Gramann, Fred

FRED GRAMANN holds organ performance degrees from Syracuse University and the University of Michigan. With his wife Nancy, he went to Paris, France in 1972 for organ study with Marie-Claire Alain and Maurice Duruflé. What was to be a nine-month stint evolved into a 50-year musical adventure in the City of Light. Fred held the position of Director of Music at the American Church in Paris from 1976 to 2022 where he was organist and conducted the choral and handbell program. Fred and Nancy now reside in the French city of Orléans.

A well-known composer and internationally known conductor, educator and handbell clinician, he is frequently invited all over the world to conduct handbell festivals. He is the Honorary Associate Director for the Raleigh Ringers of Raleigh, North Carolina, the Embellish Handbell Ensemble of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Tintabulations Handbell Ensemble of Reno, Nevada. Fred has conducted both Distinctly Bronze East and Distinctly Bronze West and is the permanent director for the Bay View Week of Handbells, UK Bronze which is held in Sutton, Surrey, England, and Bronzefest, which includes bronze-level handbell choirs from Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.