By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily
News
Masters of Harmony the Santa Fe Springs-based men’s
barbershop chorus, won its eighth consecutive gold medal in the 73rd
International Barbershop Harmony Society Chorus Competition on July 8 in Kansas
City, but it wasn’t easy. Under the direction of Mark Hale, MOH finished just five
points ahead of Great Northern Union of Hilltop, Minn.
MOH won its first gold medal in 1990 and repeated in 1993,
1996, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008 (winning choruses have to lay out for three
years before competing again). It’s also the only chorus to have win
consecutive titles under three different directors. Eight in a row is the
longest current streak; Vocal Majority, the Dallas, Tex.-based chorus, had won
nine consecutive contests before it lost in 2009 to Ambassadors of Harmony.
For the Barbershop Harmony Society Web site, click HERE.
For the Masters of Harmony Web site, click HERE.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.
