Karen is a popular coach and teacher within Sweet Adelines Intl.
She has achieved the level of "Master Faculty" (one of only four
women in the organization to have achieved this goal) and "Master
Director."
Karen has directed 3 choruses, ranking in the finals 6 times. She
recently retired from directing Spirit of the Gulf, helping them win
the coveted "Most Entertaining Chorus Award" three times.
She has won 9 international quartet medals - including the
championship with Jubilation in 1985 and with "the BUZZ" in 2005.
Karen was International President of Sweet Adelines from 1998 -
1999.
Karen has a Bachelor's Degree in Education and Foreign Language and
a Master's Degree in Guidance and Counseling. She lives in
Jacksonville FL on the beautiful St. John's River with her husband
Bob - also a barbershop quartet finalist. Since she began singing at
age four with her family's professonal singing group, The Drummond
Family Singers, music has truly been in Karen's heart and soul for
all of her life.
Patrick Brown is a member and choreographer for the 2013
International Chorus champion Toronto Northern Lights. In addition
to being a barbershop singer, he brings almost 20 years of theatre
experience to his coaching abilities.
He has worked with groups in Canada, the U.S. and Germany and is
thrilled to be working with members of Holland Harmony again as well
as with barbershoppers from Germany, Sweden and Ireland. He visited
Holland during the Harmony College / Education Weekend both in 2014
and 2015.
DEBBIE CLEVELAND
Debbie Cleveland, lead, also sang lead in the 1994 International
Champion Quartet "Showtime".
She is on the International Faculty for Sweet Adelines, Int'l. and
is a Coach and Soloist in her own right.
Debbie has directed Youth Harmony Choruses in six states, and is the
first female commentator of the men's Barbershop Harmony Society
International contest webcast.
By day, Debbie is the director of the "Superior" rated choral
program at Gaither High School in Tampa, Florida, and is wife to
Brett, and mom to Josh and Jenny - all three accomplished singers
and performers.
Nancy sang tenor with the 1992 Champion Quartet City Lights, with
whom she traveled and performed extensively.
She was an active member and section leader in the International
Champion Ramapo Valley Chorus and in 2002 spent time singing and
teaching vocal skills in China.
Nancy makes her home in Malvern, Pennsylvania with her husband
Cameron.
She is a sought after coach and vocalist and works for Pfizer
Pharmaceuticals.
Fred Farrell sings tenor in Crossroads, and was a member of the 1989
International Quartet Champion Second Edition. Known for their great
sound and musical artistry, Second Edition is considered to be one
of the most influential Barbershop quartets of the past 25 years.
Second Edition produced 2 recordings, performed in 38 states and 6
countries sharing the stage with artists such as Michael Feinstein,
Dizzy Gillespie, Rosemary Clooney, Marylin McCoo and Billy Davis
Jr., with feature spots on ABC's Nightly News, and Wolf Trap
Theatre's 50th anniversary gala concert which was broadcast on PBS.
Fred and Kim live in Ft. Myers Florida with their 5 kids: Olivia,
Caroline, Quinn, Molly, and Lilly.
Jeannie also received a gold medal singing bass with the 1992
champs City Lights and chorus gold with three time International
Champions The Ramapo Valley Chorus under the direction of Renee
Craig.
Currently, Jeannie sings with The Harmony Celebration Chorus where
she is an Assistant Director and Bass Section Leader.
Jeannie is a successful chorus and quartet coach. She began singing
and performing professionally at the age of 16.
Jeannie and husband Brian are the proud parents of five children and
make their home in Spring Lake, NJ.
Liz Garnett studied music at the Universities of Bristol (BA Hons,
1st class) and Southampton (PhD, 1995). She then taught at
Colchester Institute’s School of Music and Performance Arts for four
years, before moving to Birmingham Conservatoire, where she was Head
of Postgraduate Studies until 2009. Her teaching experience is
varied in subject area, delivery style and level, from lectures in
Musical Philosophies to practical workshops on Playing by Ear and
one-to-one tutorials in Professional Development for Musicians.
As a student, she studied piano with Christopher Northam (gaining
an LRAM in piano teaching) and singing with Glynn Davenport, Duncan
Robertson and Molly Petrie. She started conducting as an
undergraduate, attending the Choral Conducting course at the Canford
Summer School of Music at age 19, then went on to conduct the
Southampton University Light Opera Society as a postgraduate.
She became involved in barbershop music after the completion of
her PhD, and it became the subject of her first book. She is one of
the UK’s most prominent arrangers and performance coaches, having
coached and/or arranged for many of the UK's top choruses and
quartets, and arranged for groups from the UK, Ireland, the USA,
Canada, Germany and Holland. She served as a Music Category judge
from 2000-2013, and as LABBS Music Category Director from 2006-2009.
