Bronze Buzz

On the road with Twin Cities Bronze

The traveling schedule has been hectic this summer and fall for Twin Cities Bronze.

In July, the group went on a Dakota Territory tour, the highlights being a showcase performance at the International Music Camp at the International Peace Garden on the border between Manitoba and North Dakota, and additional concerts in cities around North and South Dakota.

In September, Twin Cities Bronze promoted itself at the Arts Midwest Conference held in St. Paul, both with a concert featuring all the genres of music the group performs and a promotional booth. An Insights into Artistry workshop was scheduled in Waconia, Minn., later in the month, but due to a scheduling conflict, this workshop turned into a Sunday afternoon performance at Trinity Lutheran Church.

October brought another trip to North Dakota, this time to Grand Forks. A relaxing weekend was spent discussing the next 10 years for Twin Cities Bronze and ringing a concert at United Lutheran Church. The local public television crew was at the concert, interviewing members and audience guests, giving Twin Cities Bronze a great promotional boost. An Insights into Artistry workshop is scheduled for September 2010 in Grand Forks.

The program for the concerts this summer highlighted songs from the past 10 years for Twin Cities Bronze, as well as two “new” selections in their repertoire: “Fantasy in C” by C. William Goff, which opens all concerts and “August 9th Adagio” by Edward Elgar, arranged by Chad Etzel. The group rings the later piece in memory of David Davidson , who was heavily involved in AGEHR at the national level and conducted Distinctly Bronze for ten years, which some members of Twin Cities Bronze attended during his tenure as Maestro. He lost his battle with cancer in September of this year.

Upcoming holiday events include the annual concert at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the Doc Severinsen holiday concert and Twelfth Night Concert on Jan. 9, 2010.

Twin Cities Bronze Performs in First Concert of Its Kind

Twin Cities Bronze members had a full and busy day April 4. The ensemble joined up with Strikepoint from Duluth, River Bend Bells from Mankato and Bells of the Lakes from Minneapolis in a joint concert held at the Bloomington Center for the Arts.

According to organizers, this four choir concert was a first in AGEHR history.

The choirs performed en masse "Sharon's Song" by Donald Allured, "It is Well with My Soul" by Phillip P. Bliss and arranged by Cathy Moklebust and "Evening Meditation" by Michael Helman under the direction of TCBronze's Monica McGowan, Strikepoint's Bill Alexander and River Bend Bells' Wendy Greiner respectively.

Each choir also performed three or four solo pieces. TCBronze showcased "Danza Festivo" by Arnold Sherman, "Bells in My Heart" by Kazuko Okamoto, "Aria for Handbells" by Dale Wood featuring the Petit and Fritzen Dutch handbells and "Exultate" by Josh Bauder.

The concert ended with the mass choirs ringing "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel and arranged by William H. Mathis, who directed. "Bolero" is written in four separate parts, that, when combined together, build during the piece to mimic the full orchestral sound Ravel originally composed. This was the first time Mathis' "Bolero" arrangement was performed with four handbell choirs as it had been written.

Twin Cities Bronze Raises Hundreds of Dollars at Mid-Winter Benefit Concert

Twin Cities Bronze, one of the nation's premier English Handbell ensembles, raised over $800 in freewill offerings for two local causes at their Mid-Winter Concert.

The 60 minute concert featured a wide variety of repertoire and was attended by 115 people on Saturday, January 24th at Peace United Methodist Church in Shoreview, MN. Twin Cities Bronze is one of the few professional handbell ensembles that perform without a conductor. They rely on musicianship, teamwork, and technical and musical execution to thrill audiences with classical and secular selections.

Proceeds from the Mid-Winter Concert were split between Peace United Methodist which graciously provides rehearsal and storage space for Twin Cities Bronze, and The Allen Benefit Fund. The Allen Benefit Fund was established to raise money to help offset medical costs for Janine and Bernie Allen, who were critically injured in a motorcycle accident in August of 2008.

Monica McGowan, the Artistic Director of Twin Cities Bronze, said, "As a professional ensemble, I believe it is important for Twin Cities Bronze to be an active participant and supporter of organizations, and people. Ringing a benefit concert of this type is somewhat unusual for us, but it was a successful event for everyone."

Twin Cities Bronze is available for fundraising performances on a limited basis. For more information, contact Ms. McGowan at 952-461-7261.

'Jingle Bell Doc' is one blowout holiday show

By Rob Hubbard

Special to the Pioneer Press

Article Last Updated: 12/20/2008 01:39:56 AM CST

If your ideal Christmas concert is something subdued, simple and solemn, then this weekend's Minnesota Orchestra pops programs are definitely not for you. The orchestra's longtime pops conductor, Doc Severinsen, has returned to town to lead an extravaganza as flamboyant as his eye-popping wardrobe.

On Friday night, the Minnesota Orchestra was one of five ensembles on stage for arrangements of Christmas music that swung, swooned, soothed and skipped along pleasantly. The groups crowding the stage of Minneapolis' Orchestra Hall traded tunes when they weren't collaborating, giving the concert the flavor of a holiday buffet. And thanks to Severinsen's enthusiastic leadership (and ebullient boosterism), it proved to be an entertaining blockbuster of a concert.

When the orchestra wasn't lending its sumptuous sound to some lush arrangement of a seasonal song, the Minnesota Chorale was hypnotizing with its harmonies. Or Twin Cities Bronze was filling the hall with the sound of hand bells. Or Stillwater's Ascension Youth Choir was reminding everyone of the special quality children's voices bring to carols. Or, perhaps most enjoyably, Severinsen was bopping along with a big band, scaling the peaks of his trumpet's range.

While the results were always admirable when Severinsen let one of the ensembles strut its stuff, the concert was at its most thrilling when the assembled multitudes joined forces. A John Rutter arrangement of "Deck the Halls" was a fine forum for the Minnesota Chorale's talents, but passing the tune off to the bebopping big band was a welcome choice, too.

Other impressive performances came when the Minnesota Chorale's leader, Kathy Saltzman Romey, took the podium for a lovely arrangement of "What Child is This?" And when Severinsen's solo trumpet soared atop the orchestra on "O Holy Night," his high notes proved as exciting as back in his days leading the "Tonight Show" orchestra.

A pretty straight reading of the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's "Messiah" proved a full-voiced finale for what had the air of one last big musical blowout on the holiday calendar.

Rob Hubbard is an associate producer for American Public Media's "Performance Today."