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Photo courtesy of First Baptist Church of Westwood. Pictured above is Peter de Reyna, who is moving on to other musical pursuits following six years of directing the Westwood Ringers of First Baptist Church of Westwood.
1-26-2023 12:20am
Westwood Ringers Bid Farewell to Director de Reyna, Who Joins Band on Tour
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Thanks to the First Baptist Church of Westwood for sharing this news with Westwood Minute.
At the Westwood Ringers’ Christmas Concert at the First Baptist Church in early December, their music director, Peter de Reyna, let the audience know that he would be leaving the Ringers at the end of the year. The Ringers had known this for some time and made it clear that they had greatly enjoyed working with Mr. de Reyna for almost seven years and would miss him.
As a parting gift and a memento of his time with them, the Ringers recently presented Mr. de Reyna with an actual engraved handbell. Because the bell choir rings once or twice a month during worship services at First Baptist, the congregation will miss him as well. He, in turn, has promised to attend future Ringers’ concerts if he is in town when they take place.
In the spring of 2016, Mr. de Reyna was chosen as the new musical director of the Westwood Ringers, the handbell choir at First Baptist. Although he had no experience with handbells, he was already a skilled musician who had graduated from Westwood High School the year before, had been awarded Eagle Scout rank by Boy Scout Troop 3, Westwood, which is sponsored by the church, and was completing his freshman year at Berklee College of Music.
When he joined the Ringers, Mr. de Reyna was taking conducting courses at Berklee and realized that this was the perfect place to exercise this new skill. As musical director, he was also learning invaluable leadership skills. When asked what kept him with the Ringers for almost seven years, he replied that he loved working with the choir and helping them grow as musicians. It was also a way that he could give back to the community and express what music meant to him, and he loved introducing people to music.
Mr. de Reyna graduated from Berklee in 2019, focusing on upright bass training and studying under a number of legendary bass players. As an upright bassist, he specializes in all idioms of the Jazz language, and frequently gigs as a Jazz musician in Boston. However, it is in the genre of Metal that he is most skilled, and he is considered a master and integral piece of the genre’s future. He has been a member of the Seven Spires, a four-piece American symphonic metal band, since 2015. He also performs live in countless musical settings as an electric bassist.
The Seven Spires are now in Europe where they have joined the Twilight Force Winter Wonder Tour. Following that engagement, they will spend the month of March touring Canada and the United States with the Eluveitie North American Tour.
In addition to performing, Mr. de Reyna is the guiding force behind De Reyna Artist Management. The agency was founded in 2020, and currently manages nine bands.
As his professional career has taken off and included more touring engagements, Mr. de Reyna has found it difficult to work with the Ringers on a regular basis. And the Ringers always hoped that his professional career would be a success and understood that he wouldn’t be with them for the long term. When he informed them last fall of his 2023 touring schedule, it was mutually agreed that the time had finally come for him to move on. So the Westwood Ringers and the First Baptist Church have bid Mr. de Reyna a fond farewell and assured him that they look forward to watching where he goes from here.
