The Pikes Peak Ringers is a community handbell

Handbell

A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle — traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic — and moves the wrist to make the hinged clapper inside the bell strike...

 choir based in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...

. The group was established in 1991 by its director, Kevin McChesney, to provide an outlet for advanced ringers and to create performances that showcase the instrument of handbells with the highest quality presentation and musicianship. The group has performed a variety of styles of music

Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...

 – classical, traditional, pop, jazz, new age, contemporary and original – and has developed a unique and influential style of visual as well as musical presentation. In addition to performances throughout the state of Colorado and the western United States

Western United States

.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...

, the Pikes Peak

Pikes Peak

Pikes Peak is a mountain in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County in the United States of America....

 Ringers have been the featured group at several national handbell choir events, have been involved with publishers in providing promotional recordings of new releases, and have recorded five studio CDs and produced two performance DVDs.

In 2004 the Pikes Peak Ringers made history as a handbell choir, performing the first and only classical concerto composed specifically for handbell choir and orchestra. The concerto, "Ring of Fire," was composed by director Kevin McChesney and performed with the Fort Collins Symphony in Fort Collins, Colorado

Fort Collins, Colorado

Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...

. A recording of the complete concerto can be found on the group's third CD, "Standing Room Only."

In January 2009, the Pikes Peak Ringers were selected as the winner of a worldwide collaboration contest with cellist Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...

, and will be traveling to Boston, Massachusetts to record with Ma for his new Christmas CD due out this year.

Discography

• "By Request"
• "Ring We Now of Christmas"
• "Standing Room Only"
• "In Concert With..."
• "Celtic Crossing" — to be released November 2009

Videos

• "Ring of Fire" - a live performance of the handbell choir concerto recorded in 2005
• "Music in Motion" - an instructional DVD for handbell choirs, demonstrating how movement can be added to handbell choir performance