From October 9-12, 2008, choruses and quartets that have qualified through divisional contests will converge on Bakersfield’s Rabobank Convention Center for the 2008 FWD Convention, hosted by the Masters of Harmony. MOH volunteers will draw on experience hosting the 1999 Anaheim International Convention, the 2005 Pasadena FWD Convention, and numerous divisional conventions. They will help with accommodations, registration, seating, and making sure that each competitor in the three contests (quartet, seniors quartet, and chorus) moves smoothly from warm-up area to stage on schedule.
The MOH will be well represented in the quartet contest. The Crush, a young foursome following the path blazed by OC Times, will compete. So will Masterpiece, made up of gold medal winners from three different past champions, poised once more for quick access to the uppermost levels of quartet excellence. Other MOH quartets in the field of 23 contestants include Amplitude, Curtain Call (Senior), and Expedia. Although the winner does not automatically qualify for the international competition in Anaheim in 2009 – also to be hosted by the MOH – top scorers gain valuable on-stage experience and performance evaluations that will help them prepare for next spring’s International Quartet Preliminaries, which WILL establish the field for Anaheim.
Eighteen choruses will vie for the right to represent the FWD in Anaheim in 2009. Two are directed by MOH members – Brea Gaslight Chorus by Phil Ordaz, and Fullerton Orange Empire Chorus by Craig Ewing – and one is directed by former MOH Director Dr. Greg Lyne, the Bay Area Voices in Harmony, which captured third in this year’s Nashville International Chorus Contest.
As current district AND international champion, the Masters will not compete in Bakersfield but will perform on the Saturday Night “Show of Champions” that features the Quartet Finals. Also performing on that show will be last year’s FWD quartet winner, MOH-connected VocalEase.
If past FWD contests are any indication, the Bakersfield competition will showcase groups that will go on to wow audiences at the Anaheim Convention. In 1999, the Masters had the difficult task of simultaneously hosting a convention and competing in it. This time, they will apply their skills off-stage (except for the swan song), and enjoy the vocal extravaganza with everyone else!
As usual, MOH members and their ladies will be found at all levels of both conventions – as judges, chorus and quartet singers, chorus directors, coaches, organizers, managers and door-and sales-persons. The barbershop world is their extended family.