Open Chorus Champions — Sound Connection (Gold Coast, Qld)
Above: Sound Connection (Gold Coast, Qld)
Open Quartet Champions — Blindside (Gold Coast, QLD)
Above: Blindside—Trent Lewis, Gareth Clarke, Tim Green and Michael Webber
Senior Quartet Champions — Benchmark (Gold Coast, QLD)
Above: Benchmark—Ray Smyth, Derek Cosburn, Tom Percy and Paul Roussell
Benchmark is Australia’s Gold Medal Seniors barbershop quartet, based in Queensland, Australia. We love singing a cappella four-part harmony, usually based on the barbershop style. We do our best to entertain our audiences with both toe-tapping up-tunes and heart-rending ballads.
Formed in 2008, we have competed in such events as:
Pan Pacific Barbershop Championships:
- Hawaii 2009: Silver Medal – Seniors
- Brisbane 2011: Gold Medal – Seniors
Australian (BHA) National Championships:
- Hobart 2009: Gold Medal – Seniors
- Brisbane 2011: Gold Medal – Seniors
Sunshine Region Championships: Each year, the Sunsine region of BHA runs a local contest. All choruses and quartets seeking to compete nationally must qualify here. Here’s how Benchmark has done:
- 2008: Won the Gold Medals in both Seniors and Open classes (no quartet had ever won both Seniors and Open before)
- 2009: Won the Gold Medals in both Seniors and Open classes
- 2010: Won the Gold Medals in both Seniors and Open classes
- 2011: Won the Gold Medals in the Seniors class and Bronze in the Open class
Website: www.benchmarkfour.com
Youth Quartet Champions — Skyline (St Peters SA, SA)
Above: Skyline—Ben Catt, Lachie McGuinness, Kieran O'Dea, Benjamin Neldner
Male Youth Chorus Champions — Blenders Youth Chorus (Gold Coast, QLD)
Above: The Blenders Youth Chorus directed by Jonathan Albertini