Kennett Symphony’s 2008-2009 season came to a pealing conclusion with a performance using Bells of Remembrance during the end of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture at Longwood Gardens. Also featured during the Saturday, Aug. 15 season finale was a performance by 15-year-old cellist Bradley Berman.

No cannons were available for the 1812 Overture. The National Guard unit that usually provides them is on deployment in Iraq. Instead, Bells of Remembrance were used to signify the celebration of the Russian victory over Napoleon.

The Bells of Remembrance was a project of Brother David Schlatter and the Franciscan Center of Wilmington. The project followed the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and used as part of memorial services marking the anniversary of those attacks.

The 14 bells range in weight from 450 pounds to 9,000 pounds and hung from a steel frame in an open area behind the stage. Special guests were selected to ring the bells during the performance. They were used in other performances of the overture at Winterthur and Rockwood Mansion Museums.

Following the intermission, the performance opened with Saint-Saen’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op 33. Berman, a student at the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School, was the featured cellist.

He was the 2007 first place recipient in the Tri-County Youth Festival Competition, Junior Division and, in 2008, won first place in the senior division of the Kennett Symphony Orchestra Competition. He won other first place competitions in 2009 and received a Menges Scholarship in the Ambler Symphony Competition this year.

The symphony was under the direction of Mary Woodmansee Green.