See photos from the Bells at Temple Square’s 2024 summer concert rehearsal and stream their June concert

When the Bells at Temple Square’s concert “Joyfully Ring” began on June 14, there wasn’t anyone standing at the tables set up on the stage in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. The 32 members of the handbell choir were in the aisles and in the balcony as they played the opening numbers.

It was the finale concert for director LeAnna Willmore, who retired after this concert. Willmore has been the director since 2011 and previously was the associate director. She and associate conductor Geoff Anderson directed the concert.

The bellringers were accompanied by Tabernacle organists Linda Margetts and Joseph Peeples and several members of the Orchestra at Temple Square.

The music varied from religious music to the audience singing and clapping along with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” which included guitar and drums.

The program included:

• “A Little Mountain Suite,” by Tyleen Stults
• “Outburst,” by Karen Lakey Buckwalter
• “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” by Joseph Parry and arranged by Hart Morris
• “Trumpet Tune in A Major,” by James Kasen (organ solo by Joseph Peoples)
• “Expedition,” by Joel Raney
• “Fairest Lord Jesus,” based on a crusader’s hymn, arranged by Brian Childers
• “Carillon” by Louis Verne and arranged by Fred Gramann
• “Jubilate,” by Emma Lou Diemer (organ solo by Linda Margetts)
• “Marche Militaire Française,” by Camille Saint-Saëns and arranged by Sondra K. Tucker
• “Down the River,” by Jason W. Krug
• “La Vie en Rose (Take Me to Your Heart Again),” by Luis Gugliemi and arranged by Sandra Eithun
• “Married Life” from “Up,” by Michael Giacchino, arranged by Jill Plumb (string quartet)
• “A Walk in the Park” by Karen Lakey Buckwalter (performers portray young couple with umbrella)
• “Just Messin’ Around,” by Hart Morris
• “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, arranged by Ron Mallory
• “Firebird Finale,” by Igor Stravinksy, arranged by Douglas Floyd Smith
• “Flight of the Bumblebee,” Nicolar Rimsky-Korsakov, arranged by Martha Lynn Thompson

About the Bells at Temple Square

The Bells at Temple Square was created in March 2005 as part of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square organization. The bell ringers are volunteer musicians, like the members of the Tabernacle Choir, Orchestra at Temple Square and Chorale at Temple Square.

The handbell choir’s performances include two yearly concerts, taking part often in the weekly “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcasts of the Tabernacle Choir and having a major role in the choir’s annual Christmas concerts. The bell ensemble rehearses weekly.

The 32-member handbell choir play on two sets of English handbells and handchimes — one with seven octaves and one with 6½ octaves.

See photos from the closed dress rehearsal, just a few days before the concert.