Folks are invited to ring in the holiday season this weekend with a New Westminster tradition.
The 25th Carols and Bells concert is on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. at the former Queens Avenue United Church.
“For 25 years, this annual event (except for the epidemic) has been enjoyed by many people gathering to hear handbells and sing seasonal carols and songs,” said organizer Virginia Barteluk. “Five handbell choirs of all ages will be ringing in between audience sing-along.”
Barteluk said the concert attracts a “full house” every year – including some folks who return year after year.
“If you want to sit back and sop in the Christmas spirit with lots of familiar Christmas songs and carols, this concert will inspire you to spread the peace, hope, joy and love that is Christmas,” she said.
Barteluk said audience can expect to hear five different handbell choirs comprised of folks of different ages (children, youth, adults, seniors) playing three to five octaves of bells. That will be interspersed with the audience singing Christmas carols or songs with the mighty pipe organ or the piano.
The Cerulean Trio will get things started at 1:50 p.m. when they perform the Brandenburg Concerto by JS Bach.
Barteluk said one of her ringers, Jaimie Lam, will play 36 bells all by herself during a performance of March of the Tin Soldiers.
“It’s remarkable to watch,” she said.
Guest performers include Rachel Alflatt, the organist at the former Queens Avenue United Church, and Denis Bedard, a former organist at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver. They will play an organ duet on the church’s beautiful Casavant Freres pipe organ.
According to Barteluk, the Casavant Freres organ at Queens Avenue United Church was installed in 1959 when the present church was built.
“Casavant is the Stradivarius of organ builders,” she said. “The Queens’ organ was the first on the West Coast from Casavant Freres since the ‘revolution’ in organ building had come to Canada.”
This weekend’s concert marks a milestone for Barteluk, who was a young teacher in Burnaby when she moved to a home in New West just a couple of blocks away from the church. She began taking organ lessons when she was 20 and soon started to direct the church’s junior choir and began producing a church musical every spring.
Through the years, her roles have included being director of the children’s handbell choir, directing the adult handbell choir (from the 1980s until today), being a member of the senior choir, and accompanying the choir on piano/organ.
Performing at many big services (including the Royal Columbian Hospital nurses’ graduation and the Royal Columbian Hospital memorial service for Terry Fox), creating the Music at Queens concert series with her family and directing the series for 22 years, and helping unknown performer and professional groups are among the highlights of Barteluk’s years in music.
“Music roles at Queens was my ‘life’ and I miss it terribly,” she said. “It’s a wonderful building with fabulous acoustics. The CBC used to record the organ concerts in the middle of the night there when it was quiet from street noise. I was always encouraging ‘children’ to get involved in music.”
Barteluk, who has worn many musical hats through the years – including performer, director, and organizer – is retiring from directing handbells after more than 40 years.
“This is my final concert,” said Barteluk, who will be focusing on her family. “I do hope Carols and Bells will continue to be a blessing to many people at this wonderful time of the year.”
Tickets for Carols and Bells are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors/students, and $10 for children, and are available at the door or by emailing [email protected]. The concert is on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. at the former Queens Avenue United Church, 529 Queens Ave. Parking is available in the visitor lot at the New Westminster City Hall.
