Bells are Ringing!

from Sightings and Soundings • September 2022

by Centenary United Methodist Church

To Sing Once More W

Ge#ng to Know You . . .

Meet our two newest staﬀ members, Josh Sobel, our Organ Scholar, and Virginia Sheﬃeld, our Music Ministry Assistant!

Members of the Carillonneurs travelled to Nashville in August for the Interna8onal Handbell Symposium!

On August 1st, four members of the Carillonneurs plus three handbell ringing friends from Beck’s BapBst Church here in Winston-Salem joined over 350 ringers from around the world in Nashville, Tennessee for a week of ringing at the 20th InternaBonal Handbell Symposium. Held every two years, the symposium rotates among the eight member countries of the InternaBonal Handbell Commi_ee with the goal of promoBng world peace through the spirit of music.

We spent the week sharing six-hour-a-day rehearsals, concerts, workshops, and learning about other cultures with handbell ringers from Europe, Asia, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, the U.S and Puerto Rico. Experiencing ﬁrsthand the universality of music and the exhilaraBon of ringing with so many talented musicians was unforge_able. (The ﬁnal concert is on YouTube at 20th InternaBonal Handbell Symposium Closing Concert.)

Joshua Sobel is a rising third-year organ major at UNCSA. He has served previously as Music Intern at Augsburg Lutheran Church. Josh won the ﬁrst prize and the hymn prize in the UNCSA High School Organ Compe B B on in 2020. He has special interests in improvisa B on, organ building technology, and recording engineering.

Virginia Sheﬃeld is thrilled to return to Centenary! Originally from Pennsylvania, Virginia ﬁrst came to Centenary as the Joshua Hudson Choral Scholar (2019-2021) while a fellow with the A.J. Fletcher Opera InsBtute at UNCSA. Virginia is a District Winner and Regional Encouragement Winner in the Metropolitan Opera Na B onal Council AudiBons. Her most recent credits include scenes from Donizep’s Anna Bolena and Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos as a 2022 Young ArBst at Pi_sburgh FesBval Opera. Virginia received her MM from the Eastman School of Music and her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.