Westminster Concert Bell Choir, conducted by Kathleen Ebling Shaw, will present a concert titled “Going Global” on Saturday, May 9.
The Westminster Concert Bell is set to present its “Going Global” concert on Saturday, May 9 at 4 p.m. The event will take place in Westminster Choir College’s Bristol Chapel located at 101 Walnut Lane in Princeton. The ensemble will be joined by Hyosang Park and Akiko Hosaki members of Duo Grazioso, a handbell and piano duo.
The program will feature folk songs from around the world, performed on the world’s largest range of handbells and Choirchime instruments, including Arirang from Korea, Sakura from Japan and El Vito from Spain. The ensemble will also perform a medley of American patriotic works and a stunning arrangement of Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever.
The 16-member Westminster Concert Bell Choir is composed of undergraduate and graduate students of Westminster Choir College of Rider University. This year celebrates the 37th year of the handbell curriculum at Westminster Choir College, which was the first institution in the world to develop such a program.
The ensemble 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 NBC television personalities 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. Recently, 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.” The choir joined singer Josh Groban, appearing on NBC’s nationally televised Lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
Conductor Kathleen Ebling Shaw is a member of the Sacred Music Department at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where she teaches classes in handbell training and conducts a second handbell choir. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, she is also director of music at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Doylestown, Pa. Well known as a handbell clinician, Mrs. Shaw has conducted sessions for the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers both on the local and national levels. Other engagements have included sessions for the American Guild of Organists; the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas Music Educators Conferences; Presbyterian Association of Musicians Conferences; the St. Olaf Church Music Conference; and International Handbell Symposia in Japan, England, Korea, Australia and the United States.
A solo handbell ringer, Hyosang Park has performed at numerous churches and venues in the New Jersey, including Hillsborough Reformed Church at Millstone, Princeton United Methodist Church and Event Center, Witherspoon Presbyterian Church and Westminster Choir College. She appeared with Ms. Hosaki at the Community Thanksgiving Service at the Princeton University Chapel in 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014. Ms. Park is the music director at Princeton United Methodist Church, and teaches general music and handbell music at St. Jerome Catholic School in West Long Branch. She also serves as a staff accompanist at Westminster Choir College.
A collaborative pianist and vocal coach, Akiko Hosaki frequently appears with singers, instrumentalists, and conductors in the United States, especially in the New York, Princeton and Philadelphia area. She has served as accompanist/basso continuo player with the American Boychoir, Fuma Sacra, Princeton Girl Choir, Westminster Community Chorus, Princeton Pro Musica, Princeton Symphony, Garden State Philharmonic, Westminster Community Orchestra, Ashgrove Ensemble, Maryland Sinfonia and Riverside Symphonia. She has also performed at the World Saxophone Congress XIII, Tubonium2 and 3 as official accompanist. Well known for her “sensitive playing,” she collaborates regularly with the voice and conducting faculty members at Westminster, including Rochelle Ellis, Nancy Froysland Hoerl, Margaret Cusack and Joe Miller. She also frequently performs with soprano Teresa D’Amico, mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bouk and duo-piano with José Meléndez.
Tickets for the performances are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. They can be purchased at the door, through the Westminster box office at (609) 921-2663 or online at rider.edu/arts.
,
