The Houston Bronze Ensemble, a community handbell ensemble from the greater Houston area, will celebrate their 30th Anniversary with a dinner/concert on May 18, 2019 in the banquet hall of Maggiano's on Post Oak Blvd. Watch our website and Facebook for more information on this event. It was now almost 30 years ago that our founders met for lunch with the purpose of forming an ensemble where directors from the churches would have an opportunity to ring. With nothing but a paper napkin to jot down possible names of members, our ensemble was created.
You are invited to attend the Houston Bronze Ensemble’s
30th Anniversary Dinner/Concert
Tickets available at: https://hbe30.eventbrite.com
30th Anniversary Dinner/Concert
Tickets available at: https://hbe30.eventbrite.com
The Houston Bronze Ensemble, is happy to announce the winners of our 30th Anniversary Original Composition Contests. The ensemble met on December 4 to read through the entries in the contest. We received 14 compositions. After reading through the compositions, the entire ensemble voted for the winning compositions. In a very close competition, first place was awarded to “Trinity”, composed by Caleb Onstead. The second place award was given to Rob Riker for “Tapestry”. We look forward to working on these two excellent compositions when we begin rehearsals in January. They will both be performed at our 30th Anniversary Dinner/Concert on May 18, 2019 and then again on Sunday, May 19, at Trinity Klein Lutheran Church.
Meet Caleb Onstead
Meet Caleb Onstead: Recently turning 19 years old, Caleb’s handbell experience started in 2006 when he participated in handchime and handbell programs at his local church. By 2013, he had attended his first Handbell Musicians of America Festival Conference. He has since become a regular attendee of the local North Hills Handbell Festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as Bay View Week of Handbells in Petoskey, Michigan led by Fred Gramann. He has also rung with Grove City, PA Celebration Ringers and Ring Pittsburgh of Allison Park, PA. Caleb’s interest in composing began in 2014 with the purchase of Finale software. By Summer of 2015 his first piece, “Fanfare and Variation in C”, was completed and accepted for publication. Caleb has five pieces now in publication or accepted for publication, including “Trinity”. Caleb is also an advancing pianist. When not composing, he is working towards ARCT diplomas in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. He enjoys the non-musical pastimes of reading, fishing, and watching movies. Caleb and his cat, Allegro, reside in Berlin Pennsylvania.
Meet Rob Riker
Rob Riker graduated from Bucknell University with a BA in Music and followed that a few years later with a Master’s Degree in Education from the same institution. While at Bucknell, he sang with the Rooke Chapel Choir, the Concert Chorale, and rang with the Rooke Chapel Ringers, all under the direction of Dr. William Payn. Since that time, he has been the Director of Music at Moravian Academy Upper School, where he conducts three handbell choirs, two vocal choirs, and an the a cappella group Coda Red. He also teaches music theory and composition and is the Chair the Fine and Performing Arts Department. In his “free time” he is the technical director and manager of the Dyer Auditorium at Moravian, where he creates and teaches lighting and sound design and helps with all aspects of technical theatre. He composes and arranges music for vocal ensembles as well as for handbells and boomwhackers at Moravian. This year he has taken the reins as the director of the Rooke Chapel Ringers at Bucknell University, where he follows in the footsteps of his longtime mentor Dr. Payn. He lives in South Whitehall, PA, with his wife Laura, his son Jonathan (now a student at Bucknell himself), daughter Alison, and his pup Ruby. He is happy to report that everyone in the family rings bells (even Ruby, who has to in order to go outside!).