Ministry of Bellz [Singapore]

The award-winning MINISTRY OF BELLz (MOB) was established in June 2007, with its main objective of creating an active semi-professional handbell ensemble for current and former school ringers, to continue their passion in the art of handbell ringing. The ‘MINISTRY OF BELLZ Limited’ was incorporated in Singapore as a “not-for-profit” arts organisation in April 2013.

The MOB is Singapore’s Premiere & ONLY Independent handbell ensemble. The team’s performance engagements include Birthday Parties, Weddings, Church Celebrations, Christmas & Open Season, Corporate & Charity Events, Government & Private Functions. In the past 17 years, the team has amassed more than 400 shows including performances in Hong Kong (4x), Malaysia (4x), Thailand, (2x) Japan (3x), UK, Indonesia, New Zealand, USA, Canada (2x), South Korea & Taiwan (2x).

The MOB also organised the now-defunct biennial “SINGBellz FEST™”, formerly Singapore’s very own Handbells’ Festival, & since 2008, the “AFTERNOON WITH THE BELLZ™”, a day of handbells event. In 2013, the MOB successfully launched its “LEND-A-HAND(bellz)” Community/Charity Program, to reach out to the community and under-privileged. It renamed this program as MOB Learning & Engagement. The MOB has 4 programs endorsed under the NAC Arts Education Programme for schools & is recognised as an Artiste In School Scheme (AISS) Arts-Partner for Special Education (SPED) Schools to provide handbell/chimes experience. The MOB was the 1st arts group in Singapore to have successfully organised and presented a sensory/autism-friendly concert in Singapore, in January 2016 at the Victoria Theatre. The MOB also supports the MOE-National Institute of Education in music teacher-education by providing ensemble experiences & assessments to teacher-trainees.

The MOB achieved the Gold with Honours Award, in addition to a Gold & Silver Awards at the Hong Kong International Handbell Olympics 2013. The MOB also co-organised & anchored the Singapore Book of Records LARGEST HANDBELL ENSEMBLE projects in 2013, 2017 & in 2023, & is a proud holder of the LONGEST HANDBELL PERFORMANCE (24hrs non-stop) records in Singapore.

The team’s repertoire includes Christmas Carols, Children Tunes, Evergreens, Light Latin, Disney, Contemporary, Jazz, Fusion, Collection of Singapore & Asian Tunes as well as World Folk Songs, effectively fusing the genres with a wide array of ethnic percussive & keyboard instruments, creating a Truly UNIQUELY SINGAPOREAN HANDBELL SOUND.

The MOB has collaborated with the following distinguished & prominent guest conductors/artistes/groups in Singapore & overseas, including Emily Li (Hong Kong), Toshikazu Yoshida (Japan), Michael J. Glasgow (USA), Emmy Okazawa-Bortolin (Canada/Japan), Debbie Rice (USA), Nick Hanson (USA), John Hooper (Canada), Tomoko Tanimoto (Japan), Christopher Fong (Singapore), Bank Wu (Taiwan), Sung Jae-Woel (South Korea), Baba Richard Tan (Singapore), Malcolm Wilson (Scotland), Tim Willetts (UK), David Harris (USA), Tsugane Ikumi (Singapore/Japan), Tama Goh (Singapore), Kevin Ko (Hong Kong), Michael Gaspar (Singapore), Jeremy Monteiro (Singapore), Jason Lai (Singapore), Lim Yau (Singapore), Darius Lim (Singapore), Adrian Chiang (Singapore), Adrian Tan (Singapore), Albert Tay (Singapore), Lily Goh (Singapore), Irene Jansen (Singapore), Maris Sirmais (Latvia), Freda Lim (Singapore), Francis Liew (Singapore), Rizal Sanip (Singapore), Ben Wong (Singapore), Julian Wong (Singapore), R Chandran (Singapore), HeartBeat Percussion Ensemble of the Tampines North CC (Singapore), Philharmonic Youth Winds (Singapore), The Philharmonic Winds (Singapore), ONE Chamber Choir (Singapore), The Conservatory Orchestra (Singapore), Singapore Wind Symphony (Singapore), VOCO All-Ladies Choir (Singapore), NAFA Orchestra (Singapore), EVOKX Choir (Singapore), Schola Cantorum Singapore (Singapore), Cantare Choir (Singapore), ITE Show Choir (Singapore), ExtraOrdinary Horizons (Singapore), Yeh’s Ringers (Hong Kong), Kinjo Gakuin University Handbell Choir (Japan), YAMATO Handbell Choir (Japan), ExtraOrdinary People Limited (Singapore), Singapore Special Voices (Singapore), ExtraOrdinary Light Orchestra (Singapore), Foundation of Thai Handbell Ringers (Thailand), & Mediacorp artistes Zoe Tay, Hong Huifang, Xiang Yun, Rebecca Lim, Vivian Lai (Singapore).

Our members include London College of Music (LCM) Level 4 & 5 certified Ringers, former semi-professional percussionists, GOLD w/HONOURS, GOLD & SILVER Award ringers from the Singapore Youth Festival, School Music Teachers, as well as Handbells/Chimes Instructors.

The MOB is founded, funded & led by multiple-SYF Gold & Gold with Honours plus three-time NAC Friend of the Arts Award recipient, BABA (Dr) DAMIEN LIM. The MOB is a major supporter of the “HANDBELLS ASIA” project, the HRSG’s “Singapore Handbell Festival”, the “London College of Music (LCM) Handbell Assessment”, & the “Handbell Ringers of Singapore (HRSG)”.

Coming together with the common passion of Handbells Ringing & Music Making, the ensemble is recognised as a “Leader in Handbells Music” in Singapore & Southeast Asia.

The MOB’s new vision reads:
“A 21st Century-class Handbell Ensemble on the World-Class stage, continuously Redefining & Re-Inventing the art-form, Making it Connectable & Relevant to Today’s Society”.