Adam (Scott)

  

Adam owns a private music studio in northern Utah. He holds a Master of Music in choral conducting from Oklahoma State University and a Bachelor of Arts in music composition from Utah State University. Previous to this he worked as music educator and editor of music publications for the Barbershop Harmony Society. He has collaborated with composers and arrangers including Dr. Kirby Shaw and Deke Sharon. Adam has sung every part in many different ensembles, and sings bass with Switch.

Adam has written and/or arranged over five hundred pieces of music, including over a hundred barbershop arrangements for quartets and choruses. His classical music is sung by many High Schools and colleges in North America. He is published by MusicSpoke, Music House Publications, and his own private studio.

Adam lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his wife Bethany and four (loud) boys.

Andrew (Rembecki)

  

Andrew is a singing judge candidate, director, voice teacher, singer, and middle school choral teacher. He began singing barbershop in 2004, inspired by his high school music teacher.

He continued to grow in his barbershop experience and joined Central Standard in 2008. He is currently the Assistant Director of Central Standard, who earned 2ndplace in the 2016 International Chorus Competition. Andrew graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education, and again from Northwest in 2013 with a Master of Science in Education.

He has been a music educator since 2013 and currently teaches choral music at Antioch Middle School in the North Kansas City School District in Kansas City, Missouri. Andrew currently coaches groups within the Central States District and has been the clinician for Youth In Harmony events in the Midwest.

Andrew resides in Kansas City, Missouri with his wife Chacey, who also sings barbershop and teaches elementary music.

Charlotte (Murray)

  

A high school music educator for 19 years, Charlotte hails from Wellington, New Zealand, where she first discovered a love of barbershop after hearing visiting International Quartet Champions, Second Edition, in her final years of high school. When she returned to her old high school Tawa College as a teacher in 1998, she took over the barbershop programme.

Today she has 120 high school students involved in weekly barbershop chorus or quartet singing. Her past students include Musical Island Boys, the 2014 BHS International Quartet Champions. In her region Charlotte is heavily involved in organising and leading barbershop workshops and competitions for high school students.

Charlotte is a BHS Master Director and the co-founder and co-director of International 6th placed chorus, Vocal FX. Charlotte is a Performance Judge for the Australasian Guild of Barbershop Judges and is a Performance Category Candidate Judge for the BHS. She has also been involved in delivering director training for Barbershop Harmony New Zealand since 2008.

Doug (Harrington)

  

Doug began singing at the age of four with his three older brothers. The Harrington Brothers joined the Barbershop Harmony Society when Doug was ten and went on to place in the top five internationally twice. Doug is the youngest international quartet medalist (1984, age 15) and one of the youngest international quartet champions (The Second Edition, 1989, age 20).

Since 1989 Doug has become a top coach for solo recording artists and ensembles, specializing in facilitating musical flow and natural delivery of songs through interpretation and phrasing.

In 2007 Doug founded the choir Zero8 and served as their head musical director for 9 years. He led Zero8 to many Nordic, European and global awards and in 2014 earned the title of Master Director for his achievements with Zero8. The choir has toured in throughout Europe and has released five critically acclaimed albums.

He is now in the process of starting up the men's choir MaleVox in the UK together with his friend and vocal-music guru Duncan Whinyates.

Doug has served as faculty at Europa Cantat, BHS's Harmony University and BABS’ Harmony College and is thrilled to be a first-time faculty member here at the BinG! Harmony College!

Gary (Plaag)

  

Gary lives in Williamsburg, Virginia and is a 33-year member of the Barbershop Harmony Society. He was a member of the Alexandria Harmonizers for 29 years, having earned four International chorus gold medals. Gary is a Mid-Atlantic District quartet champion and a five-time international quartet contest participant.

 

Gary has served a three-year term (2012-2014) as a Member-At-Large of the BHS Board of Directors. He currently serves on the Harmony Foundation International Board of Trustees and is the Contest and Judging Vice President of the Mid-Atlantic District. Gary has been a Certified BHS Performance/Presentation Judge since 1998. Gary is an active international chorus and quartet coach, working with youth and adult, male, female and mixed quartets and choruses in the US, Canada, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Gary has served on the faculty at the BHS Harmony University for 17 years, as well as at harmony college events at BinG!, Holland Harmony, Barbershop Harmony New Zealand and Barbershop Harmony Australia.

