24th Annual


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The Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival is the premier American showcase for vocal harmony music. The annual national competition draws from hundreds of vocal groups from around the country with regional competitions in eight cities. The winning group from each festival is flown to perform in front of celebrity judges and a sold out house of enthusiastic a cappella fans at the National Finals.

Pacific NorthWest Champions

The Baudboys

The Baudboys are an all-male a cappella group composed entirely of Microsoft employees. Risking the wrath of fellow employees by rehearsing in on-campus conference rooms, The Baudboys sing a variety of popular and original music. As a group, the Bauds boast a wealth of musical training and performing experience. All sang with other groups before joining The Baudboys, and several founded or directed previous ensembles. The Baudboys earned second and third place overall finishes the 2006 and 2007 Northwest Harmony Sweepstakes and have performed to audiences in a variety of venues, from nursing homes and schools to major festivals and sporting events.

2008 Results

1st
The Baudboys
2nd
Vocalocity and V-Chords (tie)
3rd
Rezonate
Audience Favorite
Vocalocity
Best Original Arrangement
"Mandolin Rain" (arr Jason T. Caffarella) - Rezonate

2008 Participating Groups

The Akafellas are from Olympia and have been together since 1997. One of our first Harmony Sweepstakes appearances was in n1999 where we won 2nd place as well as best original arrangement. In years since, we’ve returned a few times and some members have come and gone.. and come back again. We are still having a great time and looking forward to making more, fun music together for many years to come. We still love singing all kids of music from Doo-wop to Pop to Rock to Country to everything in between. We are all every excited about getting to perform with all of the great groups at Harmony Sweepstakes again.
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Members: Jon Morgan, Kurt Fralick, Jon Murdock, Tony Benjamins, Michi Imamura


The Baudboys are an all-male a cappella group composed entirely of Microsoft employees. Risking the wrath of fellow employees by rehearsing in on-campus conference rooms, The Baudboys sing a variety of popular and original music. As a group, the Bauds boast a wealth of musical training and performing experience. All sang with other groups before joining The Baudboys, and several founded or directed previous ensembles. The Baudboys earned second and third place overall finishes the 2006 and 2007 Northwest Harmony Sweepstakes and have performed to audiences in a variety of venues, from nursing homes and schools to major festivals and sporting events.

Members: Jon Schwartz, Ric Lewis, Graham Sheldon, Owen Braun, Elliot Lewis, Mark Adolph, Dave McEwen and Paul Eng


Rezonate sings R&B, Gospel, Pop, Soul, Jazz, Funk, and soon some Bluegrass, both arranging covers and writing original songs. The six members met each other through the Oregon Children’s Choir, and started singing together sometime around December 2004. Since then, they have appeared at 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


A Toast of the Town consists of two men and two women who perform a mix of a cappella and accompanied music. Their performances are highly entertaining and encourage audience participation. A Toast of the Town performs a wide spectrum of musical styles including Manhattan Transfer jazz, 50s Doo-wop, Broadway showstoppers, patriotic songs, and nostalgic tunes from the early 20th century. They have experience singing for a variety of occasions and their fresh blend of nostalgic and current music is sure to be an audience pleaser.

Members: Kelly Hughes, Karen Murphy, Lyle Johnson, Ron Fisher


Vocalocity is a seasoned six man vocal band. Ryan Brierley, Jason Tesch, Trevor Linton, James Case, Scott Rollins, and Jake Tesch have filled their lives with music since they were young, and have been performing together as a group since 2005. They have banded together to produce a compelling a cappella performance for audiences of all ages. As part of their show, they have selected popular songs such as I Wear My Sunglasses at Night by Corey Hart, Everything by Michael Buble, Accidentally In Love by Counting Crows, and a special Beach Boys Medley. These and other songs have been professionally arranged by award winning musician, Derek Furch, to give them a unique and distinctive sound. With their goal set on winning the National Harmony Sweepstakes Championship, watch out for Vocalocity to take the a cappella world by storm.

Members: Jason Tesch, Jake Tesch, James Case, Ryan Brierly, Trevor Linton, Scott Rollins


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 flare 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.

Susan Kegley realized as a youth her true passion was singing. She joined Sweet Adelines in 1980 and has sung all voice parts in barbershop quartets over the years. Susan has been in four regional champion quartets and is an International Quartet Champion with A Cappella Gold. She judges, coaches, gives vocal lessons, and is the Artistic Director of Pacific Sound Chorus.

Kevin Kunz realized as a youth her true passion was singing. She joined Sweet Adelines in 1980 and has sung all voice parts in barbershop quartets over the years. Susan has been in four regional champion quartets and is an International Quartet Champion with A Cappella Gold. She judges, coaches, gives vocal lessons, and is the Artistic Director of Pacific Sound Chorus.

Dan Schumacher comes from a highly unorthodox, very artistic family. He studied vocal jazz at Northwest College, and vocal performance and operatic technique at Indiana University in Bloomington. In Seattle, Dan wrote, arranged and performed with Kickshaw (2001 NW Harmony Sweepstakes Audience Favorite), before joining the funny and irreverent a cappella band, The Bobs.

Melanie Wroe is a singer, choreographer, educator and performance coach for groups of all sizes. She is a Certified Showmaship Judge with Sweet Adelines International, and has presented workshops on visual performance throughout the United States and abroad. She has sung bass with 3 championship quartets, and is a member of two award-winning ensembles - Pacific Sound Chorus in Seattle and City of Lakes Chorus in Minneapolis.


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 List of Pacific NW Champions

Complete List of 2008 national participants


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