Group features 16 musicians using variety of devices, including handbells
After two successful performances this season, Ring Sarasota is headed to Siesta Key’s St. Boniface Episcopal Church for its third performance of Highways & Byways, the musical group has announced.
That program will be held at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 21, a news release says.
“Not your traditional handbell choir,” Ring Sarasota has 16 musicians utilizing 14 pairs of mallets, 95 handbells, 70 chimes, and one keyboard during their performances, the release adds.
“Playing off the ‘travel canceled because of COVID’ [situation] we’ve been dealing with for 10 months, Highways & Byways will take you on a guided musical tour with cinematography through the highways and byways of our great country,” the release notes.
From their base in Sarasota the musicians “will join a hoedown Deep in the Heart of Texas, dance the Tennessee Waltz, give their regards to old Broadway, jive to those California Good Vibrations, sit By the Lakeside in Minnesota, enjoy a Mint Julep with Georgia on My Mind, march to the Washington Post in DC, and bring it all back home to Beneath the Sparkling Skies of Sarasota,” the release says.
Because of social distancing guidelines, masks and pre-registration for the St. Boniface program is required at the website below, the release adds:
https://secure.accessacs.com/access/eventlogin.aspx?id=LsY2eRuCnmt9h1UUxnz9dA==&site=90120&ReturnUrl=events%2fwz_people.aspx&ChurchID=2088&EventID=203887&sn=90120.
For those that cannot attend in person, the live streaming link is https://boxcast.tv/view/st-boniface-concert-series-ring-sarasota-289221.
“Dedicated to enhancing handbell ringing as an art form,” Ring Sarasota is under the direction of former Navy bandleader Rick Holdsworth, the release points out. The group showcases more than 200 bells rung by 16 ringers “to create a symphony of sound with special effects mimicking the piccolo, percussion, chimes, and trombone, even the Tibetan singing bowl!” the release notes. “Ring Sarasota attracts member ringers from as far north as Tampa Bay and as far south as Fort Myers.”
For more information, visit RingSarasota.org, or facebook.com/RingSarasota.