Ambassadors of Harmony win barbershop gold
By Sarah Bryan Miller
Post-Dispatch Classical Music
The 160-voice Ambassadors of Harmony, a St. Charles-based barbershop chorus, won the gold medal over 28 competing groups at the international Barbershop Harmony Society’s 71st annual convention in Anaheim, Cal.

The Ambassadors had the Society’s all-time highest score: 2,926 points, out of a possible 3,000. They also beat the contest’s favorites, 11-time gold medal-winning chorus, Dallas-based Vocal Majority, which took the silver with a score of 2,889. Contest rules require first-place winners to take three years off from the competition.

The Ambassadors, lead by Jim Henry, choral music director at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, previously took the gold in 2004, and the silver in 2007 and 2008.

Two members of this year’s gold medal quartet, Crossroads, sing with the Ambassadors: Jim Henry, on bass, and Brandon Guyton, baritone. The other members, tenor Fred Farrell and lead singer Mike Slamka, live elsewhere but are affiliated with the Ambassadors.

 

Follow-up Q&A with Jim Henry - 7/26/09

The 160-voice Ambassadors of Harmony recently won the gold medal over 28 competing groups at the international Barbershop Harmony Society's 71st annual convention in Anaheim, Calif.

Not only did the Ambassadors have the society's highest score (2,927 points out of a possible 3,000), they also beat the heavy favorite, Dallas-based Vocal Majority, which took the silver at the July 3 competition.

The St. Charles group has been led since 1991 by Jim Henry, 45, choral music director at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. It previously took the gold in 2004, and the silver in 2007 and last year.

This has been an exceptional year for Henry; he also was the bass in this year's gold medal quartet, Crossroads.

"I'm the only person in history to have won in the same year with both a quartet and a chorus," Henry said. "I have to admit, it was pretty exciting."

Q: How did you get into barbershop?

A: Both of my parents sang in barbershop when I was just a baby. I joined the Ambassadors when I was 11 years old, as a tenor, and when my voice changed I turned to bass.

Q: How do you get younger guys in?

A: Some of our most enthusiastic members are our younger singers. When they hear the chords ring, they seem to go absolutely crazy for it. That's always an exciting sound that gets right into your bones.

Q: How do you practice for the competition?
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A: We usually go from January to July. It starts with the arrangements of the two songs we'll sing in the contest. David Wright is the chairman of the mathematics department at Washington University; he's also an incredible arranger, for both the chorus and the quartet. We learn the music and bring in coaches who help us develop our visual plan: costumes, uniforms, props. All those things have to be made, and with 160 guys, that's no small task. It really takes an army behind the scenes to make it all happen.

Q: What did you sing this time?

A: We did a gorgeous ballad, "If You Loved Me, Really Loved Me," an Edith Piaf tune. Our second (piece) was "76 Trombones," from "The Music Man." We were ripping off one costume in front of people's eyes, very very very quickly — and kapow, we're a marching band, complete with trumpets, sousaphones, trombones and a big gong.