The Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble (MHE) will present its 20th anniversary concert at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, June 3th, 2023, at First United Methodist Church, 145 South Prairie Street, Whitewater, WI. Children (ages 6-12) and their families are invited to a free preconcert talk at 2:15 in the front of church which includes playing handbells and active discussion. This Platinum Celebration includes well-loved classic music, along with festive new works, traditional favorites from the past 20 years.
The world premier of “Platinum Celebration” composed for this event for the Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble is based on many of the pieces the Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble has played and includes many unique handbell techniques such as quickly pressing the bells on a table, using mallets, tipping them sideways and more. Other pieces include “Footloose” (1984 movie), “All You Need is Love” (Beatles), original handbell compositions showcasing the various handbell techniques.
Karen Armstrong currently plays handbells for two churches in Janesville, helps out with the bell choir at Fairhaven Senior Services in Whitewater, and plays for the Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble. She has been playing handbells for more than 30 years. She lived in Kenosha, played in an adult handbell choir, directed Children’s Chime & Handbell Choirs, and played in small ensembles. Then in 2016 she moved to Whitewater Lake, 20 minutes south of Whitewater. She got a job as an Occupational Therapist in the Janesville School District and began playing bells in three Janesville area churches where she met Jim Dahlgran, of Janesville, who also played in multiple church bell choirs. She had never rung duets before but with Jim’s guidance and patience, she learned the techniques involved and they have shared music with various audiences since 2017. They both auditioned for the MHE in August 2021 and they were ecstatic to be invited to join. Most of the MHE concerts in the past few years have been in the Milwaukee area so she is delighted that the First United Methodist Church of Whitewater is hosting a MHE concert on Sat. June 3rd at 3 p.m. It is a great location because she knows that some of the bell ringers from Fairhaven, as well as handbell ringers, friends and family from the surrounding communities will love to attend.
“I love playing handbells,” Karen Armstrong, Whitewater resident says , “because a handbell choir is an ensemble in the truest sense of the word. An entire handbell choir is itself a single instrument, with each musician responsible for their one, two, or more notes in the chromatic scale, like the black and white keys of the piano. Rich melodies are achieved when the members of the ensemble play together. I also love that the handbell repertoire has increased greatly in the last 20 or so years with handbell music coming in a variety of levels of difficulty and in a variety of genres, from religious to secular including many arrangements of popular tunes.”
“I love making music with handbells,” Jim Dahlgran from Janesville says. “I have always loved music and have been active in it since I was 8-10 yrs old. Handbells are a unique instrument in the percussion family that not only ring, but have a now myriad of other playing techniques that provide a very wide spectrum of sound. What other instrument can you beat with a stick or slam into the table? The other reason is friendship and extended family of like minded musicians.”
The Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble is grateful for its season sponsor: UNITY Lutheran Church in Brookfield.
About the Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble
Founded in 2003 the Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble (MHE) has gained wide popularity in our community and beyond. The organization is dedicated to further the art of handbell ringing by educating, inspiring and informing others on the art form by showcasing advanced handbell repertoire while being a musical resource for the Milwaukee metropolitan area and beyond. MHE is an auditioned community handbell ensemble with thirteen ringers who play 73 handbells and 73 hand chimes.
Within these 19 years, MHE has become known for amazing memorized performances, for premiering new arrangements of popular music, as well as being the recording choir for AGEHR Publishing. They have been guest performers with the Midwest Vocal Express, Bel Canto Chorus, Present Music and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. In fact, MHE has performed five times with MSO under conductors: Doc Severinsen, Stuart Chafetz, Jeff Tyzik, and Andreas Delfs.
Over the past seven years, MHE has expanded their reach by taking mini-tours to Minnesota, South Dakota and Michigan performing by invitation at the Area 7 Handbell Festival in Sioux Falls in 2016 and most recently, in the summer of 2018, played the closing concert of the National Seminar for the Handbell Musicians of America in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
About the Musical Director
Conductor, Kaethe Grabenhofer is the Artistic Director of The Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble. Grabenhofer has more than 25 years of handbell ringing experience and is driven to inspire and help others find inspiration in music. She believes in the power of music and brings music to a variety of audiences from senior centers to educational settings.
Grabenhofer has traveled to three continents in order to make music in different environments and with different people, with new experiences each time. This has shown her how people can communicate musically across language barriers. Through all of these experiences, she is eager to share music of other cultures to enable people to better understand the world around them and to engage them in the human musical experience.
Tracey Bowers, president of MHE, said, “She (Kaethe Grabenhofer) has many great ideas on where to take the group both physically and musically. I look forward to reaching out to more audiences with Kaethe leading MHE as we move into the future.”
“This concert has been 20 years in the making. As a former handbell musician, I am excited and inspired by the handbell talent in Milwaukee.,” said Grabenhofer. “I have always admired their innovation and precise ringing.”
Grabenhofer enjoys teaching music and playing the organ at First Immanuel Lutheran School in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Her educational background includes an MA in Music Education from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and a BA in education and music from Concordia University in Wisconsin. She holds a master teacher’s license in Wisconsin, Orff Master’s certificate, Kodaly levels and is a National Board Certified Teacher.
