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Arts Playlist: Capital Ringers

Many people may be familiar with hand bells from church but the Capital Ringers play everything from the sacred to the secular. The Dover based ensemble features an impressive set of hand bells with six octaves, or 73 bells, played by multiple ringers.

 

Their performances often include a multimedia component with a projector displaying film clips behind them. In the case of their new show, concert goers will see lots of clips from movies and performances from the Great White Way.

 

The ensemble’s Artistic Director Linda Simms says their new show “Broadway to Hollywood,” is a show stopper.

“It’s been a lot of fun for us to be able to resurrect some of the melodies from some of our favorite movies, particularly the Disney movies,” she says. “We have “The Lion King,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Little Mermaid” represented in our show along with a lot of great tunes from Broadway like “Phantom of the Opera.”

It’s certainly not your Grandmother’s hand bells.

 

“No, it's not,” Simms says with a smile. “That’s exactly what we want everyone to understand and I think they’ll see that when they come and see for themselves.”

 

The ensemble will perform Saturday night at the Smyrna Opera House and Sunday May 31st at Epworth United Methodist Church in Rehoboth Beach.

 

This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.