Michael Helman is currently Director of Music/Organist at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Wilmington, DE where he directs 4 handbell choirs, two adult vocal choirs, youth choir and one of three children's choirs. Michael is also accompanist for the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus as well as the organ instructor at Immaculata College. Michael did his undergraduate work in organ performance at Lebanon Valley College and did graduate work in Music History and Literature at West Chester University. He is an active composer of handbell, organ, and choral music with over a hundred pieces in print. Michael has also won nine composition contests including the 1997, 1998, and 2000 AGEHR National Composition Contests. Mr. Helman is in demand as a handbell festival director and clinician all over the country. He is a past Dean of the Delaware Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and is currently the Chair for Area III of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers. In the fall of 2000, he founded and is the artistic director of the Wilmington Handbell Ensemble, which is the first auditioned community handbell choir in Delaware.



Monica S. McGowan resides in Lakeville, Minnesota and received her Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Chadron State College, Chadron, Nebraska. As Artistic Director of Twin Cities Bronze, Monica provides the vision and direction for this premiere handbell ensemble of Minneapolis-St. Paul. She served as Director of Handbells in Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran churches from Louisiana to Minnesota for over fifteen years. From 1995-2002, Monica served on the Area and National Board of Directors for AGEHR, Inc. and is currently serving as Associate Member on the Board of Directors for the International Music Camp. In July 2004, she was named Handbell Coordinator for the Handbell Week at the International Music Camp, succeeding its founder, Fred Merrett. Her articles have been published in Overtones, the journal of AGEHR. Monica brings her background of education, teaching and extensive training in handbells and handchimes to the conducting podium or the workshop setting for local, regional, national and international conferences, clinics and handbell festivals as well as AGEHR, Inc. events and seminars.



Cathy Moklebust (b. 1958) has developed and directed handbell music programs since 1983, and has played bells since childhood. She is in national demand as a handbell clinician, conductor and composer, with over 100 published compositions and arrangements to her credit, several of them reaching "bestseller" status. Her music has been widely performed, including performances on "Today," "Good Morning, America," and New Year's Eve on Times Square in New York. She has been commissioned to write music for many festivals and other events, as well as for numerous individual handbell ensembles, including five for the Raleigh Ringers. Cathy was the recipient of the Donald E. Allured Composition Award (2000), and ASCAP Writer's Awards (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004). Recently, Ms. Moklebust has been invited to be the guest conductor for the 2007 National Residential Ringing Week in London, UK.

Cathy has conducted The King Ringers community handbell ensemble in Fort Dodge, Iowa, the Eagle Grove Bronze community handbell ensemble in Eagle Grove, Iowa, and also plays in the percussion section of the Karl L. King Municipal Band in Fort Dodge. She has performed as principal percussionist with several professional bands and orchestras throughout the upper Midwest, and has taught instrumental, choral and general music in grades K-12. Moklebust has worked for many years in the music retail and publishing industry, and now operates a music editing and engraving service with her husband.

She earned both her B.A. (Percussion, 1982) and M.Ed. (Teacher Education/Music, 1988) at South Dakota State University, in her hometown of Brookings, SD. Ms. Moklebust and her family reside in rural Eagle Grove, Iowa, on her husband's 110 year-old family farm.