2009 Pacific NorthWest Champions

As the premiere a cappella group from Eugene, Oregon, the gentlemen of Rezonate sing R&B, Gospel, Pop, Soul, Jazz, Funk, and even some Hard Rock, both arranging covers and writing original songs. The six members met each other through the Oregon Children's Choir, and started singing together as Rezonate sometime around December 2004. Since then, they have appeared at many venues, including art and air festivals, many local high schools, and even a live mini-concert broadcast from a leading pancake house on the local guitar rock radio station. Would you like a live station I.D. with your order of French toast? Call Rezonate!

2009 Results
1st	Rezonate
2nd	Vocalocity and Strangers in Harmony (tie)
3rd	Essence of Larynx
Audience Favorite	Rezonate
Best Original Arrangement	"Ghost Train" - Rezonate

2009 Participating Groups

Chanteuse is made up of six wonderful women with a common love of a cappella music, gourmet meals, and early harvest varietals. Founded in 2000, the Olympia-based group sings an eclectic range of music from standards to popular (and sometimes not so popular) music. Best known around town for their singing Valentines, Chanteuse has performed for many local festivals and fairs, including ArtsWalk, the Christmas Forest, Oysterfest, and the Olympia Farmer's Market. Chanteuse is thrilled to be competing at the Harmony Sweepstakes for the first time and hopes to do Olympia proud!

Members: Jan Smallwood, Margaret Eby, Teresa Fowlkes, Christine Salvador, Liz Frawley, Barbara Campbell

Essence of Larynx - The Larynx is that thing in your throat that makes noise, enabling speech, singing, yodeling, and Wookiee sounds. The voice box. Essence of Larynx makes noises with theirs, a selection of larynxes (larynges?) renown for their function if not for their form. Essence of Larynx also employs tongue, lips, teeth, and sometimes that thingy that hangs down in the back of the throat to create unique musical constructions. Their larynges (larynxes?) don't mind the assistance, since some of the stuff that comes out is a little strange, and it's nice to have more visible parts of the vocal tract take the blame for the nonsense.

Members: Tim Jones, Kai Robinson, Bryce Robinson, Judy Lombino, Jason Guffey

Rezonate As the premiere a cappella group from Eugene, Oregon, the gentlemen of Rezonate sing R&B, Gospel, Pop, Soul, Jazz, Funk, and even some Hard Rock, both arranging covers and writing original songs. The six members met each other through the Oregon Children's Choir, and started singing together as Rezonate sometime around December 2004. Since then, they have appeared at many venues, including art and air festivals, many local high schools, and even a live mini-concert broadcast from a leading pancake house on the local guitar rock radio station. Would you like a live station I.D. with your order of French toast? Call Rezonate!

Members: Aaron Matthew, Chris Dobson, David Fertal, Jason Caffarella, Tyson Biggerstaff, Justin Diller

Members: Eric Chung, Ramsay "RD" Cowlishaw, Jeremy Davidson, Shawn Dudley, Mike Mendyke

Strangers in Harmony is a brand new group from Portland Oregon. The group was founded in January 2008 when Eric Chung and Mike Mendyke, two transplants from the East Coast vocal scene, decided to explore the local scene and find some folks to sing with. Local Portland vocalists Shawn Dudley and Ramsay "RC" Cowlishaw soon joined in. The quintet was completed when On The Rocks alum Jeremy Davidson joined the group. With a warm, inviting sound and a mix of popular songs spanning the decades, Strangers In Harmony hope we won't be strangers to you very long.

V-Chords is an a cappella vocal band made up of six talented performers who truly enjoy helping the world connect with contemporary music in an exciting way. They perform a wide variety of pop, rock, jazz, gospel and country accompanied by live vocal percussion. Each member has significant performing experience and contributes to the combined flair and flavor for which V-Chords has become known. V-Chords has roots as far back as 2001 when Jeremy, Chris and Mike sang together in Pendleton, Oregon with Second Chance Singers. After relocating to Portland several years later, they formed V-Chords by joining forces with Bryan, Dave and Josh. They have performed throughout the region and are looking forward to many wonderful venues in the coming year.

