Santa Cruz Barbershop

4-part harmony in Santa Cruz County

Barbershop Harmony and Homemade Dessert – a Sweet Combination

May 16th, 2013

2013 Cabaret FlyerWow – it’s Cabaret time again! Come on out to Felton Hall for the Gold Standard Chorus Annual Cabaret and Homemade Dessert Buffet. As always, you’re in for a real treat. Hear new music from TWO Gold Standard Chorus groups – the main chorus, and a smaller specialty group with a few tricks up their sleeves.

Add Three in a Chord – a perennial favorite trio – quartets Coastal Blend and Singin’ Fools, and NorCal Division 2nd-place novice quartet The Redwood Four, plus a surprise or two in the wings. and you’ll have a great start to your summer!

When: Saturday, June 1, 2013, 7:00 to 9:00 PM
Where: Felton Hall, 6191 Highway 9, Felton, CA

Tickets: call 831-218-1771. ext 1, purchase tickets from any chorus member – $20, children 12 and under free, or purchase tickets online.


Buy Tickets for Cabaret – Barbershop Style!

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Our Own Redwood Four Takes Novice Honors!

February 24th, 2013

Gold Standard Chorus Barbershop Quartet, Redwood Four, takes 2nd placeRedwood Four, a quartet out of the Gold Standard Chorus, took second place in the all-male barbershop novice quartet competition in Ripon, CA on February 23, 2013. Their winning songs were “Sweet and Lovely” and “Let the Rest of the World Go By.”

The annual contest is sponsored by the Far Western District of the Barbershop Harmony Society.  Quartet members are, l-r, tenor Glenn Davis; lead Nick Roberto, chapter past president; bass Larry Hardison; and baritone Bob Folker. Join us in celebrating the great job these fellows did! Picture coming soon!

If you would like to audition for the Gold Standard Chorus, please call 831-218-1771, ext 1.

The Gold Standard Chorus always welcomes visitors. Please click here for information.

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Sad News Today for Local Barbershop Singers

February 21st, 2013

It was reported today at the Salinas lunch gathering of local barbershoppers that Brian Epps, a long time Barbershopper from the Monterey Area, has passed away. Services for Brian Epps will be held Sunday, February 24th, at 4 pm at PACIFIC GROVE CHURCH OF GOD at 442 Central Ave in Pacific Grove.

If you are able to attend, it is requested that you forgo the traditional black mourning attire, and instead dress like a Barbershopper in his memory.

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A Busy February!

January 18th, 2013
The Gold Standard Chorus is coming out of the holidays and hitting the ground running! We have two events coming up in February that the community will thoroughly enjoy!
 Let me Call You Sweetheart
Valengram Tradition Continues
 Join us at Shadowbrook
Restaurant
Valengrams will be delivered by the Gold Standard Chorus on Sunday, February 10, Wednesday evening February 13, and Thursday, February 14. Delivered  to homes, work places, and restaurants, to the delight of many lucky Santa Cruz County residents.Each Valengram consists of two love songs sung by a Barbershop quartet, a rose, a card, and a button which says, “Your special someone sent a quartet to sing for you on Valentine’s Day. Everyone should be loved that much.”The GSC has melted hearts of Santa Cruz County residents for over 20 years. And for only $40.00, your sweetheart can be one of them, and will talk about it for years after! For information and to make a reservation, call Valengram Chairman Roy Prevost at (831) 818-7954.

Reserve now – availability is limited and slots fill up quickly! (Checks or Money Orders made out to Gold Standard Chorus)

 On Tuesday, February 19th, the Shadowbrook will donate 1/3 of food and beverage sales from our supporters to Gold Standard Chorus.Located beside lush Soquel Creek in Capitola-by-the-Sea, Shadowbrook Restaurant is best reached by its own quaint cable car, or a meandering garden path. Since 1947 Shadowbrook has continued to provide world-class service, fine food, wines and liqueurs in an atmosphere of Old-World charm and grace.

The evening will be filled with good food, good fun, and wonderful barbershop harmonies provided by quartets from the Gold Standard Chorus, including our own Far Western District finalists, Constellation.

