TORRINGTON – Two local handbell choirs, the Platter River Ringers and the Wyo West Ringers, will host their annual handbell choir clinic Nov. 18 at Eastern Wyoming College.
The event, WyoRing, will feature the local choirs, based at First Wyoming United Presbyterian Church in Torrington, along with handbell choirs from around southeast Wyoming, west Nebraska and north Colorado.
Highlight of the day will be a free, public concert, scheduled for 4 p.m. in the EWC Fine Arts Auditorium, featuring the combined talents of all the ringers performing collectively with massed ringing numbers. There will also be solo, duet, and individual bell choir performances.
Clinician and director of the event will be John Fitzgerald of Dallas, Texas. Originally from Colorado, Fitzgerald has performed with numerous auditioned bell choirs across the country and has traveled around the world as both performer and instructor, according to a press release. His accomplishments include launching a handbell ministry in Nicaragua, touring Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria with the group Kokopelli Bells and touring Japan with the Sonos Handbell Ensemble.
“Handbells are as fun to watch as they are to hear,” said Diona Savoy-McDaniels, a local bell ringer and coordinator of the event. “WyoRing also gives us a chance to connect with fellow handbell musicians we might only see at handbell events, which are few and far between, so it could mean seeing one another maybe once a year.”
WyoRing is endorsed by the Handbell Musicians of America, Area 11, which includes Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. For more information, call (307) 532-2595 or (307) 575-6490 to learn more about WyoRing.
