Photo Flash: RINGING IN THE HOLIDAYS Concert at Bushnell Performing Arts Center's Belding Theatre

On Monday, November 4, 2019, the stage of the Bushnell Performing Arts Center's Belding Theatre in Hartford, Connecticut, was alive with the sound of handbell music ... for the first time in its 90-year-history!

See photos of both the rehearsal and concert below!

The concert was produced by Global Bronze Productions, which united these 11 regional handbell ensembles to perform the Connecticut Premiere of The Great Christmas Ring and Now the Green Blade Riseth (Sing We Now of Christmas) under the baton of Award-Winning Maestro Kevin McChesney:

• Asylum Hill Congregational Church/Hartford, CT
• Celebration Ringers; Kensington Congregational Church/Kensington CT
• Ellington Congregational Church/Ellington, CT
• First Church of Christ UCC/West Hartford, CT
• First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich/Greenwich, CT
• Handbell Harmonies; First Congregational Church of Holliston/Holliston, MA
• Jubilate Ringers; First Church of Christ/Glastonbury, CT
• Jubilate Ringers; Music on the Hill/Wilton, CT
• Omega Bell Choir; Wesley United Methodist Church/Hadley, MA
• St. Luke's Lutheran Church/Gales Ferry, CT
• Wethersfield United Methodist Church/Wethersfield, CT

The Connecticut PREMIERE of The Great Christmas Ring, a multi-movement English handbell and handchimes composition featured adaptations of holiday favorites, from "Deck the Halls" and "Angels We Have Heard on High" to "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." The mass ring event was created by Phillip Lanier (GBP's Composer of Residence) and Neesa Hart.(GBP's Music Director).

Other handbell ensembles showcased at the Bushnell concert:

• Ring It!: A Stafford Regional Handbell Society Premiere Ensemble comprised of by audition-only youth ringers in grades 6 through 12 from Fredericksburg, VA. Conducted by Neesa Hart.
• WildRING!: A New England breakout group of experimental advanced ringers. Conducted by "RINGLeader" Rachel Cerullo.

Photo Credit: Maria Lopez
Kevin McChesney

Julia Falkenburg and Lindsay Cabaniss