Call Shadowbrook at 831-475-1511 to make your reservation now to ensure your desired dining time. And if you go in without a reservation, be sure to tell them The Gold Standard Chorus sent you!

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Sing for Your Life 2012

October 25th, 2012

Join us this year for Sing For Your Life

Our annual school music fundraiser, Sing For Your Life, reaches an exciting milestone this year – our 10th Anniversary Show! The Gold Standard Chorus has a long and proud tradition of supporting vocal music programs in Santa Cruz County high schools, and SFYL is always the highlight of our year. Come out and join us this year and help us celebrate 10 years of reminding Santa Cruz to SING FOR YOUR LIFE!

When: Sunday, November 4, 2012
Matinee: 1:00 pm
Evening:  7:00 pm

Where: Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium
307 Church Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Box Office Phone: 831-420-5260

Matinee: 1:00 p.m.

Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School
Monte Vista Christian School
Santa Cruz High School
Scotts Valley High School
Soquel High School

Evening: 7:00 p.m.

Aptos High School
Monterey Bay Academy
Pacific Collegiate
San Lorenzo Valley High School
St. Francis Central Coast Catholic High School

Guest quartet (Matinee & Evening): The B-Sides, a dynamic young quartet from Southern California.

Tickets: $15 advance / $20 door – Limited VIP $20 advance / $25 door (12 & under free w/ adult). santacruztickets.com. More information: 831-218-1771, ext. 2

Want to help some more? Click here to become a sponsor!

Since 2003, these benefits have raised over $58,000 to support vocal music in our county schools.

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The Little Chorus That Could

August 26th, 2012

The Antics of the Gold Standard ChorusThe Gold Standard Barbershop Chorus of Santa Cruz County celebrates its 23rd birthday on Sept. 25. That’s 23 years of great-fun weekly rehearsals, delivering Valengrams in February, putting on an annual cabaret show in June, mounting SING FOR YOUR LIFE, a youth outreach show, in November, singing carols in hospitals and retirement homes in December, and sending quartets into the county’s high schools each year to demonstrate barbershop music, one of America’s indigenous music forms.

In the autumn of 1989, Carol Hulla, Ken Brosius and Sam Gonzales met to discuss the formation of a new barbershop chorus. They were able to bring in a few members of the defunct Surf City (barbershop) Chorus. The first rehearsal was held in Scotts Valley within weeks after the San Andreas Earthquake. Soon they had enough members to become a chapter of the international Barbershop Harmony Society, officially the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA).

Gold Standard Chorus’s program of visiting schools led to inviting Aptos High School to perform on a chapter show in 2003. That show was the launch of Sing for Your Life, an annual fundraiser for vocal music in the county’s high schools. In the last nine years, the show has distributed $58,000 to music teachers. This coming November, ten high schools are expected to perform in the 10th annual SFYL at the Civic Auditorium.

With money raised during raffles at SFYL and the chorus’s annual cabaret show, the Ken Brosius Memorial Scholarship has provided $6,500 to 10 graduating seniors for their college studies of music since 2007.

When chorus member Caralyn Steinberg passed away in 2009, her family established a fund to help music teachers with projects not covered in their schools’ budgets. In the last two years, $3,900 has been distributed to seven high schools.  Add it up – a $68,400 impact on music in our community by a chorus of 25 singers.

Gold Standard was selected Chapter of the Year by the Far Western District (2007). In 2011 the Society ranked Gold Standard number 1 among 50 small chapters nationwide, and number 31 among all 333 chapters, regardless of size, in its Chapter Achievement Survey.

Looking forward to its 24th year, chorus director Jordan Johnson said, “We aim to be the most supportive, beginner-friendly group around, and expect continued musical growth, as a group and individually” Chorus president Nick Roberto, a student at Cabrillo, and possibly the youngest chapter president in the Society, added, “I hope we can get some new members this year to continue singing those barbershop chords we all know and love!”

Come join the fun!

