Jul
6 July, 2014South Florida Barbershopping Really ROCKS!!!
Once a year the Barbershop Harmony Society holds a convention for barbershoppers from all over the world, to meet and greet and sing till the wee hours of the morning. Choruses and quartets compete to see who can be judged to be the best of the best of international barbershop harmony.
Well, this year at the Fourth of July Weekend Convention in Las Vegas, three local quartets made it very clear that South Florida is a hotbed of high-quality barbershop activity.
In the International Collegiate Quartet Competition, for quartets of young men between the ages of 15 and 25, with a total of 27 competing quartets, the local quartets “The Academy” and “Sunny Boys” placed first and second respectively, winning Gold and Silver medals.
Gold Medal winning quartet “The Academy” (L to R) Andrew Lujan-tenor, Peter Cunningham-lead, Michael Skutt-bass & Kevin Mendez-baritone
Silver Medal winning quartet Sunny Boys (L to R) Nick Gordon-baritone, Christian Diaz-bass, Albert Rico-lead & Eddie Mejia-tenor
In the “Big Boys” open quartet competition, of 53 qualifying quartets, “The Society”, with assistant choral director Kevin Mendez and Andrew Borts, finished 46th overall. “Throwback”, lead by Miamians choral director Alex Rubin, won a 7th place ranking among all barbershop quartets in the world!
“The Society” (L to R) Kevin Mendez-baritone, Amos Velez-bass, Andrew Borts-lead & Thor Young-tenor
