Westminster Chorus
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The Westminster Chorus (formerly known as the Harmony Showcase Chorus) is a men's a cappella chorus based in Westminster, CA. They are a chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society and are composed almost entirely of men under the age of 30. A perennial favorite in the Far Western District, they entered the most recent International Convention ranked 3rd in the world by their preliminary scores. In only their second International Chorus Contest, July 2006 in Indianapolis, IN they placed 2nd to the Vocal Majority by 17 points marking one of the most competitive contests in recent history. Their first International appearance yielded a 9th place finish in the 2004 contest in Louisville, Kentucky.
[edit] History
The town of Westminster, in Orange County, CA has supported a barbershop chapter for almost half a century; but by the 1990s, it had an aging membership and no active performing chorus. In 2002 a small group of younger men from the Masters of Harmony chorus in nearby Santa Fe Springs decided they would like to try to start a barbershop chorus with the mission of bringing younger men together to make music with others their own age. Founding member Terry Ghiselli approached the men of the Westminster chapter, which at the time only boasted 8 members, and they were glad to allow the teens to pick up and use the chapter charter in order to produce their vision of a youth-oriented chorus.
With 15 members and only a half dozen rehearsals under their belt, they competed at the SoCal West divisional contest in April 2002. The oldest member on stage was 27, the youngest 16. The average age was 20, and 6 of the singers were brand new barbershoppers. Directed by Ghiselli, they surprised the crowd by walking away with the championship trophy that day, and advancing to the Far Western District contest the following fall.
In October 2002, they traveled to Bakersfield, CA to compete in their first district contest, with 19 men. They shocked the crowd by outscoring all other competitors, but were unfortunately disqualified posthumously from the championship because of a member eligibility issue. The San Jose, CA Garden City Chorus was given the crown by default and advanced to the 2003 International contest in Montreal, Canada.
In the fall of 2003 they once again competed at the Far Western District contest in Bakersfield and once again won the contest, this time legally, and by quite a margin, outscoring the second place Pacific Coast Harmony from La Jolla, CA by 53 points. This gave them the right to represent FWD at the 2004 International contest in Louisville, Kentucky the following July, where they surprised the crowd by placing 9th the first time out!
The chorus voted to lay out of the 2004 fall district contest to pay homage to the 5-time International Champion Masters of Harmony, who were again eligible to win the right to defend their title in the summer of 2005 in Salt Lake City, where they won their 6th gold medal in a row. Many of the men of Westminster were on stage as members of the Masters as well, including most of the original handful of Masters teens who had founded Westminster.
The fall of 2005 brought the Westminster Chorus back to the district contest, defending their title against a stronger field, which included the newly-minted Spirit of Phoenix chorus (a merger of the Phoenix-Saguaro Phoenicians Chorus and the Greater Phoenix chapter) that boasted over 100 members. But once again, quality won out over numbers, and the Westminster Chorus emerged victorious with less than 50 men singing. Their outstanding score average of 87.7% gave them the third highest preliminary ranking internationally. They represented the FWD again in contest in July 2006 in Indianapolis, IN, where they placed second and won their first chorus medal, silver. The Vocal Majority chorus from Dallas, won gold, continuing their streak of international championships.
[edit] Vision
The format of the Westminster Chorus differs greatly from that of many barbershop chapters. Rehearsals are not weekly, and occur on weekends twice a month. They last from 2–4 hours, and there is always an "afterglow" that takes place at the local Taco Bell, where the members socialize and casually sing. The audition process is simple and accurate at identifying a singer's potential to benefit the chorus.
While there is no age regulation, myths abide that the chorus kicks out members who turn 30 and do not admit anyone above that age. The director himself, Royce Ferguson, is in his late thirties. The chorus simply feels that they wish to provide a forum for young men to be introduced to good barbershop singing with their peers, and they format their chapter to serve that particular segment of the community. Older men have attended and almost all of them feel it is not the right group for them, although if a 30-something singer wished to join, he would be welcomed like anyone else.
