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The harmonies on “For Me and My Gal” were ringing when I entered the bathroom: my buddy Dave on baritone at the sink, a member of the Swedish quartet and the bass from the previous year’s winning ensemble side-by-side at the urinals, and an anonymous tenor behind a closed stall door filling out the foursome. The chords bounced off the walls, sharpened by the flawless acoustics of the bathroom tiles. I knew I should appreciate the sound. And yet, by the time last year’s weeklong Barbershop Harmony Society International Convention came to a close in Cleveland, after 800 more spontaneous breakouts just like this, I was ready for the singing to stop.
Twelve months later, it’s back again—a week of wall-to-wall harmony, high-stakes competition, and impromptu performances in every corner of the venue. I’ll be there, as always, but this time feels different. The stage is familiar, but the pressure is personal—because the whole thing is happening a mile high.
From June 29 to July 6, competitors will pack the Colorado Convention Center for this year’s edition, which will feature ensembles from 17 North American districts, including 2022 winners Music City Chorus from Nashville and last year’s runner-up quartet, Leesburg, Virginia’s First Take. They’ll be joined by affiliate chapters from the UK, New Zealand, and Sweden, along with the Lockers from Japan, the convention’s first Asian competitor. In all, our city will welcome more than 2,000 singers representing 104 qualifying choruses and quartets. By the end of the week, the hardware will be awarded: gold, silver, and third- through fifth-place bronze medals in chorus and quartet contests, not to mention bragging rights and a spot in barbershop history.
In between official competition, these men and women will take over downtown Denver, which is hosting for the first time since 2007. They’ll gather in groups of four, congregating between rehearsals and contest performances—along 16th Street and even in the convention center’s bathrooms and stairwells, where the acoustics ring like a cathedral—wearing matching shirts and badges and singing every chance they get. All in pursuit of the perfect chord.
Barbershop is a style of a cappella music that blends four vocal parts—tenor, lead, baritone, and bass—into close, four-part harmonies. The result is rich, ringing chords that reward precision, blend, and emotional connection. While the genre may conjure images of straw hats and striped vests, today’s groups are just as likely to be singing contemporary songs as classics. And at the heart of barbershop culture is the “tag”: a short, powerful ending to a song that singers swap, teach, and sing together late into the night, often with total strangers.
The convention always draws the best in the world, and I count myself lucky to be among them. I first sang with Denver’s Sound of the Rockies eight years ago after a search for local choruses landed me at one of the group’s regular Thursday rehearsals. I’d sung in choirs in high school and college, but nearly a decade had passed since I’d stood on a riser. I craved the ritual, the community, the sound—and discovered it all in the ringing four-part harmonies I heard that evening. I was hooked.
Since that first rehearsal, barbershop has evolved into one of the touchstones in my life. Even as I fill my days in Denver as a teacher, my Thursday nights have satisfied a more personal kind of longing—a weekly reminder that this music matters, along with the brotherhood of voices I wouldn’t find anywhere else.
Like our competitors, the 98 men in the Sound of the Rockies have prepared a two-song contest set, chosen to showcase our musical and emotional strengths—a performance six months in the making, forged by retreats, coaching sessions, and weekly three-hour rehearsals with members from across the Front Range. We’ve come close before, with nine top-ten finishes since our founding in 2000. This Saturday night, we’ll take the stage as the contest’s final competitor, looking to make a statement on our home turf.
Despite long odds, we’re hoping it’s our time to make a move. The event has historically been dominated by select titans, such as Los Angeles’ Masters of Harmony, who have won the convention nine times. But three years ago, Music City Chorus became the first new champion in 15 years. Long respected but never the favorite, MCC rose from seventh in 2019 to take gold in 2022, thanks to a bold creative choice that broke from tradition. The group’s contest set featured a parody song: a twist on Buck Owens’ “Together Again” that revolved around the pandemic. (Organizers canceled the convention in 2020 and 2021.)
“We didn’t set out to win,” says Antonio Lombardi, president of MCC, of the 2022 convention. “But as the contest got closer, a kind of magic started to happen—the way we listened, the way we connected. The music just took over.”
Competing for the first time since 2022 due to a society policy sidelining champions for two years, MCC returns to a scene increasingly defined by emotional honesty and stylistic diversity. “It’s no longer just about who has the most voices or the most medals,” Lombardi says. “The modern gold-medal chorus is unafraid to be vulnerable. We’re seeing groups sing their truth—not someone else’s template. Sincerity, artistry, and connection are redefining what excellence sounds like.”
Sound of the Rockies is one of many choruses embracing that shift, opening with “Amazing” by Aerosmith in last year’s contest—an unorthodox choice in a genre long associated with standards like “Sweet Adeline” or “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” It’s a strategy, Lombardi says, that levels the playing field, as originality and risk-taking help smaller choruses stand out in an organization traditionally dominated by size and pedigree. “That’s the real competitive edge,” he says.
I can’t disclose what Sound of the Rockies is planning to sing this year; our contest set is traditionally kept under wraps until it’s performed. All I can say is that MCC’s win opened the door. But as we prepare to take the stage in our hometown, Sound of the Rockies is focused on one thing: Saturday night. Ninety-eight voices bound by a belief in harmony, chasing gold one chord at a time.
Tickets to the Barbershop Harmony Society International Convention run $99 per day. In addition to the Sound of the Rockies, Denver’s Timberliners chorus will perform as part of the noncompetitive Chorus Festival on Thursday (11 to 11:50 a.m.). Two Denver quartets, Verve and Sunday Night Social, will compete in the quartet portion of the convention.
