26th Annual


National Finals | 2010 Schedule | Recordings | Previous winners | Rules | How to enter | Join us on Facebook | About Us

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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.

2010 Rocky Mountain Champions

Confidential

Confidential - Something Old. Something New. Something Else. Great talents from the area's award-winning groups come together to pay homage to Denver's great a cappella history. Listen for funk and R&B influences from the old-school where Confidential brings original pieces, cutting-edge sounds, and modern style for a sweet sound that aims for the future of a cappella.

2010 Results

1st
Confidential
2nd
VoxBom
3rd
Cool Shooz
Audience Favorite
Cool Shooz
Best Original Arrangement
Marc Johnson, "Faded"
Best Original Song
Marc Johnson, "Whatever Whenever"
Best Vocal Percussion
Matt Murphy
Best Stage Presentation
Cool Shooz
Best Solo
Joe Sanford, "Come Together"

Groups' Set Lists -


2010 PARTICIPATING GROUPS

Clearly Vocal is a five-member a cappella vocal group from Tyler, Texas, performing a wide range of musical genres including jazz, pop, holiday, love songs, classical, secular and sacred. The group provides music for all occasions, such as private parties, corporate functions, weddings, birthdays, etc., with a varied repertoire in the style of The Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, The Real Group, Singers Unlimited, The Swingle Singers, Take Six and others.

Members: Stefanie Albright, Danny Burgess, John Hodges, Kimberly Hodges, Don Neal


Confidential - Something Old. Something New. Something Else. Great talents from the area's award-winning groups come together to pay homage to Denver's great a cappella history. Listen for funk and R&B influences from the old-school where Confidential brings original pieces, cutting-edge sounds, and modern style for a sweet sound that aims for the future of a cappella.

Members: Peter Driscoll, Marc Johnson, LaDamion Massey, Matt Murphy, Richard Steighner, Isaac Troiano


Cool Shooz has been entertaining Colorado crowds for over ten years since their beginnings as The Fabulous Fairlanes. Their a cappella rock and roll has twice won them the Rocky Mountain Regional Harmony Sweepstakes, and they have opened for acts as diverse as Marvin Hamlisch and Firefall. With the addition of newcomer Juli Redson-Smith, the group is exploring new avenues of vocal expression and pushing the traditional boundaries of the genre.


Members: Jeff King, Dutch Miller, Dave Small, Joe Sanford, Julie Redson-Smith, Doug Tisdale

Mountain Blue (originally known as "Blue Cheese") was formed in the fall of 2003 when two choir conductors from Brigham Young University got together to perform a piece of southern gospel music "just to hear how it sounds." The two searched among their musically talented friends until they felt they had formed the perfect bluegrass quartet--a unique a cappella combination of three guys and a gal. Inspired by old-time bluegrass musicians like the Stanley Brothers as well as newer groups like Blue Highway and Signature Sound, Mountain Blue began performing regularly at BYU's semiannual A Cappella Jam. More recently, they have opened for other a cappella groups, including Vocal Point and Noteworthy, and performed in a cappellastock at the Ogden Amphitheater for a few thousand audience members. They received the Judges Choice Award at the BYU Talent Showcase in 2006. Their debut CD, Gospel Train, was followed two years later with another collection of songs called Roll Back the Stone. They have also appeared on radio, on television, and on other compilation albums.


Members: Todd Horne, Drew Norton, Julie Sanders, and Spencer Whitham

The UCD 6 is the University of Colorado at Denver’s premier a cappella ensemble. Five women and 1 man strong, this all student group sings an eclectic and sophisticated mix of world music, pop and jazz. Two-time finalists in the Rocky Mountain Harmony Sweepstakes, the UCD 6 performs at several on and off campus events every semester. Their most recent honor was to be named Runner-Up in the collegiate division at the 2009 Mile High Vocal Jam.


Members: Janessa Ho, Jaimee Salgado, Sarah Campos, Danielle Becerra, Kameshia Hazard, and Daniel Bailey

VoxBom is writing and performing original a cappella music. The singers, songwriters, and vocal mouth-sound-makers of VoxBom come from a wide variety of musical backgrounds and bring a modern sensibility to the creation and sharing of their all-vocal music.


Members: Mister Tim, Matt Murphy, Richard Steighner, and Peter Driscoll

Wonder Voice - Embracing the high-energy, happy harmonies of mainstream a cappella music, Wonder Voice performs an eclectic blend of the top radio hits from the past sixty years. Wonder Voice shows are full of the songs audiences love to hear, sung with a giddy, infectious verve that makes toes tap, faces grin, and wilting plants revive.


