We at FSC would like to offer huge congratulations to all choruses at convention this year (especially to Vocal Evolution for their winning performance) and also to everyone involved in running such a fantastic event. It’s really exciting to know that the Barbershop community has such talent. We were thrilled to present our set to you and honoured to be named the silver medal chorus for 2016. We also want to congratulate all quartets, and give special mention to our members in Skyline, Gridlock, DQ, Enigma and Catalyst for all their successes.

One of our convention highlights was performing with our good friends The Baden Street Singers. We were amused that we’d be presenting the same uptune (Steppin’ Out With My Baby) at this year’s convention but when we saw their presentation plan we knew we had to fit them together somehow. We in the Festival Statesmen love collaborating, and performing with such talented musicians as Baden Street at the Showcase was a truly special moment.

Outside of convention we’ve still been busy. Mid-September we sent a sub-group to Melbourne to compete in Vocal Australia’s ‘AUSACA’ Championships. We’re pleased to report that we took out first place as well as some other awards such as Best Soloist (Jono Webb) and Best Vocal Percussion (Daniel Maley).

 

We’ve also released a new music video (Magnificat) as part of the ‘Win A Composition’ international video competition for male choirs. There’s an audience favourite portion of the comp as well, so if you have a YouTube account please check it out at https://youtu.be/nWz3Gk02Ako and give us a thumbs up. We’ve got some exciting things planned for 2017, and we look forward to sharing them with you all soon.

James Moffatt