Need music for your event this winter? It’s time to book us for the 2015 Christmas and holiday season!
Handbells can bring a magical and festive atmosphere to any Christmas or holiday event. We can give a seasonal performance of carols and holiday music. We can provide background music to add that special, welcoming touch to your corporate event or holiday gathering. Nothing says Christmas quite as well as the traditional sound of English handbells beside the Christmas tree. . Our duet performances can bring the sounds of the season to hotel lobbies, church services, shopping malls and private homes!
As the 2015 Christmas and holiday season approaches, we’re looking forward to some fun performances! We’ll be joining VoiceWorks for a concert on December 13th. You’ll also be able to see us at the German Holiday Market in Mountain View. If you’re near El Cerrito, look for us at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display. We’ll also be adding the beautiful sound of handbells to annual services of remembrance in Palo Alto and Oakland.
We were excited to be performing for the second time at the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display in El Cerrito! This display has been a tradition since 1950, when El Cerrito resident Mr Sundar Shadi began by placing a single star in his hillside yard. Every year, the display grew as Mr Shadi made more handmade figures from papier-mâché and recycled materials. Soon it became a much-loved place to visit. Mr Shadi considered it his gift to the people in the community. He continued to put up the display annually until 1996, when age and failing eyesight forced him to stop.
After Mr Shadi’s death in 2002, thanks to the efforts of the Soroptomists of El Cerrito, the Professional Firefighters Contra Costa County Local 1230, local businesses and volunteers, the Shadi sculptures made a triumphant return. They are now in a new location, on Moeser Lane. This year, you’ll be able to see them until December 26, lit up between 5:00pm and 10:00pm every evening.
We played handbell duets on the opening night of the display this year, and were pleased that it wasn’t as cold or windy as last year! Playing handbells on such a steep slope is a bit of a challenge, but we’re fortunate to need only our small percussion table and music stand, so there’s not too much likelihood of anything falling over.
You can find more of our photos of this year’s Holiday Display on our Facebook page.
If you have the opportunity to go to El Cerrito and see the display, we thoroughly recommend it! It’s a wonderful tradition; a reminder of times past, and a lovely way to start the holiday season.
When Carla lived in England, visiting a German Holiday Market was an important part of the run-up to Christmas. With spiced apple cider, Lebkuchen, live music, twinkling lights and a festive atmosphere, a German market is always a great place to buy gifts, and get into the holiday spirit. Carla missed the sights and sounds of the traditional Christmas Markets during our first Christmas together here in California.
So we were very happy to discover, in 2013, that the German International School of Silicon Valley was planning a German Holiday Market here in Mountain View! We played handbell duets there, and had a great time. This year, we were pleased to return for the 2014 Holiday Market.
After several days of heavy rain, the sun shone over Mountain View on the morning of Saturday, December 13th. We played Christmas and holiday duets to open the market, and then came back for another session in the early afternoon. When we weren’t playing handbells, we enjoyed looking at the crafts and gifts. Yes, we bought some European chocolate and gingerbread for Christmas!
We had a lovely time at the market, and were sorry not to be able to stay longer. Holiday markets always seem even more special in the evening, when the Christmas lights are twinkling! You can find our photos from the event on our Facebook page.
The 14th Festival of Carols at Foothill Presbyterian Church, San Jose was a very enjoyable evening. A variety of musical ensembles from around the Bay Area took part, and performed for a large audience. We played two of our 8-bell duets there: the Ukrainian Bell Carol and a brand-new, unpublished version of It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. It’s always slightly daunting to perform an unpublished piece for the first time, but this one went well.
The following musicians provided the entertainment for the evening:
Larry and Carla Brass Bells Santa Teresa High School Guitar Ensemble Peralta Consort The Chancel Choir of Foothill Presbyterian Church Glory Ringers of Foothill Presbyterian Church, Ukelele Scramble Voices of the Valley
We enjoyed all of these performances, and so did the audience. A Festival of Carols event is always such a good way to welcome Christmas and enjoy the music of the holiday season.
Thank you to everyone involved!
Our thanks go to Jay Jordana for inviting us to take part in the Festival of Carols, and to everyone who worked so hard to make the evening such a success. If you’d like to see more of our photos from the event, we’ve posted them on our Facebook page.
We have a busy few days ahead of us with upcoming performances across the Bay Area. If you haven’t yet managed to hear our Christmas handbell duets, you have four chances to see us this week!
Fundraising for the Salvation Army
This coming Thursday, December 11th, we’ll be fundraising at the Salvation Army Red Kettle. We’ll be playing Christmas carols and holiday music at Nob Hill Foods in Mountain View. Drop by and help the Salvation Army provide food, shelter and social services to those in need throughout the year.
