Community Corner

Steel City Harmonizers Give Back with Performance

The men's chorus rehearses weekly in Forest Hills and is now hosting an ice cream social for the whole community.

The Steel City Harmonizers are giving back to the Forest Hills community Aug. 6 with a free ice cream social and performance at Trinity Christian School.

Formed about eight years ago, the men’s chorus has 30 active members who come to Forest Hills each week to rehearse at the school. Bill Carlson of Shaler said the chorus wanted to reach out to its neighbors for some fun, ice cream and upbeat music.

“Barbershop is a niche kind of music that traditionally has appealed to old men,” Carlson said with a laugh. “The really hot choruses and quartets now are all young men, which is kind of interesting.”

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The cliche of four old men drunkenly singing from lamp posts isn’t quite the truth, Carlson said. With the recent fame of the hit show “Glee,” which showcases acapella and barbershop style music, The Steel City Harmonizers offer something everyone can enjoy.

“We do annual shows, nursing homes and we will go anywhere anyone will pay us and we go places where they don’t as well,” he said.

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The Forest Hills concert will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Trinity Christian School. Games, ice cream, music and more will be offered.
“We want to establish some rapport with the community,” Carlson said. “This will be an old fashioned ice cream social and if it doesn’t rain too hard, it will be fun.”

People will be able to join in the singing with strolling quartets as well at the event. The group has done shows in the neighborhood before, but this is the first time they have put on a performance specifically for the area.

“We want to be a community asset and that is one of our reasons for existing,” Carlson said. “We should have a purpose that is more about getting together and having fun - although we do plenty of that. This is where we rehearse. This is our community.”

For more information on the Steel City Harmonizers, visit www.pittsburghbarbershop.com or e-mail PghMetro@aol.com.


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