We hit the high notes, made a judge cry and came home with the gold from the Barbershop Harmony Society’s 71st annual international convention over the Fourth of July! Your St. Charles Ambassadors of Harmony broke through with a first place win over the Vocal Majority from Dallas, Texas. I think they’re in the minority now. Missouri rules! The Texas group has held the title for three decades but our 160 singers from St. Charles scored 2,927 points (a record) out of 3,000 and won the gold over 28 qualifying choruses in front of an audience of 3,000 crazed barbershop music fans. I heard from total strangers that the entire house leapt up in a tremendous standing ovation for us!
Competitors came from Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Sweden. We gave them a great big American welcome, but didn’t hold back on our competitive spirit!
Our rendition of Edith Piaf’s “If You Love Me, Really Love Me” brought tears to the eyes of a judge who needed a moment to recover, and Meredith Wilson’s “76 Trombones” from the “Music Man” really brought the house down. Both songs were arranged for us by the chorus’ associate director, David Wright.
Shout-outs, wait, make that sing-outs, also go to Crossroads, a barbershop quartet with two Ambassadors of Harmony members, who also won a gold medal in the quartet contest. The quartet’s bass, Jim Henry, has directed the Ambassadors for nearly 20 years, and baritone Brandon Guyton also signs with us. Lead singer Mike Slamka and tenor Fred Farrell, are members of the Ambassadors organization.
And we sing on. You can catch us at our annual holiday performance, “Sounds of the Season-2009” on December 11-13 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the UM-St. Louis campus. Tickets are on sale starting Tuesday, October 13. Visit us online to learn more about the Ambassadors of Harmony.
We send a great big thank you to the St. Charles community–all of you who believe in us and love barbershop music.
SCHNEIDER Real Estate would like to congratulate this community and musical achievement. A special congratulations is reserved for our very own Roger Schneider.
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