Home | 2007 Schedule | Recordings | Previous winners | Rules | How to enter
Boston | Chicago | Rocky Mountain | Los Angeles | New York | Pacific North West | San Francisco | Mid Atlantic
Home | 2007 Schedule | Recordings | Previous winners | Rules | How to enter
Boston | Chicago | Rocky Mountain | Los Angeles | New York | Pacific North West | San Francisco | Mid Atlantic
The Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival, 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.
2007 Mid Atlantic Champions
DoubleShot! - Pittsburgh's only All-Vocal Band is proud to make their Harmony Sweeps debut in DC as the second ever Pittsburgh group to compete at the DC Regional. One part a cappella group, one part vocal band, six parts hardworking, fun, and audience-friendly (and usually several generous parts beer), the guys combine the selections and styles of contemporary a cappella with those of more traditional styles. They keep to a simple philosophy: to make music as fun for the performers as it is for the audience. In this, their first full year together, the guys recently began performing semi-pro in the Pittsburgh area this past fall. They can be found in venues ranging from sports stadiums to cultural district haunts to dive bars and back again.
Members: Luke Clavey, Eric Manalo, Michael Bodnar, Dave Wilson, Nate Wildfire, Mike Yanchak
2007 Results |
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1st
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DoubleShot! |
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2nd
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Top Of The Seventh |
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3rd
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Euphonism |
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Audience Favorite
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DoubleShot! |
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Best Original Arrangement
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"Holy Freshmen" - DoubleShot! |
2007 Participants
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DoubleShot! Pittsburgh's only All-Vocal Band is proud to make their Harmony Sweeps debut in DC as the second ever Pittsburgh group to compete at the DC Regional. One part a cappella group, one part vocal band, six parts hardworking, fun, and audience-friendly (and usually several generous parts beer), the guys combine the selections and styles of contemporary a cappella with those of more traditional styles. They keep to a simple philosophy: to make music as fun for the performers as it is for the audience. In this, their first full year together, the guys recently began performing semi-pro in the Pittsburgh area this past fall. They can be found in venues ranging from sports stadiums to cultural district haunts to dive bars and back again. Members: Luke Clavey, Eric Manalo, Michael Bodnar, Dave Wilson, Nate Wildfire, Mike Yanchak |
| Euphonism - From their humble roots of Craig's List and the Metro Center Caribou coffee shop, seven young singers are about to take the capital's breath away with joyful a cappella harmonies. Euphonism is Washington, DC's newest a cappella group, composed of four men and three women with diverse musical backgrounds including theater, jazz, classical, barbershop and choir ˜ who share a passion for the pure, electrifying blending of voice. Members of Euphonism will bring a mixture of angelic harmonies, driving beats and moving rhythms to audiences in the capital area. Members: Amanda Cornaglia, Gillian Sowray, Jenny Libster, Joseph Kang, Jason Sam, Guy Divita, Hugh Gee |
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Glorious, Richmond, VA: Glorious A Cappella is a group of strong mature men that has been together since 1997. During this time, they have become a group of tight knit, polished and professional performers. Their unique a cappella style leaves very little room for imperfections in their sound. Drawing from our individual spiritual backgrounds, and combining tried and true spirituals with an upbeat tempo, Glorious A Cappella creates a unique listening experience. Punctuality, Professionalism and Worship are the cornerstones to their organization Members: John Elliott, Michael Lemon, Larry Arrington, Barry Fleming, Eugene Gleaton |
| The Pelicans are an octet drawn from a group of singers based in Laurel, MD, who enjoy performing various styles of music. They launched the group during Laurel Mill Playhouse's youth production of The Music Man in the summer of 2005. They had such a good time singing barbershop that they just kept on harmonizing. They have been pleased to perform at various church and community functions, including Laurel's Main Street Festival and Riverfest. They are also proud to have been invited twice to perform the National Anthem at RFK stadium in Washington, DC. The members of the group, aged teens to grandparents, have performed an amazing variety of genres, from lounge acts to opera, as wedding singers and country & western singers. In addition to barbershop, the group loves singing styles ranging from Broadway show tunes to big band and doo-wop.