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Two Local Students Receive Ken Brosius Memorial Scholarship Awards

June 6th, 2012

Gold Standard Chorus director Jordan Johnson presents a $1,000 Ken Brosius Memorial Scholarship to Soquel High School Senior Nick Roberto.

Nick Roberto, a graduating senior at Soquel High School, received a 2012 Ken Brosius Memorial Scholarship from the Gold Standard Barbershop Chorus of Santa Cruz.

The $1,000 award, named for the chorus’s founder, is intended to help Nick with tuition at Cabrillo College where he will major in music.

A second Ken Brosius Memorial Scholarship of $1,000 was awarded to Jack Wilkins of Monte Vista Christian School. A total of $6,500 has been awarded to ten graduates in the last seven years.

Raffles held during the Gold Standard’s annual Cabaret Show in June and the Sing for Your Life school benefit in November, provide the funds for the scholarship.

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Felton Enjoys Cabaret – Barbershop Style!

June 3rd, 2012

Mixed Bag sings Red Rose Rag

Kim and Jerry Orloff cut up as Mixed Bag brings the audience to their feet with their rendition of Red Rose Rag

Well, another Cabaret show has come and gone. One of our best ever! The energy and appreciation from the audience was an inspiration. We all outdid ourselves, and our own Mixed Bag – one of the nation’s longest-running mixed voice quartets – got a standing ovation.

Coastal Blend, with the guys in bad-boy t-shirt & cuffed jeans and preppie college sweater, and the girls in poodle skirts and pink-rimmed glasses, were a crowd-pleaser with their do-wop oldies set. Joining them in the quartet segment were Short and Sweet, Beginners’ Luck, and guest trio Three In A Chord. Constellation, who will be representing our chorus and division at the District Competition in Mesa, Arizona, rounded out the quartet sets with their fabulous brand of harmony.

Barbershoppers can’t get enough singing – put four of us in front of strangers and off we go! So we finished the evening with an impromptu performance at Redwood Pizzeria in Felton, across from Felton Hall. We want to thank them for the outstanding food and service, and their generosity in allowing us to stay past closing and treating us to a huge pizza!  We’ll be doing it again next year – it’s not to be missed!

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It’s Dessert Time! Don’t Miss Out!

May 14th, 2012

GSC Cabaret 2012 FlyerYes, it’s that time again, our annual Cabaret show in Felton, including our World Famous Homemade Dessert Buffet! What, you mean you never heard of us? You’ve never seen our local Barbershop Chorus and Quartet showcase? You’ve never wrapped your lips around our homemade desserts? Well, you can remedy that on June 2nd in Felton! Come for the music, stay for the dessert, and have a GSC Good Time!

Who: The Gold Standard Chorus and Friends
What: The Annual GSC Cabaret and Homemade Dessert Buffet
When: June 2, 2012, 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Where: Felton Community Hall, 6191 Highway 9, Felton, CA
Why: Why Not?

How much? Tickets are $20 for adults; children under 12 are FREE!

Please join us, and invite your friends.

Download the Cabaret Flyer Here 

What desserts, you may ask? Come back in a couple of days – we’ll have a list!

 

Tickets available at our Online Box Office now – just click to get your tickets today!

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Bragging Rights!

May 7th, 2012

Constellation Takes Fourth Place at Division Contest

Constellation (l to r) Mark Torrance, tenor; Bill McCain, lead; Jordan Johnson, bass; Allen Takahashi, bari.
Constellation (l to r) Mark Torrance, tenor; Bill McCain, lead; Jordan Johnson, bass; Allen Takahashi, bari.

We are very proud to announce that Constellation, a quartet out of our own Gold Standard Chorus, took fourth place in the Northwest Division of the Barbershop Harmony Far Western District contest held in Woodside, CA on Saturday, April 14. Mark Torrance (tenor), Bill McCain (lead), Jordan Johnson (bass, who also directs the chorus), and Allen Takahashi (baritone) scored within three percentage points of first place on a 600 point evaluation scale. Their score qualified Constellation to compete at the Far Western District (CA, AZ, NV, HI, and Southern UT) contest to be held in October in Mesa AZ.

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