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OUR COMPOSERS
Karen Buckwalter
Karen Buckwalter, a distinguished organist, pianist, and composer served as a full time Minister of Music for 37 years in Hanover, PA. She served from 2002 until retiring in 2014 as Associate Minister of Music at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, in Hanover, where she directed the handbell program, coordinated the Saturday blended worship and was privileged to play a 231 rank Austin organ, the 8th largest church organ in the world. Internationally known in the field of handbell composition, Mrs. Buckwalter composed her first published work, “Danza” in 1982. Recognized for her original compositions such as “Soliloquy for Bells” and “Nocturne in a minor,” she now has over 70 bell/choral compositions in print. She has earned enthusiastic praise for her creative compositions, her colorful harmonies and her use of chromatics that have raised the musicality in handbell music as a genre. Sought after as a handbell conductor/clinician for workshops and festivals throughout the US, in 2013, she was festival conductor for the West Midlands Festival in Hereford, UK. Her works have been recorded in the United States, Estonia and Japan and they are frequently selected at area and national handbell conferences throughout the country. |