  It is available through Westminster’s online store: www.westminsterchoircollege.org.

The 14-member Westminster Concert Bell Choir is composed of undergraduate and graduate students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, the world’s first institution of higher learning to develop a handbell program.

Hailed throughout the nation for its virtuosity, this dynamic ensemble performs with the world’s largest range of handbells – 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.  Additionally, members supplement their handbells with a six-octave set of Malmark Choirchime® instruments with a range of C2 to C8 – the widest 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 by 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 ensemble 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’s 2007-2008 season has included performances in Princeton and New York, as well as a concert tour of the Midwest.  Recent seasons have included a national concert tour, as well as performing with Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a critically acclaimed 15-city tour entitled “A Royal Christmas.”