 

Professionally, Gary is a self-employed communication, presentation and public speaking skills coach, management consultant, and owner of Couragio Consulting (www.couragio.com), a business he started in 1998, following a twenty-year information technology management career.

Helen (Lappert)

  

Helen directs three choirs, teaches singing and performs. The daughter of a jazz singer, granddaughter of a famous violinist and niece of the founder of the Chopin Society, Helen’s DNA is pure music. At school, she was inspired by her singing teacher and choir leader, with whom she performed on TV, radio and at international Eisteddfods.
In 1998, she joined the LABBS chorus Amersham A Cappella as a lead, and after attending BABS Directors College in 2005 she became Amersham’s MD. Since then, she has learned from wonderful musicians including Dr Greg Lyne, Rhiannon Owens-Hall, Doug Harrington, Dr Liz Garnett, Paul Davies, Cindy Hansen, Becki Hine, David & Sandi Wright, Dr. Jim Henry and Dr Chris Peterson. Under Helen’s direction, Amersham A Cappella has won numerous medals including two Golds at LABBS and Silver at European in 2017.
She has sung in several medal winning quartets including LABBS 2008 Gold medalist quartet NoteOrious. Helen also founded Strictly A Cappella, directed Strictly Barbershop (winners of the UK’s inaugural mixed voice barbershop contest 2016), and now sings in two mixed quartets. She coaches across Europe, has many private pupils and has taught at BABS Harmony College and A Cappella Spring Fest.

Hélène (Moëlo)

  

Hélène is a freelance artist and music teacher. 

She comes from France and has been living in Germany for a long time. Here she also got to know Barbershop. 
Meanwhile, she sings in her 4th quartet. Identity Crisis took part in SABS and #Hashtag sang at BMF 2018! 

In her activity as a clinician she makes many choirs fit for festivals. She also teaches singing at choir and music weeks in Germany and Europe".

Jay (Dougherty)

  

Jay is the Director of Choral Activities at Marietta College in Ohio. His doctorate and masters degrees are in choral conducting, from the University of Colorado Boulder.

In the barbershop world Jay is a district champion quartet singer and the former assistant director of the Sound of the Rockies chorus. He also served as the frontline director of the Longs Peak Chorus and the 52eighty Youth Chorus. Under his direction 52eighty took first place in their plateau at the Midwinter convention in 2014. He also directs a Sweet Adelines Chorus in Canton, Ohio, and is a music judge for the Barbershop Harmony Society. Jay is a current faculty member at Harmony University, as well as many other harmony colleges around the United States, where he teaches about tuning and conducting.

He is active as a judge and clinician for both choral festivals and barbershop events. He lives in Marietta, Ohio with his wife and five daughters.

Lucas (Bitzer)

  

Barbershop has been inspiring Lucas for 15 years already. In 2013, for example, he became European champion in the male quartet category with his quartet "Halftones", as well as being a two-time silver prize winner at the vokal.total a cappella festival in Graz shortly thereafter. Currently he sings with the Coesfeld Cup winner "Barberpapas".

Through many years of singing lessons and the three times participation at the BHS Harmony University in Nashville (incl. Coaching Apprentice Program) he was able to learn a lot about coaching - especially in the area of singing - during the last years. For several years now, Lucas has intensified his involvement in the field of classical singing and is a member of several selection ensembles.

About himself as a coach he says: "It makes me especially happy when I find small adjusting screws that make a big difference! Specifically, I want to overcome (technical) barriers with you so that you can concentrate on the joy of making music together and sing expressively. I am also happy to help you with the interpretation of pieces!"

Mareike (Meise)

  

After several years of training in the children's choir of the Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra, Mareike founded her first a capella ensemble while still in high school. In 2005 she became a member of the Harmunichs. For more than 5 years she has been one of the Harmunichs' Vocal Teachers, responsible for sing-ins and voice training, and teaching new choir members the ins and outs of the barbershop style. Mareike has also been singing tenor with the No Borders Show Chorus since 2014. There, as a member of the Presentation Team, she was instrumental in developing the show concept, which won the Audience Award for Most Entertaining Performance in the 2018 Sweet Adelines Harmony Classics Competition.

As a coach, Mareike focuses on bringing out an authentic performance and the individual sound of your ensemble. Her focus is on the specifics of the English language and its impact on a liberated voice. Depending on how Germans learned English and imitate American sounds, this can have positive or negative effects on the sound and overtone spectrum of the voice, the ensemble sound and synchronization.