Sinfonietta
performed Feb 20, 2005

Kevin McChesney graduated with highest honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a BMus in Composition and Theory. A composer and arranger of handbell music, Kevin currently has over 450 titles in print and is one of the very few musicians who makes handbells a full-time vocation. He has won numerous awards for his work, including American Guild of English Handbell Ringers Composition Contests and Jeffers Composer of the Year. Kevin was a church music director in Methodist and Presbyterian churches for 12 years. For 5 years, he was also accompanist and co-director for the vocal music department at Air Academy High School, where he co-directed a major production each fall season for 11 years. Kevin is currently the handbell editor for Jeffers Handbell Supply and the RingingWord catalog. He directs an auditioned community handbell choir, the Pikes Peak Ringers. He is also co-founder of the Solo To Ensemble Project, STEP, and authors a quarterly newsletter containing instruction and information for handbell programs, the Handbell Classroom. Both STEP and the Handbell Classroom can be found on the web at http://www.SteProject.com. He is in demand throughout the handbell world as a workshop clinician and festival conductor. Kevin lives in Colorado Springs, CO, with his wife Tracy and their cats, Belle and Grace Note.

The handbell choir as a musical endeavor has been in existence only a short time (since the 1950's) in comparison to other musical instruments. Until recently, handbells have been relegated largely to church services and school programs, where their development has been furthered but where there are by nature limits to the technical and musical possibilities for the instrument. There has been little to no material for the instrument which allows the handbell choir a full range of freedom and virtuosity. This was the starting point for Ring of Fire, Concerto for Handbell Choir and Orchestra.

The vision behind Ring of Fire, Concerto for Handbell Choir and Orchestra, is to bring the handbell choir fully into the view of a wide concert audience as a musical instrument of much expressive intricacy and power, much like Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) did for the guitar. While the solo part is virtuoso music (and therefore not immediately accessible to the average handbell choir), McChesney's goal is to inspire higher achievement in handbell performance and composition, and to offer audiences an appreciation of this versatile instrument.

Though he had considered writing a major work for handbell ensemble and orchestra, McChesney had left the idea nebulous until he worked with a virtuoso handbell ensemble - The Ring Of Fire of Tualitin, Oregon, Jason Wells, Director, I knew that the time had come to bring the vision to life. With such a group in existence, an ensemble that has already "raised the bar" for the handbell world in many ways, the timing was right for the creation of the present concerto.

McChesney writes of the piece, "The music of the three movements has a central theme of creation. The subtitles - Heaven and Earth, The Sea, and Fire - are the four main elements of life and creation common to many mythologies and religions throughout history. Handbells themselves are cast from a form of these elements - earth and metal, oils and water, air and fire for molding and tempering - so a connection to the creation theme seemed natural. The main titles are also related to a creation theme, portraying first the rhythm and dance of the fires of creation, second the peace of fire, and finally the explosive energy of fire. It is hoped that these titles also make an elegant tribute to the handbell choir that inspired the completion of this project. I am deeply grateful to Jason Wells and The Ring Of Fire for their inspiration, and to all who support and further this artistic endeavor."

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