Widely considered the best handbell group in the United States, the Sonos Handbell Ensemble performs at the Liberty Theater at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 15.

Sonos has been at the forefront of handbell artistry since it was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1990. In addition to touring nationally, Sonos plays in many of the major venues of the Bay Area and has recently returned from a second highly-acclaimed tour of Japan. The 12-member ensemble handles 68 chromatically tuned bells covering more than five octaves with acrobatic efforts involving ringing, slamming, plucking, malleting, shaking, damping, bouncing and a host of other virtuosic techniques.

Sonos recorded the first American handbell CD commercially produced and nationally distributed. Recorded at Skywalker Sound, a division of Lucas Digital Services in Marin County, Calif., it was dubbed “sensational” by the San Francisco Examiner. The group recorded a second CD of Christmas music from around the world, “Christmas with Sonos Handbell Ensemble,” also at Skywalker Sound. A third CD released in October 1996, “Classical Sonos,” features major works of Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart in new transcriptions by Sonos’ artistic director, James Meredith. Flutist Timothy Day of the San Francisco Conservatory collaborated with Sonos to record its fourth CD, “A Very Classical Christmas,” exploring the varied expressions of the Christmas spirit in the classical tradition. It has recently released its first video, “Space Between the Notes.”

Tickets for Saturday’s concert are $15 for general admission and $5 for students and children. The box office opens at 6 p.m.

Dinner packages are available at the Silver Salmon Grill in downtown Astoria, with dinner seating from 5 to 5:30 p.m. At $89 per couple, the package includes appetizers, two dinner entrees, dessert and preferred seating at the concert. For reservations, call (503) 338-6640.