CHORUS WINS NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COMPETITION

PRESS RELEASE - April 13, 2002

Bay Area Showcase Chorus (Bay Area Showcase Chorus) won first place medals by outscoring nine other choruses competing in the 2002 Northern California Sweet Adelines Chorus Competition in Sacramento on April 13. Choruses competed in the categories of Sound, Expression, Showmanship, and Music and were scored by a panel of four judges from the Sweet Adelines International organization. Bay Area Showcase Chorus received "A" scores in all four categories. With this win the chorus earned its seventh regional championship. Competing on-stage with the chorus were 125 members representing 14 counties and more than 50 communities from Monterey to San Francisco and east to Modesto and Vacaville.

Bay Area Showcase Chorus is currently the 5th Place Sweet Adelines International medalist chorus, an honor earned in October 2001, when Bay Area Showcase competed in Portland, Oregon, with choruses from around the world. With more than 600 choruses world-wide, Bay Area Showcase Chorus currently ranks as one of the "Top Five" Sweet Adelines choruses in the world. As the 2002 Northern California chorus champions, Bay Area Showcase will represent the region in the Sweet Adelines International Chorus Competition in Phoenix, Arizona, in September 2003

Because Bay Area Showcase is an exceptionally strong musical group, women commute long distances every Thursday evening to rehearse with the chorus in Santa Clara. The 135 members of the chorus know that the musical rewards and the joy of singing with this group far out-weigh the distances they travel each week to sing with Bay Area Showcase Chorus.

Bay Area Showcase Chorus is a chapter of Sweet Adelines International, a non-profit educational music organization for women who sing barbershop harmony in choruses world-wide. Bay Area Showcase has been entertaining the Greater Bay Area with acappella harmony since 1956. The chorus enjoys sharing its music with audiences and strives to bring outstanding musical entertainment to the community as it works to preserve this uniquely American music form for future generations.

Women who like to sing and perform are invited to join the chorus and share in the excitement and camaraderie of singing with Bay Area Showcase Chorus. Membership is open to women age 14 years and up. The chorus rehearses weekly at the SES Hall at 1375 Lafayette in Santa Clara. Membership in the chorus is open to women age 14 and older. Guests are invited to attend rehearsals.

For information, visit the chorus web site at www.singharmony.org or call the chorus hotline at (408) 973-1555. We'd love to hear from you!