Masters of Harmony Update – Fall 2012
When the chorus reassembled after Portland, a meticulous nationwide search by the Director Search Committee resulted in eagerly but somewhat nervously anticipated director auditions. Some on the risers on those audition nights undoubtedly wondered, “Where do we go from here? How do we replace a barbershop legend, the man who led us to four gold medals, our 10th Hall of Fame member?” Well, a legendary director such as Mark cannot replaced, but hopefully succeeded by someone who confidently accepts the mantle of leadership, embraces the legacy of his predecessors, and brings his own vision, skills and passion to what some would consider a daunting challenge — to build on the solid foundation established by Dr. Greg Lyne, enhanced by Jeff Oxley, and taken to even greater heights by Mark Hale. The chapter’s Music Committee and membership believe they have found such a man in Justin Miller, the new music director of the Masters of Harmony!
Actually, Justin is no stranger to the Masters of Harmony. He joined the MOH in 2002, at the age of 18. He subsequently won three gold medals singing baritone (2002, 2005 and 2008). Eighteen months after he became a member, he was asked to succeed MOH Hall of Famer Wayne Mendes as choreography coach. While some wondered if Justin was up to this seemingly daunting task, he developed into a superb choreographer in his own right, one who worked smoothly and effectively to polish International competition routines developed by choreography genius Erin Howden. In 2008, Justin became the music director of The Westminster Chorus with whom he had won a gold medal as a singer in 2007. In 2009, he directed Westminster to the title of “Choir of the World” in a prestigious international music competition in Wales. The following year, he became the youngest director in Society history to win a chorus championship when he directed Westminster to its second international chorus championship with a score of 97.7%, the highest ever achieved by a competing chorus. Justin put on that mantle of leadership on August 22, 2012, and he is already making his own distinctive mark on MOH rehearsals and sound production. Welcome home, Justin!
Masters of Harmony presence at the 2012 Far Western District Fall Convention in Mesa, Arizona, was unmistakable. For starters, the dedicatee for the entire convention was Mark Freedkin, whose tireless contributions on behalf of youth programs have done so much to promote a love of barbershop music to young men throughout our District and beyond. Masters men sang in four of the top ten quartets. Second place went to Tenacious Q (Joey Buss, Christian Espinoza, Patrick Haedtler, Patrick Claypool) and third was taken by American Pastime (Graham Pence, Tom Moore, Scott Kidder, Joe D’Amore). Justin Miller directed The Westminster Chorus to first place in the chorus competition. Their score of 94.3% is one of the highest ever achieved at this level of competition. MOH members were on stage in almost half of the 20 competing choruses while both active and emeritus members directed six of them. Alan Gordon served as Singing judge, Doug Maddox did his usual superb backstage work as production director, and Bernard Priceman was MC for the chorus contest. The Greater Phoenix Chapter did an excellent job staging this well-attended event.
On October 17, the members of the 2013 Board of Directors were announced. They are as follows: Ron Andreas, President; Maurice Freleaux, Secretary; Jussi Ratsula, Treasurer; Ray Johnson, VP Chapter Development; Bill Power, VP-Marketing; Joe D’Amore, VP-Music & Performance; Tom Christman, VP-Operations; Gary Stone, VP-Public Relations; and Board Members-at-Large Amnon Avidor, Jim Ernsberger, Brad Kelso, Rich Owen, and Phil Wolf.
It is with great sadness that the Masters note the passing of a beloved member, Gale Sherrodd.
Since the last edition of Westunes, we welcomed baritones Daniel Huitt and Ryan Wisniewski into membership.
