Rivera-Aponte, Carlos E
Carlos Enrique Rivera-Aponte’s hard work during the past 20 years has earned him a prominent place among handbell choir conductors in Puerto Rico. He is a founding member of the Coro Polifónico Juvenil de Campanas and the Puerto Rican Handbell Festival. He is also an active member of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the American Orf-Schulwerck Association (AOSA) and has participated in numerous workshops, festivals, conferences and seminars conducted by these organizations. He has been invited to teach methodology and rehearsal techniques for Handbell Choirs at the AGEHR Seminar for directors held in Washington State. He has conducted the Symposium Choir at the 8th International Handbell Symposium held in Makuhari, Japan; and participated as guest musical conductor at the Kettering Invitational Concert in Dayton, Ohio and the Winter Ring Workshop in Tallahassee, Florida. He has performed with his groups in various AGEHR Director’s Seminars and recently at the 2010 Pinnacle event in Nashville, Tennessee.
Carlos completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Puerto Rico with concentrations in Secondary Education and Music. Later, he received his Masters degree in Choral Music Education from the Florida State University School of Music where he studied with Prof. Rodney Eichenberger and Dr. André Thomas. He worked as professor and academic dean of the San Juan Children’s Choir and the conductor of this institution’s handbell choirs Campanelas, and its alumni choir, Resonare. He has worked as choral director of the Second Union Church Choir in San Juan, Puerto Rico and as music professor, choral and handbell director at the University of Puerto Rico and the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. He was the founder music director of Campanas de Oro (Golden Bells) an elderly people hanchimes ensemble, the first of its kind in the Island. Carlos is also the founder of the handbell movement in Venezuela, helping in the creation of more than 10 choirs in the country.
Presently Carlos works as the music director of Vivace, one of the leading handbell ensembles in the world and at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, leading a choral program for youth and children.
