Muusic 4UU will host the third annual “Bells & Brass” holiday concert at the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m.
“This is our third year of having this concert, and it is becoming a real Peterborough tradition,” said Dan Walker, a founder and director of the Muusic 4UU concert series.
The concert will feature Celestial Brass, with Walker on bass trombone; David Sporny, trombone; Sheldon Ross, trumpet; and Richard Tandy, trumpet, as well as the Concord-based Granite State Ringers, a handbell choir.
“We’ll be alternating sets with the Granite State Ringers, and we’ll be playing all holiday-themed music,” Walker said. “It will be some carols as well as holiday songs from other traditions.”
Joan Fossum, one of the founders of the Granite State Ringers, said the group had performed in Jaffrey and Keene, but never in Peterborough
Founded in 2007 by Fossum and Mary Divers, the Granite State Ringers is an auditioned community handbell choir that performs an advanced handbell repertoire.
“Most of our musicians started playing in church groups and were looking to play more advanced music. We play music by contemporary handbell composers as well as classics,” Fossum said.
She said the group will bring an equipment trailer full of handbells, chimes, percussion instruments, music stands and tables.
“It’s a lot of logistics. People don’t realize how much is involved with handbell choirs,” Fossum said.
She said for people who aren’t familiar with handbell music, it’s “not just about Christmas.”
“It started in churches, and we certainly play Christmas music. We have our fall season, which culminates with holiday concerts, but then we take a month off and start our spring season, which is all kinds of music. We do ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA, we do music from Pirates of the Caribbean,” Fossum said. “Last year, we even did an arrangement of ‘Barracuda’ by Heart.”
Brass & Bells 2025 will end with a sing-along of holiday tunes played by the Granite State Ringers and Celestial Brass.
“Bells & Brass always has the best turnout of all the Muusic 4UU concerts,” Walker said.
Muusic 4UU was created by a group of area musicians four years ago, including Walker, whose wife, Lucinda Ellert, was for many years the music director at the PUUC.
“We were a group of musicians who were all affiliated with the church, and we had this idea to start a concert series,” Walker said. “Our goal is to bring in high-quality local talent for free community concerts.”
Each Muusic 4UU concert is free and open to the public. Donations are accepted for the Unitarian Church.
Walker says donations at this year’s Bells & Brass concert will go toward the ongoing renovations to the PUUC, which will result in a better space for performances.
“The UU church is in the process of renovating the sanctuary, and a portion of the proceeds will go toward the renovation fund,” Walker said. “The church took out pews in the front and removed the pulpit and the railings, so it will be a wide open space. I’m thrilled, because half of our brass quartet used to have to sit out of sight behind the pulpit, which they never used, because there was a lectern on the other side.”
The Muusic 4UU concert series, now in its third season, hosts eight concerts each year — four in the spring and four in the fall. The spring concerts include The Wolverines, a traditional jazz septet on March 21, Walpole Winds, a woodwind trio on April 18, Waking Finnegan, a contemporary Irish traditional/soft rock band on May 30 and Clef Club Syncopators, turn of the 20th century salon music on June 20.
For information about Muusic 4UU, go to muusic4uu.org/meet-the-committee.