Las Vegas Sweet Adelines chapter promotes harmony

For years, the Celebrity City Chorus members have gotten together with a couple dozen of their close personal friends and sang in harmony with gusto and joy. On Oct. 4, they plan to get together with some new friends from 5,000 miles away and make even more beautiful music together.

The Celebrity City Chorus is a chapter of the nonprofit Sweet Adelines International, a worldwide organization of women singers committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony through education, competition and performance. The organization is nearly 70 years old and is planning its annual convention in Las Vegas Oct. 5-10 at the MGM Grand, 3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South. More information is available at sweetadelineintl.org.

"It's a big event, and the performances are always great," said Lauren Stark, marketing and communications assistant for the nonprofit. "Sweet Adelines International is the world's largest women's barbershop a cappella harmony organization. We have been called the 'ninjas of a cappella', or the 'real women of "Pitch Perfect." ' We're looking forward to having people hear us."

Celebrity City Chorus members regularly rehearse at Community Lutheran Church, 3720 E. Tropicana Ave., where they also frequently perform. They don't have an official role this year at the convention, but they have competed with a good deal of success in the past.

"We placed as high as eight in years past," said Celebrity City Chorus Director Cathy Sturm. "There are a lot of groups competing, and the competition is really terrific."

The group has about 55 members ranging in age from their early 20s to late 80s. Their most senior member commemorates her birthday each year by contributing her age in dollars to the organization. They perform as a full chorus and in smaller groups.

"We recently had about 35 members perform at a 51s game," Sturm said. "We can adjust the size of the group depending on the need."

Sturm said movies such as "Pitch Perfect" and shows focused on singing competitions haven't necessarily brought more singers to the chorus, but it has made it easier for members to explain what they do, which is singing a wide variety of songs in the full chorus and in smaller groups.

"We perform patriotic songs, holiday stuff, Broadway show tunes and more," Sturm said. "We try to keep ourselves current and relevant. We're currently learning (Rachel Platten's) 'Fight Song,' which was a hit this summer."

The convention is set to bring singers from around the world to Las Vegas to perform, compete and socialize. Among those coming is the Stockholm City Voices, a group from Sweden that is set to get here a few days early to perform Harmony Without Borders with the Celebrity City Chorus at 3 p.m. Oct. 4 at Community Lutheran Church.

"The concert kicks off the Global Open House for us," Sturm said. "It's an international outreach event to bring new people out to learn to sing. It's going on until the end of October. Although we're always happy to see new singers, we're making the point to reach out during this time."

Visit celebritycitychorus.com or meetup.com/celebrity-city-chorus.

— To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.