Jubiloso! Bells of Concordia
Founded in 2002, JUBILOSO! Bells of Concordia is an auditioned community-based ensemble. Its primary mission is to perform quality handbell music with artistic integrity, while promoting and maintaining a professional attitude in rehearsals and performances. The aim of JUBILOSO! is to perform at a variety of local and regional venues and to participate in other handbell and music-related projects.
JUBILOSO! appears at Concordia's annual Sacred Music Festival along with other Concordia ensembles. Concert partners include the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, Pro Coro Canada, Da Camera Singers, Sine Nomine, and Five of a Kind (brass quintet). The ensemble has performed at the Handbell Guilds of Canada's conference, the Ringing Link, in Penticton (2005) and Calgary (2011).
Members of the group were represented at the International Handbell Symposia in Brisbane, Australia (2006) where JUBILOSO'S founding artistic director, Dr. John Hooper, served as the representative conductor from Canada. Debbie Rice, the USA's representative at the International Handbell Symposia, became Jubiloso's present artistic director in 2010. In April 2013, Debbie will conduct the first international handbell festival tour of Israel, The Holy Land: A Musical Journey of Faith. Ringers from JUBILOSO! as well as others from Canada, the USA, Hong Kong, and Israel will be participating in this premier event.
JUBILOSO! has commissioned many works from composers including Patricia Thomson and John Hooper, and arrangements for bells and choir by Trent Worthington, Jacobus Kloppers and Larry Nickel. The group has been privileged to work with Kevin Ko of the EmBELLishment Handbell Ensemble in Hong Kong and Avid Harris of the Raleigh Ringers (North Carolina), and continues to work to developing skills in workshops and retreats.
The ensemble performs on a 6.5-octave set of Malmark handbells (F2 to C9), a 6-octave set of Malmark choirchimes® (C2 to C8) and a 5-octave set of Schulmerich melodychimes® (C3-C8), augmented with a 5-octave set of historic English Whitechapel bells (C3-C8) as well as various percussion instruments. JUBILOSO! includes musicians from all walks of life and performs a varied repertoire. Auditions are held annually.
This year's concerts include a collaboration with Concordia's Community Chorus in December, Concordia's Orchestra in February 2013 as well as its own spring concert in March. This is all in addition to concert in schools and Edmonton's surrounding area:
Saturday, December 15th, 2012 at 7:30pm
Christmas Concert with the Concordia Community Chorus
Sunday, February 10th, 2013 at 2pm
British Isles with the Concordia Symphony Orchestra
Saturday, March 23rd, 2013 at 7:30 pm – Spring Concert
Please contact Debbie Rice for an audition and registration information: deborah.rice@concordia.ab.ca.
