[Click Here for Sonos Website]

With a collective experience of more than 200 years of handbell ringing, Sonos Handbell Ensemble 's virtuosity mesmerizes audiences at major world events, including the 1993 World Ice Skating Championships and the United Nations 50th Anniversary Celebrations. Through international and national touring and appearing on major television and radio broadcasts (most recently Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio broadcast from San Francisco’s Masonic Theater), they have helped introduce handbell virtuosity to millions of people around the world.

At the forefront of handbell artistry since its founding in 1990, Sonos Handbell Ensemble has moved handbells into the musical mainstream by seeking the best transcriptions and original material available today. They encourage composers to write for bells alone and in combination with other instruments and voices, and premiere these solo and orchestral works. The world premiere of William Ludtke's Symphony No. 3, Summer Rain, with the Oakland East Bay Symphony received critical acclaim and his music drama, Gaia Sophia presented handbells as a major part of an operatic work.

The Bose Corporation recorded Sonos to appear on an in-store theater video presentation, demonstrating the Bose five-channel digital surround sound technology. This presentation, playing in stores around the world, reached an estimated audience of four million listeners.

Navigator Tree, commissioned by the American Composers Forum and the National Endowment for the Arts for the millennium year, was written for Sonos, Gamelan Pusaka Sunda and San Jose Taiko. This unprecedented work, composed by computer futurist and inventor of virtual reality, Jaron Lanier, was documented in a film about the Continental Harmony project that aired nationwide on PBS in the fall of 2001 to an audience of more than 148 million. A collaboration with the Kronos Quartet in January 2005 played to a sold-out house.

Their first CD on the Well-Tempered label was called "sensational" by the San Francisco Examiner. Two months after its release, this CD appeared in the November 1994 Gramophone magazine as disc of the month for KFUO-St. Louis classical radio. Their second release, Christmas with Sonos, was selected as "disc of the month" by San Francisco's classical KDFC-FM and appeared in the December 1995 issue of Gramophone magazine. Their third CD, Classical Sonos, featuring the music of Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart was released in 1996. A fourth recording released in 2001, A Very Classical Christmas, with flutist Timothy Day, was chosen by the New York Times’ WQXR and NPR’s Weekend Edition as top pics of the season. These recordings receive national airplay on classical stations.

Sonos’s national and international tours cover a wide repertoire and delight audiences of all ages. A 2006 tour to major Japanese concerts halls was a sell-out success, with each audience demanding multiple encores.

Commissioned and performed the first major work for handbells and orchestra with Maestro Michael Morgan and Oakland Symphony. William Ludtke's Suite for Handbells and Orchestra received pre-concert publicity and rave reviews by all of the Bay Area's major news media. Other symphonic works have been commissioned and are scheduled for future performances, including nationally ranked young composer, Libby Larsen.

 The World Premiere of William Ludtke's Symphony No. 3 with the Oakland East Bay Symphony in February of 1997 received critical acclaim.

 Sonos makes national tours and at home plays in many of the major venues of San Francisco Bay Area, including Davies Hall with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and the San Jose Performing Arts Center with the San Jose Symphony. They routinely receive standing ovations for their performances.

 The December 1998 concert for UCLA Arts was almost sold out the first day tickets went on sale in July and they were asked to add a second performance on the series.

 In 2001, Sonos premiered the first major work written for handbells and mezzo-soprano, Hell's Belles, by American composer, Libby Larsen. Guest Artist for the concerts was world-renowned operatic star Frederica von Stade.

 The June 2000 performance of Jaron Lanier's Navigator Tree (2000) is featured in a film for PBS by Twin Cities Public Television. The documentary, "Continental Harmony," is now airing on PBS stations nationwide and has already an audience of over 55 million households. The film has won a coveted CINE Golden Eagle award and includes interviews with the composer and Sonos Music Director, James Meredith

 Two International Tours to Japan, December 2002 and 2003, included 16 engagements on major concert and symphony halls series presented by Nippon Artists Management, Inc.

 Industry Recognition

Sonos' first CD was chosen "Disc of the Month" by classical station KFUO-FM in St. Louis and appeared in the November issue of Gramophone Magazine. KFUO's Music Director, Jim Connett, called the disc "mind-blowing, both in performance and engineering."

 First handbell CD aired nationally on over 100 classical and NPR stations.

 Christmas with Sonos, chosen "Disc of the Month" for December 1995 by San Francisco's classical station KDFC, appeared in the December issue of Gramophone Magazine. KDFC's Program Director, Tyler Phelps, spoke of the group as an ensemble with "such an incredible smoothness and precision." He called the disc "the perfect combination of pure virtuosity and kitsch."

 A Very Classical Christmas was chosen by National Public Radio's Weekend Edition as one of five "Picks of the Season." The New York Times WQXR recommended it as one of their favorites of the season. The Los Angeles Times called it "astonishingly even and balanced, and varied in color and articulation."