Regional A Cappella Competition Ready to Rock Winston-Salem
Contributed by Beth Snider
On April 1 and 2, over 700 women will take the stage for a regional a cappella singing competition at Benton Convention Center in Winston-Salem, NC. The event is the 2016 Sweet Adelines International Region 14 Annual Convention and Competition, and there will be a whole lot of entertaining happening on that stage.
According to Deke Sharon, famed a cappella guru, Sing Off coach and judge, and arranger/musical director for movies Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2, "Sweet Adelines is America's best kept secret: one of the world's greatest singing organizations where women who want to sing make lifelong friends and create some incredible vocal harmony!"
With almost 900 members across five states, Region 14 is made up of 22 choruses and 39 registered quartets, including the current female world champions of barbershop-style a cappella singing, Speed of Sound. These women with diverse backgrounds and lives come together with a common thread of the love of music to sing within their communities and events across the country. At this once a year event, female singers from Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia come together to display the result of hundreds of hours spent creating costumes, rehearsing music and practicing choreography, not only to compete for judges, but also to share their love of 4-part, a cappella harmony.
The fun kicks off on Friday, April 1, at noon with a mass sing, where most of the 700 contestants and others will sing together on Fifth Street between Marshall Street N and N Cherry Streets. 2016 International Champion quartet Speed of Sound will host this event.
The Parade of Flags, where regional chapters show their spirit and artistry by presenting their unique banners, will start at 1:30pm in the Benton Convention Center lobby, followed by the Quartet Competition, starting promptly at 2:00pm.
In the Quartet Competition, 20 quartets will perform, with the highest-scoring group awarded as Regional Champions and earning the right to represent the region at the 2016 Sweet Adelines International Quartet Competition in Las Vegas in October. The competition will start with a performance by Speed of Sound that shouldn’t be missed and conclude with awards to the top five quartets.
The Region 14 Chorus Competition begins on Saturday at noon, with 19 groups ranging from 16 to over 100 members. Two choruses, Carolina Style from Conover, NC, and Song of Atlanta from Atlanta, GA, will be participating for evaluation only—for the performance experience and judging feedback only—because they are already slated as Region 14 representatives in the 2016 Sweet Adelines International Chorus Competition in Las Vegas. The remaining choruses, including Raleigh’s Carolina Harmony, 2015 Harmony Classic Small Chorus winners, will be vying for those honors in the 2017, and all of them can be counted on for high levels of entertainment.
Winston-Salem will be the beneficiary of not only ringing chords and dancing feet, but these Sweet Adelines will also generate approximately $150,000 of economic impact to the downtown area and with over 730 advance tickets sold, hotels and restaurants can expect even more benefit.
Come expose the secret and enjoy two music-filled days! Single event tickets are $20 and will be available at the Benton Center, 301 W 5th St, Winston-Salem prior to each contest.
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For additional information:
Website: SAIRegion14.org
Primary Contact: Cheri Danner at 757‐636‐7949 or
Media Contact: Beth Snider at 404-630-9446 or