Faculty European Quartet School

Alexander Koller

Alexander Koller is a Candidate Music Judge in the BHS and a co-founder of the BinG! Coaching Certification Program and the European Harmony Brigade. He caught the barbershop bug in the Big Apple Chorus during a one-year visit to New York, and has sung and competed in quartets ever since. He is a university professor by day, an occasional arranger by night, and he looks forward to helping you explore your musicality as a coach.

Andrew Rembecki

Andrew is a BHS Certified Singing Judge and voice teacher who has lived in Germany for the past 2 years. He is currently the assistant director of Herrenbesuch, gives private in-person and online voice lessons, and coaches quartets such as SomeSing and LaBoom.

Dan Wessler (bas After Hours)

Drew Ochoa (lead After Hours)

Drew komt oorspronkelijk uit Ohio en verhuisde naar Orlando, FL om een ​​entertainmentcarrière na te streven bij Walt Disney World. Hij is een fulltime lid van The Voices of Liberty in Epcot en is soms te vinden bij The Dapper Dan’s in Magic Kingdom. Drew heeft een BA in Muziekeducatie van Bowling Green State University en een MM in Voice Performance van Roosevelt University. Hij is een fervent a capella-zanger als lid van de International Barbershop Quartet Champion 2018, After Hours en als lid van de internationaal geprezen vocale groep Voctave.

Fabian Strotmann

Born in 1985, the lyric tenor Fabian Strotmann is one of the most versatile soloists of his generation in Germany.

As a sought-after concert soloist, he is a welcome guest in the most important centers of classical music. In recent years he has performed in the Konzerthaus Berlin, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Cologne and Philharmonie Essen as well as at festivals such as the Stuttgart Bach Week and Ruhrtriiiennale. In addition to conductors such as Helmut Rilling, Florian Helgath and Andrea Marcon, he has worked with ensembles such as Concerto Köln, The Emerson Consort, the WDR, SWR and HR symphony orchestras and the Berlin Radio Orchestra.

Fabian Strotmann has a particular passion for the song: At numerous song recitals, he and the well-known song accompanist Tatjana Dravenau always seek proximity to the places of work of great song composers, such as concerts in the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig and in the Robert Schumann House in Zwickau .

Fabian Strotmann first studied school music. This was followed by a study of vocal pedagogy with Christoph Scheeben and an artistic master’s course with Martin Wölfel at the Folkwang University of Music in Essen, which he graduated with distinction! Masterclasses with The Hillard Ensemble and The Tallis Scholars, followed by engagements with the RIAS Chamber Choir, NDR Choir and SWR Vocal Ensemble, were a special addition.

He received further important singing and musical impulses at international master classes with Diane Forlano, Stewart Emerson, Dominik Wortig and James Taylor, among others.

Fabian Strotmann’s repertoire includes works from the medieval choral schola to modern operas. His main focus is on the lyric tenor roles in the oratorio and concert fields. In 2016 Fabian Strotmann made his American debut in the modern opera “De Materie” by Louis Andriessen in the Armory Hall in New York, and since then he has been a sought-after singer all over Europe.

Further information at: www.fabian-strotmann.de

Jason Remley

Jason started singing at the age of 5 and hasn’t really stopped since. He is American by birth but now lives in Munich, Germany with his wife and 5-year-old daughter. He discovered barbershop at a relatively young age, 19, while in college in North Carolina. He was instantly hooked! And like every other barbershopper, he wishes he had discovered it even earlier in life. 

In his 25 years as a barbershopper, Jason has sung with many different groups and made a lot of achievements. His college quartet, Low Down Sound, came in 2nd place at the international collegiate quartet contest in Kansas City in 2000. He also became a District Quartet Champion of the Far Western District in 2009 and with that quartet, The Edge, achieved Top 20 quartet finishes in 2009 and 2010 going as high as 14th place. 

While living in Los Angeles, Jason sang with 2 top level choruses, the Masters of Harmony and the Westminster Chorus, both of which he earned International Gold Medals with. With the Masters of Harmony, he served as lead section leader and as one of the assistant directors. He often led weekly warmup/craft sessions and directed songs on many shows. With the Westminster Chorus, he served as assistant lead section leader and also often led weekly warmup/craft sessions. 

He has coached many choruses and quartets throughout his career and also holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati.

Norbert Hammes

After 15 years singing in the choral world Norbert discovered Barbershop music in 1987. He was a founding member of the First Cologne Barbershop Choir, EKBC. 

Out of numerous quartet initiatives he was fortunate to earn two gold medals within the BinG! quartet contest with Viertakt (1993) and TONIKUM (2014)

In 2005 he started conducting and since 2010 he directs the women’s chorus Barbershop Blend and since 2011, Heavy Medal Chorus.

Norbert is a founding member of the German Barbershop Association BinG! Barbershop in Germany! and served as board member between 2002 and 2016.

In the recent past he is active in 2 programs.

  1. BinG! Coaching Certification Program
  2. BHS Candidate in the judging program for the singing category.

Stefanie Schmidt

Stef is a member of both BHS and BinG! (Barbershop in Germany). She has been involved in barbershop for just over a decade. Although she has sung Lead for years, her friends kept telling her she was actually “mentally a Baritone”. So in 2018 she gave in to the inevitable and became the Baritone in the international women’s quartet “Identity Crisis”. The quartet was composed of Harmony Brigade singers from 3 countries and competed at SABS 2019.  Between 2017 and 2019 she directed the “A Cappella Ladies”, a women’s barbershop chorus with whom she competed at BinG! Barbershop Music Festival in 2018.

Stef has co-founded and presided over the European Harmony Brigade, the first mixed Harmony Brigade, from 2015 to 2018. She co-organizes the BinG! Coaching Certification program for the development of German barbershop coaches and is sought after as a coach for Barbershop ensembles all over Europe.  She is a judging candidate in the performance category.

If you’ve ever met Stef, you’ve probably noticed that she has a deep passion for all aspects of human communication and will not shut up about it – unless you distract her by tag singing (pro tip). In coaching, Stef focuses on helping performers to bring their most authentic self to their performance and finding ways to make the song truly their own.

Stuart Sides

Stuart is a full-time chorus director, coach, educator and singing teacher. Based in The Netherlands, Stuart travels throughout Europe working with groups of all sizes. He has been in barbershop for 44 years, has sung in many medallist quartets across all voice parts and directed choruses to gold.

Stuart is a Candidate Singing Judge for the BHS.

Tim Beutel (tenor After Hours)

Tim grew up in the countryside/farmland of Illinois, USA.  After high school he attended Bradley University where he graduated with a degree in Vocal Music Education in 2009.  He also graduated with a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Illinois State University in 2015.  When he is not in school, he is either with his wonderful wife Melissa and his kids or his quartet, After Hours.  He has two children, Lincoln and Gwendolyn.  His quartet, After Hours, competed for many years in International barbershop competitions, eventually winning the 2018 International Championship.  After Hours does quite a bit of touring on the weekends, throughout the USA  and other countries, and they have 4 available studio albums.  You can visit them online at www.facebook.com/ahquartet  

Tim Waurick (stand in bariton After Hours)