She has adjudicated in both barbershop and ‘mainstream’ choral
classes at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and the Sligo
International Choral Festival, and is the founder-director of a
female close-harmony choir called Magenta.
After the completion of the barbershop book, her research and
practical interests focused back on conducting, leading to a
five-year project that produced her second major book, Choral
Conducting and the Construction of Meaning. The research process
involved visits to more than 40 choirs in rehearsal, and these
observations provided not only material for the book, but also a
deep understanding of the conductor-choir dynamic in a wide variety
of contexts and styles. This experience continues to nourish her
work as a choral clinician, giving rich and varied insights into the
problems that conductors and choirs face, and the relative success
of different approaches to solving them.
Sander has been active as a singer, actor and dancer since
childhood. Initially he developed his love for music in comedy,
classical music productions, rock bands and musicals. He has sung
with the The Heart of Holland Chorus until 1998, and after that in a
capella groups Touchdown, NRG, Rave en The Dutchmen. His preference
for light vocal music was crowned when he got his directors
certification in 2004.
As performing musician he specializes in improvisation (Dutch
Organic Choir), rythm work/Vocal Percussion and vocal
instrumentation. He works with several singing groups as MD/coach (a.o.
Vocal Group KIX from Amersfoort) and he also offers workshops for
choirs and vocal groups on the subjects of improvisation & rythm.
Sander is also active on an organizational level as chairman of
the Foundation "Vocal Pop & Jazz Days", which organizes an
international educational singing week. Sander is one of the driving
forces behind foundation Eduvox, which promotes education in vocal
music by way of musical productions, recently with "Into The Light"
with Merel Martens, and workshops like the "Danish Invasion".
BRANDON GUYTON
Brandon Guyton sings baritone in Crossroads, and is perhaps best known as a
gold medalist with Four Voices, the 2002 Champions of the Barbershop
Harmony Society. Four Voices was a highly innovative and exciting
college quartet that first got their start as part of the acclaimed
Voices of Lee, A premier mixed vocal troupe from Lee University.
Four Voices produced two recordings, performed in 44 states and 4
countries and performed in venues such as Lincoln Center and have
shared the stage with a long list of artists including Bill Gaither
and the Swingle Singers. Brandon now plays a large role in the
Ambassadors of Harmony musical leadership team and is a sought after
for his expertise in recording, mixing and mastering. He is a
certified BHS Singing category judge and is rapidly becoming one of
the most in demand vocal coaches throughout the Barbershop world.
Brandon and his wife Noemi live in St. Louis and have 4 children:
Chandler, Taylor, Isabella and Kadence.
Jim Henry, bass in Crossroads, holds degrees in vocal music education, music theory
and music composition, including a Ph.D. in music composition from
Washington University. He is currently the Director of Choral
Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he conducts
the University Singers and Vocal Point and teaches choral methods,
choral arranging, and choral conducting. In addition to his duties
at UM-St. Louis, Jim is the musical and artistic director of the
Ambassadors of Harmony, a 160-voice men's a cappella chorus that
performs barbershop, jazz, and light classical music. The
Ambassadors of Harmony have produced multiple recordings, and have
twice been named the best male barbershop chorus in the world,
winning the BHS chorus championship in 2004 and 2009.
Jim was also a founding member, arranger, and bass singer with
the legendary Gas House Gang, the very popular 1993 International
Quartet Champions. The Gas House Gang has entertained audiences in
all fifty states and fifteen countries, and in venues from the Grand
Ole Opry to Carnegie Hall. They have been featured on NBC's "Today
Show," NPR's "At the Creation," and two PBS specials: "Voices in
Harmony" and "The Egg." The Gas House Gang has produced five
recordings. Jim and his wife Geda live in St. Charles Missouri, with
their 2 young children; Gea Rose and Isaiah. Lydia, their oldest
daughter is married and resides in Hanover Germany with her husband
Martin and her two sons making Jim the group's only grandpa!
Kyle Kitzmiller (Bass in the BHS 2015 International Quartet
Champion "Instant Classic")
Kyle Kitzmiller currently lives in Indianapolis, IN, and has been a
member of the Barbershop Harmony Society since he was 10 years old.
He has been in many quartets and competed many times at
international, most recently as part of the 2015 International
Champions, Instant Classic.
He has been a certified Music Judge since 2013, and judged the
Collegiate International Contest in 2015.
He currently is the Music and Performance Vice President of the
Indianapolis Chapter, Circle City Sound, as well as District
Representative for Contests and Judging for the Cardinal District.
Gary is a native of northern Virginia and has been a member of
the Barbershop Harmony Society since 1985.
