Florham Park Singer Awarded Sweet Adelines Medal

Four area women, performing as The Four Baris quartet, were awarded fifth place medals in the annual Greater New York Region of Sweet Adelines International contest held April 12 in Philadelphia, PA. Eighteen competing quartets, each singing two songs in four-part a cappella harmony in the barbershop style, vied for top honors and the opportunity to qualify for Sweet Adelines International’s world-wide competition to be held November 6 in Honolulu, HI.

Singers Dana Dunlevy of Florham Park, Carolyn Schmidt of Gillette, Laura Partynski of Madison, and Carol Bailey of Warren impressed judges with their performance of the Etta James classic “At Last” and, the Dixieland jazz standard, “The Original Dixieland One-Step.”

Carol Bailey joined the three-year-old quartet in January, filling a spot left when a former member of the quartet relocated out of state.  Bailey, herself recently relocated from Alaska back to her home state of New Jersey, was fresh from her first appearance in the November 2 Sweet Adelines International world-wide competition in Denver, CO, singing Lead with the North Pacific Region’s 2012 quartet champion, Backbeat.

Carolyn Schmidt has been awarded many medals singing with prior quartets, including a first place regional championship. She is the Master Director of The Hickory Tree Chorus chapter of Sweet Adelines International (2013 regional 3^rd place medalist), is a Master Music Arranger, and was appointed by the Sweet Adelines International Board of Directors to serve on the 2013-14 International Music Arrangers Program Committee. 

Dunlevy, Partynski, and Schmidt had previously medaled and been awarded the region’s Novice Quartet Award with The Four Baris. Dunlevy and Partynski serve as section leaders with the Basking Ridge-based Hickory Tree Chorus.

The Four Baris entertain at community, club, and special events with a repertoire of popular music sung in close, four-part acappella harmony with award-winning style. Contact Dana at 973-980-8466. More at facebook.com/TheFourBaris.