Alberta’s best barbershop singers will put their vocals chords to the test next weekend in Red Deer.
The annual Side By Side In Harmony convention and competition will be held at the Gaetz Memorial United Church on May 25.
“There should be about 100 singers here. There will be the top choruses from Calgary and Edmonton singing, as well as the top quartets we have in the province,” said David Crozier-Smith, Wild Rose Harmonizers president.
The event, which is held in Red Deer every four years, features barbershop singers from the Barbershop Harmony Society’s Evergreen District Division 3 (Alberta) competing to move on to bigger competitions.
“To have an opportunity to hear some of the top groups we have in the province will certainly be something we’ll be looking forward to,” Crozier-Smith said.
Crozier-Smith has been singing barbershop for more than 35 years and has been with the Wild Rose Harmonizers since the early 1980s.
“I’ve been singing barbershop for a long time, either in a quartet or the chorus itself. I love the enjoyment it brings to me as a singer and to see the enjoyment it brings to the people we sing to.
“There’s a real camaraderie amongst the members of the chorus. It’s sort of like a little family,” he said.
The chorus competition will be at 9:30 a.m. and the quartet competition is at 12:30 p.m. on May 25. Both events are free to attend.
Red Deer’s own Wild Rose Harmonizers, the Hearts of Harmony Sweet Adelines and other a capella choruses and quartets from Edmonton and Calgary will perform in the Show of Champions at 7 p.m.
“One of the highlights of the evening is the mass Alberta Barbershop Chorus, which is when all Alberta barbershoppers get up on stage and perform three or four numbers together. It’s really quite a feeling to perform in a group with 100-plus members,” said Crozier-Smith.
To purchase tickets for the Show of Champions, call David at 403-342-1318 or Ron at 403-352-3213.
More information is available at www.harmonizers.ca.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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