Hello!

We're beginning our 35th Anniversary season and can't wait for you to join in the celebration.

In 1990, Bells of the Cascades was created as a way for local Portland handbell directors to have the opportunity to ring. Now, as we head into our 35th anniversary, the ensemble has had a rich history of ringers and directors and expanding our membership extensively! We are so excited to celebrate with you this year. We want to invite you to join us throughout the 2024-2025 season at two unique concert experiences, and to participate in other unique activities we have planned!

Our traditional December concerts will be December 21-22, 2024. This special concert is always meaningful to our community each year, and this year’s theme The Spirit of the Season will feature a wide range of holiday favorites and other meaningful and fun compositions that will hopefully add a joyful experience in the midst of the busy holiday season! There will be a little teaser for our spring concert as well—not to be missed! Speaking of our spring concerts…

Our 35th Anniversary concerts, Harmonious! The Voices of Many will be a celebration looking back at our history and thinking ahead to our future. These concerts will be May 31 and June 1, 2025. We will honor past members and invite former BOC members to ring in the concert as well! Our theme is focusing on unity of our community. We’re so excited to partner with local musicians to create a truly unforgettable concert experience. As a part of this experience, we have created our Commission Consortium, which you can read about here!

And then, to cap off our 35th Anniversary, we are headed to Alaska for our next cruise in June of 2025! This will be our 16th. Our cruises have been a robust part of our history and we are happy to bring back and continue this exciting tradition after the long Covid-related interruption!

We hope you’ll join us for this very exciting season! Be on the lookout for emails with more details as we approach each concert.

—Matthew Compton, Director of Bells of the Cascades