Members: Kathryn Binney, Erika Cogliani, Kirby Forssell, Heather Heaps, Jocelyn Knazik, Stu Knazik, Martha O'Hehir, Barbara Strang |
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Top Of The Seventh - A seasoned group of musical enthusiasts that performs at a variety of venues, from professional baseball games to private schools and parties. We take on styles that range from jazz to spiritual to pop, in pursuit of fun and musical nirvana. Many of us sing now or have sung in large choral groups as well, and we let our hair down when we get out on our own. Top of the Seventh is top of the heap!
Members: Marty Brennan, Jim Connaughton, Rob Ginsberg, Clay Kaufman, Bert Ifill, Elliot Roseman, Dave Welter |
| Vocal Obsession, Aberdeen, MD: consists of five friends who have sung in various ensembles for the past twenty years, and decided to form a group devoted to a cappella music. They have performed separately, gaining recognition in ensembles and as soloists in the US and Europe (including Orlando, Chicago, Amsterdam, Montreux, Vienna, Strasbourg, and Liege). In 2003 Vocal Obsession decided to band together to sing sans instruments. While they began primarily as a jazz group, they enjoy singing all types of contemporary a cappella tunes. This is Vocal Obsession’s third appearance at the Sweeps. They won Best Original Song in 2005 and 2006. Maybe there are better things in the cards for them this year
Members: Marianne Pastelak, Donna Youngberg, Dotti Smith, Charles Braungard, Harry Maloy |
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2007 Judges:
Cal Sexton has been singing a cappella harmony since the eighth grade. At the age of 19, he became the Tenor of the then current Barbershop Harmony Society’s International Champion Quartet, The Lads of Enchantment. At the age of 21, Cal moved to Los Angeles and spent the next ten years as a full-time professional group singer. On the road, on television, films, commercials, and recordings, he performed with big stars, such as Judy Garland, Julie London, Harry Belafonte, Jimmy Dean, Glen Campbell, the Norman Luboff Choir, the Robert DeCormier Singers and many others. Through the years, Cal has continued his affiliation with the Barbershop Harmony Society as a Quartet Singer, Chorus Director, Coach, and Certified Judge. Having competed 19 times at the International level, this talented singer earned an International Gold Medal as a member of the eleven-time International Chorus Champions, the Vocal Majority, of Dallas, Texas. Now, as one of the founders of the new, mixed A Cappella Showcase Chorus, based in Frederick, MD, he enjoys being a Chorus Director and performer. Most recently, Cal has also been a nominator/ judge for the CARA’s.
Carolyn Sexton is no newcomer to the Harmony Sweepstakes – she and husband Cal were both judges at the 2001, 2002 and 2005 competitions. For most of her adult life, Carolyn has been a proud member of Sweet Adelines International. During her long association with this singing organization, Carolyn served as an award-winning Chorus Director, Judge, Education Faculty member and Coach of many outstanding choruses and quartets from all over the U.S. and Canada. After switching voice parts recently (from tenor to bass), she is now working in a new combination called Gold Dust. Who knows…we may see them on the Harmony Sweepstakes stage in the future! Her latest passion is founding a new mixed a cappella chorus in the greater Frederick, MD area .
Kieran Daly's love for music can be traced back to the day he learned how to put the needle on the record. He performed his first solo in fifth grade with the select Cambiata Boys Choir in his hometown of Wethersfield, CT. Through high school, he sang in church and high school choirs, chamber choir, and played featured and lead roles in his high school musical productions. In 1988, Daly was a founding member of the Wethersfield Teen Theatre Company, which still provides teens with summer theatre opportunities to this day. He helped expand the opportunties to all ages, co-founding The Dreamcoat Theater Company in 1990. Voice over work and acoustic coffee house performances rounded out his experience until he founded Seventh Heaven, a men's a cappella group, at Albright College in Reading, PA. After graduation, Daly relocated to DC, and sang for several years with DC's Take Note! and Mojo Vox. Today he can be seen from time-to-time singing at select shows with 80s tribute band The Reflex when he's not "serving time" as the soulful tenor for Cartoon Johnny, who won the Mid-Atlantic Regional in 2005 and brought the house down as hosts in 2006. He is currently working on Cartoon Johnny's latest CD, due out late this summer.
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