Members: Jeremy Miller, Chris Moore, Bryan Podwys, Dave Edwards, Josh Killingsworth, and Mike Telfer

Judges

Scott Farrell, a Northwest native, has been a professional actor, singer, music director and teacher internationally for over 30 years. A former faculty member at The Evergreen State College, Scott currently has private voice studios in Olympia and Seattle, and is the Artistic Director and Conductor for the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Chorus, as well as Co-Director of Seattle's Open Voices.

Dan Schumacher was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming to a highly unorthodox, very artistic family. Dan studied vocal jazz at Northwest College, and vocal performance and operatic technique at Indiana University in Bloomington. He currently lives in Seattle, where he is exploring dimensions of his personality with the a cappella band The Bobs.

Kevin Kunz has been a professional singer, piano player, arranger and composer for more than 25 years in the Pacific Northwest. He has won numerous song writing and arranging awards and was one of the founding members of the Harmony Sweepstakes 2005 National Champions, Groove For Thought. He has performed with Jazz greats Joe Williams and Ritchie Cole, and is currently developing Contemporary Christian Recording Artists, Step-of-Faith, and looks forward to producing, recording and performing live with this multi-talented group!

Joan Levitin is an active member and one of the Musical Leaders of the award-winning Pacific Sound Chorus. As a member of Sweet Adelines International, she is a Certified Director, a Certified Expression Judge and a Panel Chair. Joan was the front-line director of Jet Cities Chorus for over seven years and was the lead in eight regional medalist quartets. She presently serves on the Education Direction Team for her region and is an active coach and faculty representative as well.

Bill Gibson, President of Northwest Music and Recording, has spent the last 30 years writing, recording, producing, and teaching music. As demonstrated in his new series of six books and DVDs (The Hal Leonard Recording Method) Bill has developed unique insights into the techniques and procedures that produce extremely high-quality audio. Keep an eye out for Bill's new book with Quincy Jones, titled Q on Producing Music.

Prizes

Regional winners win roundtrip airfare plus two nights accommodation in the San Francisco Bay Area to compete in the Harmony Sweepstakes National A Cappella Festival

A selection of compact discs from the Primarily A Cappella catalog

A $250 coupon from Discmakers

Complete results - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST A CAPPELLA NEWSGROUP

Keep in touch with the Pacific NW a cappella scene! Subscribe to this regional resource for a cappella fans and groups.
Stay informed about upcoming shows and auditions, find a new member for your group
or just keep up with the local a cappella news.

Interested in Competing?

We are always seeking groups who would like to compete in our events.

Groups of any style are welcome, but you must have between 3 and 8 members. We have a rule book which explains many of the details of the event, which you can see by clicking here. All groups must audition in order to compete. Generally this is done by sending a current tape and photo, although live auditions are sometimes arranged. The purpose of the audition is to make sure the group is appropriate for the Festival and to help the Director determine the performance order. If a group has competed previously, the audition process may be waived. Please send tapes and photos to the regional director :

Gary Witley (Pacific Northwest) The Pacific Northwest Regional Festival is sponsored and produced by Masterworks Chorale Ensemble (MCE). Gary Witley is the Artistic Director & Conductor of MCE. MCE is a Southwestern Washington community chorus dedicated to performance, community service, music education and leadership in the arts. Our mission is to perform sacred and secular choral, orchestral and newly commissioned works; to participate in community service activities and to provide a leadership role in developing, sponsoring and broadening the vocal arts.

How to enter
Gary Witley 11304 Nooksack CT SE Olympia, WA 98501-9550 360-264-8301
gwitley@visionseed.com

The Harmony Sweepstakes National A Cappella Festival
PO Box D
San Anselmo, CA 94979
(415) 455-8602
harmony@singers.com

Saturday, March 7th, 2009 - 7:30PM

Washington Center for the Performing Arts

512 Washington Street SE, Olympia

Directions

The Washington Center For The Performing Arts is located in Olympia Washington. Map

For more information on the The Washington Center For The Performing Arts

25th Annual

Pacific NW Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival

2009 Results