7 minute read
Sing and Celebrate at Sweet Adelines
“Manchester, England England”...Wishful-thinking home of Claude Hooper Bukowski from 1960s musical, Hair. Actual home of The Bee Gees. The Hollies. Herman’s Hermits. The Smiths. Joy Division. New Order. Oasis. The BBC Philharmonic. And for four days this July, you!
Come sing, celebrate and learn at the 2019 Sweet Adelines International Education Symposium (IES) at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music, July 25-28. And, of course, check out the Rising Star Quartet Contest on Saturday night! Hosted by Sweet Adelines Region 31 Quartet of Nations, along with chairs Paula Davis, Alyson Chaney and Elaine Hamilton, this year’s IES offers a full range of exciting workshops for coaches, directors, arrangers, section leaders, quartets and all who love barbershop! If you want to learn from the best, IES is the place for you!
Photos courtesy of: Marketing Manchester
What You’ll Learn At IES
Start your day with Music in the Morning. Then comes the hard (but fun!) part: Choosing from the wide range of exciting classes offered throughout the day from some of the best-known names in barbershop such as guest educator Deke Sharon (music director and vocal producer for the Pitch Perfect movies and co-creator of Disney’s DCapella, among many other accomplishments), as well as our Sweet Adelines International 2019 Quartet Champion, ClassRing. Classes are open to all attendees, but you have the option to focus on classes geared toward arranger, director, leadership, quartet, section leader (music team) or visual topics. Here are just a few examples of the kind of classes you’ll find at IES 2019:
• “Getting the Upper Hand on Breathing” with Lori Lyford • “Music Theory: The Building Blocks of our Beloved Art Form” by Lynda Keever • Individual “Sing Your Part Smart” classes for Tenor, Lead, Baritone or Bass taught by members of ClassRing • “Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Directing!” with Sandy Marron • “Vocal Warmups the International Way” with Alyson Chaney • “Musicality and Artistry Through Physicality” with Paula Davis
Registration & Accommodations
Registration: Early registration prices for IES are available until May 27, 2019 for Sweet Adelines members. No registrations will be accepted after June 24, 2019. Registrations will only be accepted online. For information on costs, dates and how to register, visit www.sweetadelines.com/ies.
Remember that audience admission to the Rising Star Quartet Contest on Saturday night is included in your IES registration! Rising Star welcomes women ages 25 and younger to compete in barbershop singing, and it’s always a great night of music and fun! Contest entry is open until May 31, and the contest will be held on the evening of July 27 at IES. Quartets wishing to enter the contest can find information and online registration at www.RisingStarQuartetContest.com.
Housing: You will need to arrange your own housing accommodations, but we have secured preferential rates with several hotels in Manchester for those attending IES! To receive the preferential rate, you will need to follow online booking instructions which can be found at www.sweetadelines.com/ies.
Manchester:
Where The Cool Kids Hang Out
In the words of Manchester’s own 90s rock band Oasis, “there are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don’t know how” about this city. Actually, yes I do. But people of my generation can’t let a “Wonderwall” reference pass us by. So, “don’t look back in anger” when I keep quoting Manchester bands while I tell you some of the places to visit in between your classes with stellar barbershop instructors like Judy Pozsgay, Lori Lyford, Sandy Marron, Lynda Keever and Deke Sharon.
Museums: Manchester was at the center of the Industrial Revolution. To learn more about Manchester’s history of innovation, visit the Manchester Science and Industry Museum and the People’s History Museum. Just a little outside of Manchester, you will find the Imperial War Museum North, one of five museums that specialize in the history of modern conflict, both on the battlefront and at home.
Historic Sites: Manchester is full of historic sites. Fans of the writer Elizabeth Gaskell (or the BBC series Cranford, which is based on some of her novels) might want to visit her house in Manchester. Manchester Cathedral, which is still an active church, is an example of Gothic architecture, but its history goes much farther back. Visit to see the remains of its Saxon-era past and the various restorations over the centuries. And, of course, Manchester is home to two world famous football teams (that’s soccer, for U.S. readers): Manchester United and Manchester City. Since the early 1990s, The Village has openly welcomed all races and sexual preferences to a neighborhood full of pubs, bars, tea rooms, arts events and shops. Whether you like to stay up late or wake up early, you’ll find something open in The Village!
Shopping: If you want it, Manchester probably has it, from high fashion to handmade to vintage. Two major indoor shopping centers, Manchester Arndale and Trafford Centre, offer a wide variety of shops and eating establishments. For eclectic independent shops, visit the city’s Northern Quarter, which has been an important arts and music district since the 1990s. (You might recognize its historic architecture, which was used as a setting for 1940s New York in the movie Captain America: The First Avenger.) The Northern Quarter is also home to several record shops, including Vinyl Exchange, the largest seller of rare and second-hand CDs, records and DVDS in northwest England. It also includes many live music venues.
Manchester – and you can find a lot of it at the Corn Exchange, an Edwardian industrial building that now contains a wide variety of fine dining restaurants specializing in dishes from around the globe. You’ll find eclectic tea rooms, pubs, cafes and restaurants in neighborhoods like The Village, the Northern Quarter and Chinatown also.
Stay awhile: If you’re able to arrive early or leave a few days after the Symposium, Manchester is a great base from which to explore the rest of the United Kingdom. (And it’s an easy train ride from there to Liverpool, for those of you who are Beatles fans!)
For more information on IES, Rising Star and the city recently crowned the UK’s “Best live music city,” visit www.sweetadelines.com/ies.
STARRISINGRISING 2019 Quartet Contest STAR
Sweet Adelines Rising Star Shines in Manchester
For the first time, the Rising Star Quartet Contest takes place in the UK
When you wish upon a Rising Star, you never know how far you might go! For example, the 2018 Rising Star Champion Quartet, Hot Pursuit, was one of several Sweet Adelines groups chosen to open for DCappella, the a cappella group co-created by Deke Sharon (star guest educator at IES!) and Disney Music Group. Hot Pursuit appeared on the tour’s show at Tivoli Theatre in Chattanooga, TN in February.
And then there’s 2014 Rising Star Champion Quartet, ClassRing. The future queens met for their first rehearsal in St. Louis. Later, in that same city, they became our 2019 Queens of Harmony! And their star just keeps on rising, with performances, television appearances and teaching gigs across the country.
This year’s Rising Star contest happens on Saturday, July 27, during the International Education Symposium at the Royal Northern College of Music.
On their Facebook page, ClassRing, who will present “Quartet Coaching Under Glass” at IES 2019, wrote, “As you leave this year and go into 2019, dream big. Your dreams are worth pursuing. Don’t ever give up. You’re never alone. We are dreaming alongside you and encouraging you every step of the way.”
It just goes to show that when it comes to Rising Star, anything your heart desires may come to you.
Rising Star is for quartets made up of women age 25 and younger. Visit www.RisingStarQuartetContest.com if you or young singers you know dream of being a Rising Star. Registration is now open, and the last day to enter the contest is May 31, 2019.
