Illustration by Laura Quisenberry / Design Editor
Cody Englander
Staff Writer
Miller Bell Tower has some competition today, as Chautauqua Institution becomes the temporary home of the largest performing collection of handbells, courtesy of The Raleigh Ringers.
The Raleigh Ringers return at 8 p.m. tonight to the Amphitheater stage, bringing with them an Americana-inspired setlist performed on a single type of instrument — handbells. The group, comprising 18 members and 494 individual pieces of bell equipment, intends to perform a wide selection of music.
“We will do handbell arrangements of a jazz piece, a folk song, a ragtime piece, a rock ’n’ roll piece and more,” David Harris, director of The Raleigh Ringers, said. “… Our goal is something for everyone in the audience. It’s not your typical handbell choir.”
The Raleigh Ringers, founded in 1990 in Raleigh, North Carolina, first performed on the Institution’s grounds in 1995 during Sunday’s Sacred Song Service. Their first full concert on the grounds was on July 4, 1999, which Harris mentioned as particularly special.
“We had [a bell composition of] ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’ written for that occasion and premiered it at Chautauqua Institution,” Harris said. “There was a huge flag drop at the end, which was pretty awesome.”
With the largest collection of handbells by any performing organization, their collection transcends borders and offers a wide range of sounds, with choir chimes and traditional handbells working in tandem during performances.
“Typically, a handbell choir has one set of handbells made by two of the main handbell manufacturers from Pennsylvania, but with The Raleigh Ringers, we have seven different kinds of bells, from those made in the U.S., to England, to Dutch bells,” Davis said. “We have a lot of bells that are different from what people normally hear in church.”
The group’s wide collection of handbells isn’t their only differentiator from other handbell groups, though. With 10 released projects in genres ranging from rock to classical, the group performs music composed for advanced handbell choirs.
“One of the things unique about us is that we commission music to be written for handbells,” Davis said. “We will approach a handbell arranger or composer and say, ‘Hey, we’d like this specific piece composed for bells,’ which may not have been done before.”
While The Raleigh Ringers have a regularly performed setlist, they dip into composed pieces and often debut fresh music at venues they’ve previously performed at, like Chautauqua Institution.
“We will introduce new music we’ve commissioned — that keeps [the performances] new and fresh,” Harris said.
Alongside the group’s complex compositions, The Raleigh Ringers are made up of high-level handbell performers.
“Since we are somewhat unique in what we do, we play more difficult and advanced music and attract some of the bell ringers that have reached their peak in particular organizations and want to do more,” Davis said.
Davis and The Raleigh Ringers look forward to performing their Americana-inspired performance in front of the Chautauqua crowd once more.
“We have a lot of serious pieces we play, but we have fun too,” Davis said.