San Jose Festival of Carols
On Friday evening, December 12th, we’ll be in San Jose, at the Festival of Carols. The Festival of Carols is at Foothill Presbyterian Church, 5301 McKee Road, San Jose, CA 95127, and starts at 7:00pm. This is an annual musical celebration that features performances by the Foothill musical ensembles. Other professional, semi-professional and amateur artists from the community will also perform at the event. The evening ends with a post-concert reception in the Fellowship Hall. There’s no admission charge. However, donations such as non-perishable food items, coats, jackets, and toys are appreciated, and benefit many local organisations.
Upcoming performances at the weekend
Saturday, December 13th, is a busy day for us. We’ll be at the annual German Holiday Market (Weinachtsmarkt) in Mountain View. The event takes place between 11:00am and 9:00pm at the plaza of the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. There will be German food and drinks, and handcrafted gifts from Germany and crafts by local artists. Students of the German International School of Silicon Valley will perform, and there will be an ice rink! The event offers an opportunity to explore the famous tradition of German Holiday Markets right here in Silicon Valley. All proceeds will benefit GISSV’s high-quality bilingual programs.
We’ll be performing between 11:00am and 11:30am, and again between 12:45pm and 1:00pm.
The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display
After the German Holiday Market, we’ll drive to El Cerrito for the opening night of the Sundar Shadi Holiday Display. This display is an unmissable holiday tradition. It’s on Moeser Lane, east of San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito. The display was first created in 1949, as a gift to the community from an El Cerrito resident, Sundar Shadi. Shadi passed away in 2002 at the age of 101. However, the display he constructed on the hillside next to his El Cerrito home each year continues today. There’s a team of devoted volunteers who care for his creations and ensure they’re on display for the holidays.
The display in the hills of El Cerrito will be lit nightly from December 13th to 26th. The display features shepherds, camels, donkeys and sheep, villagers and the town of Bethlehem. It’s just as Shadi envisioned it would have appeared on the eve of Christ’s birth. We’re making it part of our holiday tradition. Why not make it part of yours? We’ll be playing Christmas carols from 6:00pm (weather permitting!) on the opening night.
Last night we played our handbell duets at the Kara Annual Service of Remembrance.
Kara is based here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It’s an organization that provides grief support for children, teens, families and adults who have lost someone close to them. Kara also helps families dealing with terminal illness.
The annual candlelight service is a meaningful event where members of the community gather to light candles of memory, hope, courage and love. There’s live music, memories, laughter, tears, and a lot of support and genuine caring. After the service, there’s a reception, where people can gather to chat and share their stories with others in the community.
This is the third year we’ve taken part in the Kara Annual Service of Remembrance. We always find it a moving and humbling experience to share our music in an atmosphere of such love and support. There is grief too, of course, but so much courage and caring.
Handbell music seems to fit very well in remembrance services. People find comfort in hearing well-known hymns such as Amazing Grace, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing and Just As I Am. We’ve also played secular songs like Ma Navu and Moreton Bay – to soothe the soul and help to bring peace.
Our thanks go to all at Kara for inviting us to be part of this meaningful event.
It’s always fun to share our photos from The Nutcracker weekend at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Congratulations to the Pacific Ballet Academy on a successful weekend of performances! We saw the show on Sunday and enjoyed it a lot. There’s something about this particular ballet performance that that makes it such a wonderful start to the holiday season. The dancers are talented and the whole production is just beautiful.
We had a great time playing selections from our 8-bell The Nutcracker Collection. Those pieces are challenging but fun to play! We enjoyed playing other Christmas and holiday handbell duets too. We played in the lobby for audience members before each performance and during the intermission. This annual event is a lot of fun for us! We always feel as if we almost set up camp in the Performing Arts Center for the Nutcracker performance weekend each year. We bring our laptops, work and eat while we’re in downtown Mountain View, and only go home at the end of each day, after the final performance is over. It’s like a festive mini vacation weekend!
If you’d like to see our photos from The Nutcracker, they’re now on our Facebook page!
We’ll be spending the coming weekend at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. We’ll be playing handbell duets in the lobby before the Pacific Ballet Academy’s performances of The Nutcracker.
This wonderful ballet performance is always one of the highlights of the holiday season here in Mountain View. It’s an annual tradition for the Pacific Ballet Academy, and we look forward to it every year. We’ll be playing a selection of popular handbell pieces before each of the six performances. You’ll hear our 8-bell Nutcracker duets, as well as many traditional Christmas and holiday carols, all played with just eight bells, in the 4-in-hand style.
This year is the 24th year of these Pacific Ballet Academy performances. There will be two shows each day – at 1:00pm and 6:00pm on Friday, November 28th and Saturday November 29th. Performances on Sunday, November 30th will be at 12:30pm and 4:00pm. Come early to gather with other guests before the shows, and listen to the sweet sound of handbell music to get us all in the mood for this exciting annual holiday tradition!
The Pacific Ballet Academy students have been working hard to make this another great season of Nutcracker shows. We hope to see you at one of the performances!
