Prayer Bells is a choral concert piece by Tasmanian (Australian) composer Constantine Koukias featuring dozens of handbells cast for the celebration of Australia's 2001 Centenary of Federation (see below).
According to Gordon Kerry, Prayer Bells is the least dramatic and "purest" of Koukias's works, both in terms of musical style and resources required.
[3] In the same review, Hume likened cantor Petros Kyriakou to a Greek Harry Dean Stanton, praising him as a "true vocal magician".
[5] They produce a clear, precise note instead of the chordal sound usually associated with church bells, which means they can be fully integrated into musical compositions.
Among the 1920 quarter-tone (chromatic) handbells ultimately cast was a set made especially for Prayer Bells, in which Kerry says they "create a luminous haze around the deep resonance of the male voices".