Bells at Temple Square auditions

The Bells at Temple Square is accepting applications for bell ringers through Friday, Jan. 26.

Requirements include:

• Be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in good standing.
• Bell-ringing experience is good; percussionists and keyboardists all do well with bell ringing.
• Have a background in music, have played an instrument and have the ability to read rhythms and notes at a complicated level.
• The age range for the Bells at Temple Square is 20 to 50 years old. Applicants must be 20 to 45 years old.

The handbell choir’s performances include two yearly live shows, collaborating often within the weekly “Music & the Spoken Word” and other Tabernacle Choir broadcasts, and within the choir’s annual Christmas live shows. The choir also performs within the Utah Spring Ring and, from time to time, travels out of state to perform, in keeping with conductor LeAnna Willmore.

The ensemble has weekly rehearsals on Wednesdays year-round.

Right now the choir isn’t accepting students into the ensemble as there are too many scheduling conflicts, in keeping with Willmore.

“We are in search of ringers which have a glad countenance and smiling faces,” Willmore wrote in an email to the Church News.

Those who meet this criteria should email the choir offices at TheTabernacleChoir@ChurchofJesusChrist.org, they usually can be sent an application.

Applications are due by Friday, Jan. 26.

Past audition notices have included that applicants must be living inside 100 miles of Temple Square in Salt Lake City.

About the Bells at Temple Square

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

For the live shows in 2022 and 2023, the 33-member handbell choir, led by Willmore and associate conductor Geoff Anderson, played on two sets of English handbells and handchimes — one with seven octaves and one with 6½ octaves.

The group also performed on the Handbell Musicians of America national seminar in Irving, Texas, on July 14, 2023.

Watch the bell ringers’ 2022 holiday concert “Visions of the Season,” the 2023 spring concert “Bells in Motion,” and see the Bells at Temple Square playlist on YouTube. (The 2023 holiday concert within the Salt Lake Tabernacle was canceled.)

2022 holiday concert: ‘Visions of the Season’

2023 spring concert: ‘Bells in Motion’

More photos of the Bells at Temple Square

Editor’s note: This was initially published on Jan. 13, 2024, and was updated on Jan. 22, 2024.