The W.D. Packard Concert Band will ring in St. Patrick’s Day with a guest handbell choir.

The March concert will include the Lancaster (Ohio) Handbell Ensemble, directed by William L. Wittman.

The ensemble was founded in 2011 to foster appreciation for the art of English handbell ringing through both performance and education, and it was led initially by Leta Cook. The ensemble rings five octaves of Malmark Handbells and Chimes and recently expanded its musical range by adding a seventh lower octave.

Wittman has more than 40 years of music and education experience.

He began as director of bands for Lancaster City Schools before serving as director of fine arts education in Newark City Schools and as a school superintendent for Hamilton Local Schools and Tri-County Career Center in Nelsonville.

After retiring from education, Wittman became director of business and trade show operations for the Ohio Music Education Association.

The handbell ensemble will play Janz A. Black’s “Jubilant Praise,” Bart Howard’s “Fly Me to the Moon” and Sallie Lloyd’s “Reverberations” and join the W.D. Packard Concert Band on “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and “America! God Shed His Grace on Thee,” both arranged by Douglas E. Wagner.

Conductor Galen S. Karriker will lead the band on John Williams’ “Sound the Bells,” Jacques Offenbach’s “The Lantern Marriage” overture, John Philip Sousa’s “The Bride Elect” march, “Symphonic Dances” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” Percy Aldridge Grainger’s “Irish Tune from County Dairy” and Paul Yoder’s arrangement of “South Rampart Street Parade.”

The concert starts at 3 p.m. Sunday at Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren. Admission is free, and funding is provided by the W.D. Packard trust.