Members: Lauren Woodbury, Ben Meis, Ron Gilgamesh, Chris Schenk, Christopher Carey

2010 Judges

Trist Ethan Curless is a member and co-founder of the vocal group m-pact, the one-time Harmony Sweepstakes National Champions.  Trist writes, arranges and produces songs for m-pact and other groups, including most recently producing an album for the Bay-Area vocal group Clockwork. Before m-pact, Trist majored in Music Education at the University of Northern Colorado. When not on tour, he works as a live audio engineer and makes time to teach private voice, work with vocal groups, and participate as a clinician and adjudicator in clinics and festivals worldwide.

Ryan Driver starting wowing audiences with his vocal chops in 2nd grade. He is a former president of University of Colorado's In the Buff and a former member of the touring group Almost Recess. Now he contributes much of the raw power that Face fans love. Driver has recorded seven and produced 4 a cappella albums with his groups, most recently Face’s Momentum. In addition to the awards Face has received at the Harmony Sweepstakes, Driver is a two-time winner of the Deke Sharon Best Original Arrangement Award and a winner of the Jerry Lawson Best Soloist Award.
Forest Kelly has been melting hearts with his crooning bass for over 20 years. A native of Boulder, Colorado, he sang in Fairview High School's choirs, University of Colorado's award-winning a cappella group Extreme Measures, and fronted the Boulder synth-pop band Fluorescent Echo. For the past eight years, Forest has become most-known as the foundation for Face, thumping the low notes, rumbling stages, shaking walls, and crooning the sweet silvery tones that make women swoon.
Mark Megibow started performing at age 6 and has over 30 years of experience in theatre, vocal music, and percussion. Mark studied theatre and music at Northwestern University, where he also founded and sang in his first a cappella group. Over the years, he has performed with ensembles ranging from symphony orchestras to marching bands to loud obnoxious rock bands, and for the past eight years has provided the heart-thumping beats for Face. Mark also leads seminars for teens on leadership, communication and life skills
Jayson Throckmorton has been known for the past five years as the rockin' power-tenor for Face. Jayson received music and biology degrees from University of Virginia and while there sang with and directed the venerable University of Virginia Gentlemen. Jayson is also an experienced arranger of a cappella music and is responsible for a number of Face's fan favorites.

After Party! - Please join us after the show at Hops for great food and maybe some spontaneous singing. Show your VIP ticket for a free drink at the bar! Hops, 8026 W. Bowles Ave., Littleton, Google Map

Complete list of 2010 national participants


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Interested in Competing?

We are always seeking groups who would like to compete in our events.

Groups of any style are welcome, but you must have between 3 and 8 members. We have a rule book which explains many of the details of the event, which you can see by clicking here. All groups must audition in order to compete. Generally this is done by sending a current tape and photo, although live auditions are sometimes arranged. The purpose of the audition is to make sure the group is appropriate for the Festival and to help the Director determine the performance order. If a group has competed previously, the audition process may be waived.

How to enter


Please send tapes and photos to the regional director :

Contact Holly Kennedy

harmonysweepstakes (at) gmail.com
(213) 200-4847
Holly comes full circle - returning to Denver & the Rocky Mountain Harmony Sweepstakes after a LONG hiatus from both. She is honored to be producing Region’s 22nd annual event. Denver was one of the 1st expansion cities of the HSAF and Holly was there as the original producer in 1990 and managed the local competition through 1997 returning from as far away as San Francisco and Los Angeles and Glasgow Scotland to helm the regional event each year.  She also spent a year in the HSAF main offices in the Bay area and aided in producing the SF Regional and the Finals that year (‘95) and went on to produce an LA Regionals (‘96) as well as. And though she can’t carry a tune in a bucket – she can produce events and is a self-professed a cappella geek and all-round fan.  Her skill set lies not ON stage but rather in herding cats behind the scenes. For the past 15 years Holly has been based in LA and working as a Corporate Live Event Producer throughout the U.S. and Internationally for clients including:Nike, The Boeing Company, American Honda, Lexus Motor Co., Mattel/Fisher-Price, Microsoft, Intel and Coca-Cola. Prior to finding her way into the world of corporate events, Holly worked for dick clark productions on THE ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS; PRIME TIME COUNTRY and THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS.

The Harmony Sweepstakes National A Cappella Festival
PO Box D
San Anselmo, CA 94979
(415) 455-8602
harmony@singers.com


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 Rocky Mountain Champions

Previous Rocky Mountain results - 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998


Theater at Colorado Heights University

Founded in 1989 on the historic campus of the former Loretto Heights College. The the first building to be built on campus was the historic Administration Building, dating back to 1890’s. On September 21, 1890, Mother Pancratia and the sisters laid the cornerstone for Loretto Heights. The magnificent red sandstone school building, a $350,000 six-story structure, was designed by Denver's premier architect, Frank E. Edbrooke. The Administration Building, the centerpiece of the campus is on the National Register of Historic Places.

This proscenium theater has seating for 999 people.
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