Ring Sarasota’s eighth season explores music as it developed over the 20th Century.

Just as the 1900’s brought complex events and changes to our world, music evolved equally as quickly. Our concert music this season offers examples from some of these significant eras.

At the turn of the century, music paralleled the impressionist artists. Moon Over the Ruined Castle and The Stars Await are excellent examples of music that allows the listener to conjure mental images of their themes. The development of the jazz era, leading into the blues is represented by Georgia on my Mind.

The post-war era produced happier music for those who wanted to sing and dance. We offer Blue Tango and Fly Me to the Moon as mid-century examples. But no 20th-century music retrospective is complete without a song from the Beatles. For us, it is Hey Jude, transcribed for handbells by our own Rick Holdsworth. We complete late century pop music with The Prayer, originally performed by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli.

Handbell music has also evolved over the last half of the century. Our season includes some of the new music composed over the turn of our current century; pieces were written to showcase our exciting instrument.

Season 8
2017-2018

Alexander’s Ragtime Band, arr. Cynthia Dobrinski
And All That Jazz, arr. Nicholas A. Hanson
Blue Tango, arr. Cathy Moklebust
Cantabile, Emily Li
Exultate, Josh Bauder
Fly Me To the Moon, arr. Ron Mallory
Georgia On My Mind, arr. Hart Morris
Hey Jude, arr. Rick Holdsworth
Moon Over the Ruined Castle, arr. Kazuko Okamoto
Resounding Fury, Jason Krug
Salute to Our Military, arr. Valerie Stephenson
The Prayer, arr. Joel Raney
The Stars Await, Ron Mallory