He currently belongs to the Alexandria, Virginia, and Fairfax,
Virginia chapters. Gary has sung tenor in numerous quartets, most
notably Hijinx, the 1999 Mid-Atlantic District quartet champion and
a 5-time International quartet contest quarter finalist.
Gary is currently a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s (BHS)
Board of Directors, serving his final year of a three-year term. He
is currently the Contest and Judging (C&J) Vice President of the BHS
Mid-Atlantic District, as well as the District’s Youth In Harmony (YIH)
Vice President.
He served in both of these positions in the past (C&J from 2004-2006
and YIH from 1995-2002). Gary was the 2009-2010 President of the
Mid-Atlantic District and served as the District’s Executive Vice
President in 2007 and 2008, and Immediate Past President in 2011 and
2012. He has been a Certified BHS Presentation Judge since 1998, and
is currently a member of the BHS Presentation Category Board of
Review. Gary is an active international chorus and quartet coach,
working with youth and adult, male and female quartets and choruses
in the USA, Canada, and Europe. Professionally, Gary is a
self-employed communication, presentation and public speaking skills
coach and management consultant, and owner of Couragio Consulting (www.couragio.com),
a business he started in the northern Virginia area in 1998,
following a 20- year information technology career.
Mike Slamka sings the lead part in Crossroads, and he made his mark as the lead
of Power Play, an extremely popular all-family quartet that became
International Barbershop Harmony Society Champions in 2003. In
addition to Mike on lead, Power Play featured father Jack on bass,
brother Mark on baritone, and cousin Don on Tenor. Their genuine
love for one another and their family appeal, along with the uncanny
ring in their sound made Power Play an audience favorite. Power Play
produced 3 recordings, has performed all over the country and has
been featured on the Jane Pauley show as well as guest performers on
The Grand Ole Opry. Mike and his wife Traci live in Ft. Myers,
Florida and are the proud parents of 3 daughters: Michaela-now
studying voice and music under Dr. Henry at UMSL, Mackenzi, and
Madison. Mike's 3 daughters are featured as a trio in "All People
That On Earth Do Dwell" from our second CD, "That Lucky Old Sun".
Cees is opgeleid om mensen op te leiden. Dat is zijn passie. Daar
is hij goed in. Kenmerkend is zijn persoonlijke, doelgerichte aanpak,
waarbij hij de confrontatie niet schroomt. Uiteraard zonder mensen
te beschadigen. Hij is pragmatisch, een creatieve denker en
resultaatgericht. Zijn humor helpt relativeren en zorgt voor snelle
acceptatie. Vertrekpunt bij alles wat hij doet is het vertrouwen in
mensen.
Cees is een gedreven prestatiemens; een specialist die snapt hoe het
in de praktijk werkt (en waarom het soms niet werkt.)
Cees was eerder te gast bij Holland Harmony op de besturendag in
oktober 2015 waar hij een workshop Talenten Genereren verzorgde (zie
foto's).
Cy currently works for The Actors Fund, organizing Special Events
and Performances in New York City starring Broadway and Hollywood's
most elite performers. He has worked as a Creative Director and
Producer for Broadway Merchandising LLC. As a professional actor, Cy
has performed across the world in many Broadway and Disney
Productions including Annie, Oklahoma!, Cats, She Loves Me, Sunset
Boulevard. Cy holds a BFA from Brigham Young University where he
graduated with a Music, Dance and Theater degree with an emphasis in
Music Education.
Cy grew up as a third-generation barbershopper. He and his three
brothers love to sing the old songs whenever they are together. His
mother sang barbershop with her sisters, as did her father with his
brothers.
Cy finally joined the Idaho Gateway Chorus when he was 15 years old.
The barbershop bug had bitten him hard.
Currently, Cy sings baritone with NYC's acclaimed chorus Voices of
Gotham. He joined in 2012 and was quickly asked to be the baritone
section leader as well as a board member at large. In 2013, Cy was
asked to be VoG's Choreographer and Presentation Leader. He has had
his work performed on the international stage as well as many stages
in North America including Carnegie Hall.
In addition to his active chorus lifestyle, Cy is the baritone of On
Tap. This new quartet won the Mid-Atlantic District Northern
Division Contest in 2014 and continues to thrill audiences all
around the area.
Cy's mantra is honesty. Honesty in creation, honesty in production,
and honesty in performance. Barbershop is a wonderfully unique and
traditional art form, and Cy believes the more honesty we can bring
to our audiences around the world, the more people will connect to
the messages each barbershopper has to offer.
Cy also strongly believes that barbershop should be incredibly,
totally, and unapologetically fun. He loves to bring in a bit of
magical joy with each ensemble he works with. Smiles, laughter, and
camaraderie are the reason Cy is a barbershopper!
Cy visited Holland during the Harmony College / Education Weekend in
2015.