Looking Back on the July 1-5, 2025 Alexandria Chapter Successes at the BHS International Convention in Denver, CO
The Alexandria A Cappella Collective (AACC) had a great week at the 2025 Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) International Contest and Convention in Denver, CO. Many members of the chapter “family” traveled on Monday, June 30, in order to be there for the major contests and events that kicked off on Tuesday.
There were sixty-five quartets in the quarterfinals round of the quartet contest with six quartets that had active AACC members: HARMOHAUS with John Sifuentis, Lance Fisher, Kevin Mendez and David Breen; SUPERNOVA with Maggie McAlexander, Tessa Walker, Amanda Pitts, and Serena Davis; FIRST TAKE with Alex Corson, Anthony Colosimo, Drew Wheaton and Andrew Havens; LEGACY with Rick Taylor, Bill Stauffer, Brian Mastrull and Niko Porter; BELTWAY with Robert Santine, Suranjan Sen, Joshua Myers and Dan Krackhardt (filling in for Ryan Mextorf); and GQ with Amanda Sandroni, Katie Gillis, Ali Hauger and Samantha Tramack.
Two of the chapter’s quartets made it into the semifinals round: FIRST TAKE and GQ. PRATT STREET POWER with Ed Schubel was mic tester quartet for the finals round.
When the results were called out on Saturday night after the finals quartet round, FIRST TAKE had earned the third place bronze medal from among the top ten finalists. Their total score for the three rounds was 6,659 points with a 92.5 average. GQ was awarded the fifth place bronze medal. Their score was 6,483 points with a 90.0 average.
The first place gold medal quartet was LEMON SQUEEZY from Sweden. Second place quartet was GIMME FOUR from Mid Atlantic District (M-AD) that has helped with Harmonizer youth camp over the years. There were two other M-AD quartets in the top ten – seventh was SECRET BEST FRIENDS (bass Will Daniel Simmons sang in the front row of our chorus before college), and tenth was SMOKE RING who sang at the chapter’s fundraising gala last year.
The two ensembles that currently comprise AACC did not compete this year since the chapter is going to Ireland later this summer. However, chapter members were on hand to cheer for the True North Chorus from DE (and M-AD) and directed by Julian LeFlore who is assistant director of the Capital Force ensemble in AACC.
The gold medal chorus winner was The Vocal Majority from Dallas with 146 singers that earned a score of 2,301 for a 95.9 average. M-AD Choruses included Voices of Gotham, Parkside Melody, Sirens of Gotham, and East Coast Sound. Family member Erin Odel directed the Visons of Harmony treble chorus from St. Charles, MO.
Several AACC members sang in the Dream Chorus directed by Jim Henry, a chapter coach for competition and who was speaker for our most recent Gala. Steve White, Cy Shuster, Adele Jones, Brad Jones and Keith Jones signed up to sing in this extra chorus opportunity (they pay a fee, learn the music and come to convention early enough to practice a few times with a guest director). Former member of the Harmonizers, Lewis Smith, sang in the Dream Chorus too. He joined the Harmonizers in 1977 when he was 15, with his dad, Al.
GQ and FIRST TAKE earned chorus medals for their fun “walk on” spots as part of comedic contest packages with Nashville and Denver choruses.
Several members and friends of the AACC family were judges during the convention: Steve Tramack is chair of the overall judging committee. Panel members for the chorus and quartet contest included Chris Buechler, admin judge; and David Wright and Joe Cerutti (for the choruses only), musicality judges. Panel members for the Next Generation Quartet Contest included Mike Louque. Cy Wood and Tim Waurick. Panel members for the comedy festival included Patrick McAlexander, Mo Field and Renee Tramack. Our M-AD friends, THE QUIN-TONES, placed eleventh in the Next Gen quartet contest.
On the administrative side of things, there were several from the chapter family who had extra duties. John Santora, immediate past BHS president; Kevin Keller is current president and was presenter for the quartet semifinals session; Bill Colosimo served as chairman of the Leadership Development Committee chairman for BHS which meant he managed the elections for the board with Terry Reynolds; and Chris Buechler and Steve Tramack attended Society meetings during the week. Steve directed the National Anthem for the Saturday contest session.
Joe Cerutti was co-host for the Saturday evening Live Stream event in addition to his judging duties and staff duties all week in Denver. He also found time to announce the results of the Next Generation Quartet contest.
Here are some other chapter family stories from Denver: Former Harmonizer coach, Tony DeRosa, sang in the 2024 quartet champs swan song gig, THREE AND A HALF MEN. He directed the Association of International Champs (AIC) chorus at the spectacular AIC show on Friday night. He also received the prestigious Joe Liles Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sean Devine is executive director of the AIC.
Rasmus Kingstrum, who arranged our “Calling Dreams” song, sang with the AIC chorus, sang in the HILLBILLYS quartet representing the Society of Nordic Barbershop Singers (SNOBS) and directed the SNOBS chorus, Northern Stars, with Johan Westberg on the risers. Johan also sang with the Denver chorus, as did TJ Donahue, who appeared in a news spot on a Denver tv station that covered the convention, and as did Chad Hoseth.
Jim Shoenhard and Tim Cash sang with the Nashville chorus. Jay Butterfield sang with Dallas and earned his second gold medal with them – his first was in 1975 singing next to his dad, Gene, 50 years ago.
Former chapter member, Ryan Killeen, sang in TRIBUTE quartet in the quarterfinals round; plus Matt Fellows sang with WESTERN ADDITION; Christina Tramack, Samantha’s sister, sang with DESTINATION; Ben Raja, Becca William’s boyfriend, sang with GAMBIT; and Donnell Torres sang with NON-STOP in the contest and in the mic tester quartet for the Next Generation contest with TOFU CONCERN.
Terry Reynolds was one of seventeen “voice actors” that recorded a branding video for BHS that was aired just before the start of the Saturday night finals session.
Rick Taylor was busy all week in Denver as a staff member of the Harmony Foundation International (HFI). He sang in LEGACY quartet in the quarterfinals round representing M-AD, and then appeared with former chorus director, Richard Lewellen, with RIPTIDE for a special appearance on the Saturday finals show as current champions of the Worldwide Barbershop Quartet Association. .
All during the week YeEd and reporters (Dixie Kennett, Ken Rub and Steve White in particular) spotted current and former members of the AACC family at the convention (it is likely we missed someone – but it is still amazing how many of the chapter family attended): Connor Goss, Sam McFarland, Chuck Hunter, Jim Lake, David Wilt, Lew Klinge, John Knight, Greg Tepe, John Rettenmeyer, Glenn Williamson, Matt Ambler, Tom Gannon, Craig Kujawa, Dan Cook, and Norbert Hammes from BING.
The AACC crowd back home in the DC Metro Area kept track of things and each other all week via Slack and organized several watch parties during the quartet and chorus contests.
Until next time – editorjack!
(This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record for the great things going on each week during the 77th year of the Alexandria Chapter. - YeEd)
The Chapter Mission Statement Enriching lives through vocal harmony in the greater DC area.
