The 2010-2011 Allegro Handbell Ensemble
Matt Elias
Chloe Greene
Lauren Intorcia
Erik Jaworski
Andy Kilens
Matt Kilens
Katie Krainc
Anna Krainc
Laura Krance
Tommy Lubenow
Zoe Shively
Leah Tarabour
Elizabeth Jung
Transitional Director of Handbells, Union Church (2011-present)
Assistant Director of Handbells, Union Church (1998-2011)
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Ms. Elizabeth Jung began her ringing career in the early 1970s as a member of the Allegro Handbell Choir under the direction of Mr. Dwight K. Menard. She continued to ring with the organization for four years until graduating from high-school. She also performs as a ringer with the Union Ringers, Union Church's handbell ensemble for adults.
Ms. Jung has participated in more than a dozen of Allegro's summer tours and began assisting in administrative and conducting duties in 1998. She became Transitional Director in August 2011.
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Daniel M. Reck
Media Director, Allegro Handbell Ensemble (1998-present)
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Mr. Daniel M. Reck has served as the ensemble's Media Director since 1998, producing their recording artwork, concert programs, and this website. Mr. Reck has been a handbell ringer since 1992, performing four of those years with the Allegro Handbell Ensemble and two years as a guest conductor with the ensemble. He is a member of the Handbell Musicians of America.
A music composer, Mr. Reck wrote The ALLEGRO Union for the ensemble in 2000. Presented to the ensemble while on tour in Greencastle, Indiana, where Mr. Reck was directing the youth handbell programs at Gobin United Methodist Church. The work celebrates the ensemble's long and rich history and includes a quote from William A. Payn's Elegy, which itself honors former Allegro director Dwight K. Menard. He also composed Clarion Festival Overture, celebrating Michael Surratt's twenty-fifth anniversary as its conductor, in 2004. Both works are published by forzandoArts.
Mr. Reck has been a composer-in-residence for multiple university-associated ensembles. He earned a Master of Science in Education degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and recently completed a three-year engagement as Assistant Director of Greek Life, Leadership, and Involvement at Monmouth College in Illinois, where he also assisted the school's marching band and served as Director of Handbells at the First Lutheran Church of Monmouth. In 2011, he performed with the Handbell Musicians of America National All-Star Ensemble conducted by Deborah Carr.
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The Directors Emeriti
Michael Surratt
Director of Music and Organist, Union Church (1979-2011)
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Mr. Michael Surratt became Director of Music and Organist of Union Church in 1979. A church organist since the age of twelve, he has toured Europe and played organ recitals throughout the Midwest and Southeast, and has been featured in recitals on several Chicago area radio stations.
A native of North Carolina, he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston Salem; he holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin, Ohio, and a Master of Music Degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Mr. Surratt has served as an Adjunct Instructor of Organ at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois and continues to be active in many professional musical organizations.
He also writes for Overtones, a handbell-industry magazine, and serves on the Communications Committee of the Handbell Musicians of America.
Mr. Surratt conducted the Allegro Handbell Ensemble during its eighth visit to the European continent in summer 2011, before retiring in August after more than three decades of service. His final worship service featured the premiere performance of Psalm 46 by William C. White, commissioned by the Union Church of Hinsdale and dedicated to Mr. Surratt in celebration of his 32 years of service to the church. The performers included the Allegro Handbell Ensemble, the Chancel Choir, the Gargoyle Brass, and Mr. Surratt on organ.
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Dwight K. Menard
Director of Music and Organist, Union Church (1971-1979)
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The Allegro Handbell Choir was directed by Mr. Dwight K. Menard, a native of Wheeling, West Virginia, from 1971 through 1979. Mr. Menard received a Bachelor of Arts from West Virginia Wesleyan College, a Masters in Music from Northwestern University, and did extensive post-graduate work in organ with Grigg Fountain at Northwestern University. He was Organist and Director of Music at Union Church from 1971 through 1979. Mr. Menard also received many awards, among them the Presser Award of Philadelphia and the Performance Award from the American Guild of Musical Artists of New York. He was selected to appear in the 1969 issue of Outstanding Young Men of America.
Mr. Menard was hailed as an excellent musician, teacher, and man by members of the handbell choir and his other pupils in music, including members of the vocal choirs at Union Church. He left Union Church in 1979 after personally turning the directorship to Mr. Surratt, and moved to Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, Mr. Menard lost his battle with cancer and passed away in 1984. Members of the 1971 through 1979 Allegro Handbell Choirs commissioned Mr. William A. Payn of Bucknell University, Ohio, to write a handbell composition in his memory. Mr. Payn was a friend of Mr. Menard and wrote a beautiful handbell score which musically describes Mr. Menard's integrity and strengths as a musician and his kindness as a member of Union Church. Originally titled Tombeu, Elegy has been performed by the handbell choir every year since and has become a favorite, even to members of the choir now too young to have even have known Mr. Menard.
"Commissioned in memory of Dwight K. Menard by members of the 1971-1979 Allegro Handbell Choirs of the Union Church of Hinsdale, Illinois."
—Dedication Line, Elegy
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John MacDonald
Director of Music, Union Church (c.1965-1971)
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Mr. John MacDonald inherited a strong musical program when he joined the staff at Union Church in the mid-1960s. Eloise Eddy, his predecessor, left him a fine children’s program as well as an accomplished Chancel Choir.
John directed the high school and adult vocal choirs. He was a fine musician and conducted his rehearsals, which were absolutely mandatory, in a disciplined way that led to near perfection during Sunday morning services. He built the high school vocal choir into an ensemble of some sixty members, which sang weekly at the 9:00 a.m. service, then held in the Sanctuary. This choir had a waiting list of teenagers who wanted to be a part of the program in spite of Mr. MacDonald’s stern leadership. He was concerned that a musical option in the church should be available to them, aware especially that boys’ voices developed later in their teens. With this in mind, MacDonald began the bell choir program in 1967, with the purchase of the first three octaves of Schulmerich bells.
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Personnel and Directors