Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus was formed in 1993 by an enthusiastic group of women who loved the different sound of barbershop harmony.
Several of these founding members still sing with the chorus, which now has almost 40 members from across the Nelson region – women from all age groups and from all walks of life. We share a love of singing and have a lot of fun learning and improving our craft.
We perform for community and private events and occasionally put on shows and concerts. We run singing courses and as part of our commitment to sing and perform with excellence we regularly compete at the national women’s barbershop competition, hosted by Sweet Adelines NZ.
Barbershop singing was originally a male dominated craft born in the southern States of USA, but now approximately 30,000 women belong to barbershop choruses around the world, under the guidance of Sweet Adelines International.
Nelson Bays Harmony is one of 17 choruses in NZ who are affiliated with Sweet Adelines, an organisation dedicated to vocal training and education in the barbershop craft. This is a wonderful network and a vast resource for sheet music, vocal training material and world class vocal coaches.
Our Musical Director
Kathy discovered Sweet Adelines in 1997 and fell in love with those barbershop chords as a member of Faultline Chorus in Lower Hutt. They moved to Auckland soon after and it wasn’t until 2001 that she went looking for barbershop again and found Greater Auckland Chorus. “What a ride it’s been since then – I have learned so much and certainly never thought I would travel to the United States to represent New Zealand!”
Kathy appreciates the tremendous opportunities for personal and musical growth within Sweet Adelines. For her this has so far included singing in four international contests (as a member of Greater Auckland and more recently as a dual member of Wellington City Chorus) and as tenor in three competing quartets (Hot Ash 2002–2007, Escapade 2009, and Offbeat 2011–2014).
“This barbershop habit is now a very important part of my life”.
Kathy took piano and singing lessons, sang in school choirs and contintued to take the ‘music option’ through teachers college. After teaching ran it’s course, and then a 19 year career in banking, Kathy is now a self-employed Performance and Development Consultant delivering management skills and workplace communications training, writing tender documents and technical CVs for infrastructure organisations.
“In 2006 we moved to Nelson, and I joined this wonderful Chorus, Nelson Bays Harmony. Now I have the privilege of directing these dedicated women who enrich my life every day. The learning curve continues, and the personal rewards keep coming. I have received a tremendous amount of music and leadership training through the Sweet Adelines organisation. In 2017 I completed my Director Certification Programme, and became a Harmony 500 Director when the Chorus achieved 502 points at contest. I hope to use my skills to enable the Chorus to reach even bigger goals in the future”.
