The Santa Monica Chapter of Sweet Adelines International is proud to announce the group has won first place in the Mid-Sized Chorus Division at the organization’s regional competition recently held in Bakersfield. Several members of the chorus also won medals in the regional quartet contest.
More than 1,000 singers representing 18 choruses from California and Nevada competed for prizes in this year’s regional contest. In addition to winning the Mid-Sized Chorus Division (30-59 singers), the group also scored enough points to place third in the overall competition, beating several larger choruses who usually take the top prizes.
Quartet Serious Treble placed third and were the Most Improved Quartet, having raised their score over 100 points from last year. They also won the Sizzle Award for the highest score in showmanship. Three members of the quartet – Shelly Wilner, Debra Hockenberger and Melissa Hockenberger – are from the Santa Monica Chorus. A fourth member, Jeannie Vercillo, is a member of Verdugo Hills Showtime Chorus from Verdugo Hills, Calif. Shelly also won the contest for musical arrangement.
Other Santa Monica Chorus members competed in quartets Check It Out and Ooh La La, which placed 6th and 13th respectively, out of 24 competing.
Last year, the Santa Monica Chorus was the top-scoring small chorus in the country, which makes it eligible to compete at the International Education Symposium in San Antonio, Texas, July 12-15. The chorus will be putting on a fund-raising event to present their Harmony Classic Competition package on June 24.
The director for the past 19 years is Laura Pallas, an accomplished musician, performer and regional and international competitor who specializes in vocal production and technique.
The Santa Monica Chorus is the oldest Sweet Adelines chapter west of the Rockies. It received its charter on July 25, 1949, only four years after the founding of Sweet Adelines International, a non-profit musical education association for women that endows its 30,000 members with mastery of four-part harmony, barbershop style. The purpose of the organization is to teach and train its members in singing the barbershop style and to promote excellence through competition and other public and private performances.
For more information about the chorus, call 310.671.1305, send e-mail to SMSAsings@aol.com or go to www.smchorus.com.
