It’s easy to pay lip service to reaching out to the broader a cappella community, but the Alexandria Harmonizers are putting their money where their mouths are… with a prize competition!
The Harmonizers have rented one of Washington DC’s most famous venues, the historic Lincoln Theater, to host a competition for modern a cappella groups. Fifteen groups applied and six have been chosen as contestants: The George Washington University Vibes, The University of Mary Washington Symfonics, The Noctonals, the Chromatics, Capital Blend, and Word of Mouth. The Harmonizers, and their own modern a cappella subgroup “TBD”, will also perform while the judges’ scores are being tabulated.
The contest will be judged by three local figures in a cappella, arranger Danny Ozment, recording guru Amanda Cornaglia, and a representative from the Harmonizer quartet Da Capo, which, in addition to being a top ten BHS quartet, won the national Harmony Sweepstakes a cappella competition in 2011. 1st Prize is $1000, 2nd $500, and 3rd $250 (with each other contestant group getting $100 for participating).
“It’s unique in several respects,” said producer Ken Rub. “Most a cappella competitions don’t have prizes this large, few have adult groups competing with collegiate groups, and none are hosted by a barbershop chorus! We’re excited to reach an entirely new audience and show them barbershop is another proud member of the a cappella family.” Tickets are available now through the Lincoln Theater.