About Us
New Recording
The crisp 1977 performance of the Allegro Handbell Ensemble is digitally remastered in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of their first album.
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Home  About Us
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Personnel and Directors |
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The 2007-2008 Allegro Handbell Ensemble
Lizzy Brady
Chris Davey
Michael Doose
Peter Elias
Erik Jaworski
Madeline Lubenow
Catherine Nienhouse
Jonathon Schwarzbauer
Ali Sunseri
Leah Tarabour
Andy Tuggle
Brandon Woodle
The Directors
Michael Surratt
Director of Music and Organist, Union Church (1979-present)
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[Contact Info]
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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 American Guild of English Handbell Ringers.
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Elizabeth Jung
Assistant Director of Handbells, Union Church (1998-present)
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Assisting
Mr. Surratt is Mrs. Elizabeth Jung. Mrs. 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 choir
for four years until graduating from high-school. Currently, Mrs. Jung
also performs as a ringer with the Union Ringers, Union Church's adult
choir. In addition to participating in more than ten of Allegro's
summer tours (as a ringer and as a chaperon), she has continued to
substitute for members of Allegro and has earned an honorary lifetime
membership as an Allegro ringer. Mrs. Jung is a valuable supporter of
the of the choir today and took over the directorship when Mr. Surratt
left on a short sabbatical after the 1999 European Summer Tour.
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Daniel Reck
Media Director, Allegro Handbell Ensemble (1998-present)
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[Contact Info]
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Mr. Daniel 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.
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. The work is published by forzandoArts.
Mr. Reck recently worked with high-schoolers at the Indiana Academy for
Science, Mathematics, and Humanities, where he served as Student Life
Counselor and Assistant Conductor of the University Schools Band on the
campus of the Ball State of University in Muncie, Indiana. He is now
completing a Master of Science in Education degree at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois.
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The Former Directors
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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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 December 2007 )
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