Don’t miss First Take at their concert on May 28 at 3pm — the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. They will be joined by Mid-Atlantic District representatives, Rule #1 and The Brooklynaires, as well as a rapidly growing mixed chorus in Tewksbury NJ, Vocal Synergy. The concert will take place at:
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church 140 S Finley Ave Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
A full onsite afterglow will immediately follow the program. We hope you will be able to attend and greatly look forward to singing a tag with everyone that is able to attend!
Over the weekend of January 20-22, 2023 at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Wilmington, DE, SAI’s Region 19 will be holding their annual Singers School, featuring special faculty guests Kathleen Hansen and Jennifer Cook! There will be a tag party and a mini quartet brigade!
Registration is open to everyone and closes on Jan 6, so be sure to get yours submitted today!
We are holding our District Convention at the Lancaster Convention Center October 7 – 8. That is just around the corner. We are expecting a great showing of quartets and choruses and look forward to seeing everyone there. Please note that the last day for Early Bird ticket sales will be September 9 and the last day for online ticket sales is September 23.
SPECIAL TREAT
I am so excited to let you know that our own Alexandria Harmonizers will be cheering choruses on during the Saturday Chorus Contest and have graciously agreed to offer our convention attendees a Master Class sometime after the chorus contest (stay tuned for details). In addition, the Harmonizers will appear on our Saturday evening show which will follow the quartet finals on Saturday night!!
Come and enjoy our current 3rd Place International Chorus, the Alexandria Harmonizers.
If that weren’t enough, our outgoing 2020 District Quartet Champion quartet, Pratt Street Power will cool the mics following the quartet contest on Friday night and will provide our members an opportunity on Saturday to watch them in a class environment as well perform on the Saturday night show.
On Saturday, September 10, at 7 pm, at Schlesinger Concert Hall in Alexandria, VA, the Alexandria Harmonizers will be fresh off the International contest stage and ready to honor the pandemic’s front-line workers at their fall show titled A Beautiful Morning with themes of hope, renewal, and gratitude. General Admission tickets are just $20, but premium tickets are also available at $100 and include a back-stage meet-and-greet!
You won’t want to miss the set that won the Harmonizers a fantastic 3rd place medal this past summer, along with numbers featuring 17th St. Dance, who joined them on the contest stage and tap danced their way into the audience’s heart. Other guests include First Take, 5th place quartet finalists at International, and Drew Tepe, a premier local pianist and entertainer.
Thanks to a generous grant from the City of Alexandria, front-line pandemic workers are being offered tickets to attend free of charge! If any of you know any front-line workers who would be also be thrilled to attend this show, you may contact the Harmonizers at info@harmonizers.org.
Click here to buy your tickets to see A Beautiful Morning today!
Venue: Schlesinger Concert Hall Northern Virginia Community College – Alexandria Campus 4915 E Campus Dr Alexandria, VA 22311
On Saturday, October 29, 2022, The Heart of Maryland Men’s Chorus will be back at the Slayton House theatre in Columbia, MD, with a very special theme for their annual show this year: Disney!
Tickets are just $20 each for adults, $10 for children 12 and under, and you will have two chances to catch the show this year at 2 pm and 7 pm. Click here to order your tickets today!
Venue: Slayton House 10400 Cross Fox Ln Columbia, MD 21044
Doors open 30 minutes prior to the show.
Tickets also available for $15 to an exciting barbershop-filled afterglow following the 7 pm show and will include pizza, wings, beer, and wine!
Barbershop is back, baby! And in Harrisburg, PA, at 3pm on Saturday, September 10, 2022, the White Rose and Keystone Capital choruses will be ready to give us a phenomenal show packed with a number of special guests, including 3 medalist ensembles!
Throwback Quartet
The West Shore High Schools Choir will perform a song taught by the 2013 Gold Medalist quartet Masterpiece! This year’s 3rd place quartet Throwback will also be performing, as well as this year’s 4th place chorus Parkside Harmony!
WRC/KCC 75th Anniversary Extravaganza! Saturday, September 10, 2022, at 3pm Scottish Rite Cathedral 3601 N 3rd Street, Harrisburg PA Doors open at 2:15pm
Need to buy a registration for one of our upcoming conventions? Just click here! If you’re buying a block of tickets, please remember to contact Mike Baguley (bagman410@comcast.net) so he has a list of names for all your attendees.
Individuals available to volunteer may sign up by clicking here! They also appreciate and welcome charitable donations of any amount. This camp is free to all eligible singers, so any amount helps greatly with their expenses! You can donate with a credit card or PayPal account by clicking here. The free performance at 6 p.m. that evening is open to the public for all fans of barbershop to enjoy!
A few months ago I made the fatal mistake of calling Anne Bureau, Director of the North Pennsmen, to tell her how much I enjoyed hearing a commercial of theirs on Philadelphia radio station KYW. Within a few weeks I found myself appointed Director of Marketing for the MidAtlantic District. The ordeal seemed rather painless, but I still don’t know what hit me. Dealing with Anne is like trying to lasso a tornado. You just can’t say no.
Wes Osborn
One positive by-product of this pandemic – and probably the only one I can think of – is that we get to begin anew. A fresh start, with a new team, new publication, and new focus: on you, the members. Past efforts at marketing the District’s efforts have been rather “top-down” – or “here is what the District wants you to know.” We want to adopt a “from you to us” focus: listening the Chapters’ needs and helping provide solutions. We will still run the contests, Harmony College East and other efforts. We realize that we have hundreds of members who do not compete or attend our educational events, but still like to get together and sing, which is sort of the point of it all anyway. We want to get back to that night in Tulsa in 1938 where the guys (and now, gals), gathered for the pure pleasure of making music together.
So this is our first effort in our restructuring. We are going to be very busy over the next few months, redesigning our website, creating blogs so you can get to us directly with your vast praise (and a few complaints, I’m sure), and oth-er hopefully useful innovations. We renamed this newsletter “Overtones” the technical name for “ringing a chord.” It’s the secret pleasure of all barbershop-pers to achieve that magical sound, but it isn’t necessary. It’s a bonus. Just en-joy singing and if you hear that “fifth note,” then enjoy. There’s no charge for the goosebumps.
Wes Osborn Director of Marketing, M-AD Lead: Cherry Hill Pine Barons, Palm Beach County Coastmen, Miamians
