Neighbor News
Local Singing Quartets Successfully Compete in Las Vegas
Four local quartets traveled to Vegas the week of October 17th to compete in the International Sweet Adeline Contest. What a blast!
Singing to a packed house at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, while countless others watched and listened on the web, was how four quartets from the Severna Park based a cappella group, Harbor City Music Company Show Chorus (HCMC) spent the week of October 17th. These talented women made a name for themselves with two quartets placing in the top ten and one receiving the Novice Quartet award.
Lustre Quartet, comprised of HCMC members: Lori Crouter (Reisterstown), Lori Dreyer (Catonsville), Jenny Harris (Catonsville) and Kate Morrical (Rockville) placed third in the world leaving the audience breathless after singing “What Kind of Fool Am I.” A comment from one webcast listener was “Lustre was stunning!”
GQ (Girls Quartet) was recognized for their beautiful voices by placing seventh. Katie MacDonald (Towson) is the HCMC member who sings bass, or the lowest voice part in the quartet. The four-some has also been featured on Prairie Home Companion, a radio variety show and traveled the world spreading the joy of barbershop. They brought the audience to their feet with a glorious rendition of “How Great Thou Art.”
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Receiving the Novice Quartet award and 16th in the World was Neon Lights, as this was their first International Contest together. Marianna Gellert (Severna Park), Lainey Davy (Arnold), Ashley Conway (Essex) and Amanda Miller (Essex). Established in 2009, the INTERNATIONAL NOVICE QUARTET is the highest-scoring quartet in the International Semifinals in which two or more members have never before competed in the International Quartet Semifinals and no member of the quartet is a previous International Quartet Champion. The quartet must also score a minimum score of 960 points. Audience comments were: “this quartet is on fire!’
Famous Janes, another HCMC quartet, also competed in the International contest and had three members representing HCMC including: Amada Clements (Alexandria, VA), Jen Kuethe (Millersville) and Sue Taylor (Abingdon). This quartet placed twentieth in the competition and sang beautifully, with the audience raving about their uptune “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” These talented women hale from three states, two Sweet Adeline Regions and sing in or direct two choruses.
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To view the performances of these talented quartets, go to https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuzBVBSdPjYh_dSDr5RMWTKqQPMpLK7h7.
Harbor City Music Company consists of 80+ members from all over the state of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia and is a chapter of Sweet Adelines International, an organization with chorus located throughout the United States and in 14 nations throughout the globe. The group rehearses at the Severna Park Elks Lodge, 160 Truck House Road, Severna Park, MD 21146, on Wednesday nights at 7:25 p.m. If you want to give it a try, they are having a special Christmas Chorus beginning in November and are inviting guests to come join in the fun!
HCMC performs regularly throughout the community, offering its talent as entertainment for corporate organizations, civic events and non-profit groups. HCMC has performed at the Mormon Temple, the Maryland State House, Oriole’s baseball games and more. In 2015, the chorus place eighth in the world and was voted audience favorite at an International Contest. They will be traveling to Las Vegas in 2017 to compete again after placing first at the Regional Contest in 2016 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
To find additional information about Harbor City Music Company Show Chorus call 800.856.9868, visit http://harborcitymusiccompany.org/, or write pr@harborcitymusiccompany.org
About Sweet Adelines International
Sweet Adelines International is a musical force in the United States and around the world. The organization is headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., where it was founded in 1945. This nonprofit music education organization is one of the world's largest singing organizations for women encompassing nearly 25,000 members, 1,200 registered quartets and 600 choruses in most of the fifty United States, Australia, Canada, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, The Netherlands and Wales.
