The History of Star Harmony
In early 2020, four singers who has previously met at a gathering in 2019, gathered to sing, as each of us missed the sweet harmonies of barbershop, as we were not able to sing during covid. These ladies included Laura Aebsicher (tenor), Janie Best (lead), Carrie Jorgens (baritone) and Laura Pennington (bass). For a long while, we met in Carrie’s living room on a weekly or biweekly basis. This “quartet” worked on a number of songs, which fed our barbershop souls. Each of the original four were all previous members of different choruses of Sweet Adelines, International.
In late Spring of 2021, two guests joined our living room rehearsal. Kaylyn Hyman (tenor) and Laura Connors (bass), both former Sweet Adelines joined our group and an idea was formed! We had to have our own chorus that would not compete with the local Sweet Adeline chorus. We decided we wanted to join The Barbershop Harmony Society with their new model of “everyone in harmony”.
At a local business In September 2021 Kaylyn and Laura went to their opening to hear a men’s barbershop quartet. Robyn Whitmore was there and Laura had a huge idea. She knew Robyn was a music teacher so we approached her on the spot to see if she would be interested in directing our new little chorus. How could she say no? We recruited Robyn Whitmore to be our Director. Robyn invited Matt Hart to be our co-Director. (Matt was one of the members in the singing quartet that day.)
Now we had to have a name and start researching what we needed to do to be an official chorus in BHS. We each volunteered for “board” positions and off we went!!! That’s how Star Harmony was born.
In March of 2022, Star Harmony Chorus was officially registered as the Star, Idaho Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, with 12 members: Laura Aebicher, Janie Best, Carrie Jorgens, Laura Pennington, Kaylyn Hyman, Laura Conners, Claire Smith, Christine Larsen, Louise Kreitzer, Jennifer Bach, Donna Rose Robyn Whitmore and Kristin Page
Also in October of 2022, Star Harmony Chorus attended their first Evergreen District of the Barbershop Harmony Society District Convention and Contest. We sang for evaluation only with 8 singers on stage, and received an absolutely incredible welcome from the District and its members. We had a very limited repertoire at the time, and knew we would be “disqualified,” but that didn’t stop us from performing Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” with Robyn playing the violin. We became known as “that chorus that had a violin” and later learned that a BHS judge used our performance as a teaching tool for judge’s school!
Star Harmony hosted its first Holiday Show in 2022, at Meridian Senior Center, which was our original “official” rehearsal location. In Summer of 2023, we auditioned and were invited to sing the National Anthem at the Boise Hawks game for the first time.
From the beginning of our chorus, we have worked very closely with The Boise Chordsmen. In 2023 and 2024, we volunteered and performed at the Idaho Youth Barbershop Festival, and volunteer at each of the Chordsmen’s events.
In October of 2023, Star Harmony competed for the first time at the Evergreen District Contest and Convention with 19 singers on stage. We scored 10th place and were thrilled. We held a joint holiday concert with the Boise Chordsmen to full houses. We also hosted a Quartet Parade, with 11 Star Harmony Quartets and several from the Boise Chordsmen.
In January of 2024, we were thrilled to hire Rich Lapp as our Director. The chorus quickly grew. We had a Spring concert and quartet parade with 6 Star Harmony Quartets and several from the Chordsmen.
In April of 2024, the chorus performed at the Barbershop Appreciation Concert hosted by Capital City Sound, and the Boise Chordsmen also participated.
In Fall of 2024, the chorus was coached by several amazing coaches! Caitlin Castelino coached us for a weekend, and Gabe Caretto and Jake Bavarsky were guest coaches. At contest in October of 2024, Star Harmony scored 2nd place overall and most improved chorus with a score of 79.4. Two chorus quartets scored in the top ten.
In December of 2024, Star Harmony performed at many holiday events, but the highlight of the season was our 2024 Holiday Show, “We Need a Little Christmas.” The chorus had two shows, featuring the chorus, quartets and several guest acts.
During 2024, the chorus grew to 36 members!
We are fortunate to have a wonderful rehearsal space, Cloverdale Church of God in Boise, ID, and we rehearse each Tuesday, from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.
We are fortunate to have a wonderful rehearsal space, Cloverdale Church of God in Boise, ID, and we rehearse each Tuesday, from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.
