Kathryn Jurado
President-Elect, Handbell Musicians of America

A musician with over 30 years of performance experience, 20 years of non-profit volunteer work, and lifelong church music ministry service, Kathryn Jurado has quickly gained prominence in the handbell community as a ringer and director. She is starting her first year as the Director of Handbell Activities at Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, where she will lead students from grades 5 through 12. Kathryn also serves as President-Elect on the national board of Handbell Musicians of America, and is the Handbell and Instrumental Editor of Alfred Handbell, a division of Jubilate Music Group.

Born in Puerto Rico, Kathryn holds both a Bachelor and Master of Music degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa. As a freelance oboist and private teacher, she has performed with groups such as Opera Tampa, the Venice Symphony, The Tampa Bay Symphony, The Villages Philharmonic, and performances of La La Land Live, and with Ray Charles, the Irish Tenors, and pop superstars Hanson.

Kathryn served as music director and Vice President of Magic of Bronze, an Orland-based community handbell ensemble, which was a featured performance choir at the 2020 HMA National Seminar, as well as a term as Associate Director of the Suncoast Bronze Ringers community handbell ensemble in the Tampa Bay area. Kathryn has led a handbell ensemble at the University of South Florida, taught music in the Hillsborough County Public Schools for over a decade, served as Province Officer with Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, and was the handbell director at Lake Magdalene Church (formerly UMC) in Tampa.

In 2022, Kathryn was the clinician for Reaching for Bronze (now known as Crescendo) in New Bern, North Carolina. She was the handbell clinician for the Florida Chapter of the Fellowship of Worship Artists’ Worship Arts Week in Fruitland Park, Florida in 2024 and 2025, HMA Area 4’s Bells of the Caribbean in 2024, HMA’s 2025 College Ring-In, and the 2025 Utah Spring Ring. Kathryn was a faculty member at HMA’s 2025 Pinnacle event in Wichita, Kansas, and is looking forward to leading handbell festivals in Delaware, Montana, and Nebraska in 2026.

Carlos E. Rivera Aponte
Chair, Area 4

Regarded as one of Puerto Rico’s foremost handbell masters, Carlos E. Rivera Aponte has had a fruitful career of more than thirty years as director of various handbell programs in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Colombia. Carlos received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in education and music from the University of Puerto Rico. He later received his master’s degree in music education with an emphasis on choral music at Florida State University’s College of Music in Tallahassee, Florida. He is an active handbell clinician and has inspired many people to become involved in handbell ringing and musicianship. He describes himself as a handbell missionary, in his belief that “there are so many people who have not been able to be in contact with this wonderful instrument; once they do, they’ll fall in love with it”.

Carlos served two years as an at-large member of HMA National Board and now is the HMA Area 4 Chair. He currently works as Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, music professor and choral conductor at the University of Puerto Rico-Carolina. He founded San Juan Handbell Ensemble in February 2024.