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Residents in the Oak Hill neighborhood or anyone driving on Truck House Road on a Wednesday evening: slow down past the Severna Park Elks Lodge and listen to the bold harmonies of the Harbor City Music Company, a Sweet Adelines International chorus, rehearsing inside. Better yet, stop and visit with the more than 100 chorus members and experience the energetic theatrical performances inside.
Sweet Adelines International is a worldwide organization of women singers, established in 1945, with more than 23,000 vocalists worldwide. The Harbor City Music Company (HCMC) formed in 2002, a chorus created after the merger of Elkridge Chorus and Towson Valley Chorus, both of which formed around 1969. The new company ultimately settled in Severna Park as a midpoint for its Virgina, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Eastern Shore, and every-corner-of-Maryland-based members. Additionally, the Elks Lodge offers the chorus a place to store its cumbersome risers.
Micheal Gellert has been the director of this chorus for 32 years. He began singing at age 13, has been part of several successful barbershop quartets since 1968, and also spent nearly 30 years as a member of the Baltimore Opera Company. He joined the Sweet Adelines organization in 1993 as the director of the Elkridge Chorus, of which his wife was a member, after the director left. The plan was to “keep the group together.”
As director, Gellert develops show and competition programs, runs each rehearsal, serves as the creative visionary, and helps each vocalist grow in their proficiency.
To be invited to the Sweet Adelines international competition, a chorus must win its regional crown. In 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky, the Harbor City Music Company earned third place out of 600 international choruses. Now, the group has just a year and a half to prepare for the next international competition.
To start at the regional level, Gellert comes up with a program plan, which includes dynamic music but can also carry a story and include choreography, costumes and set imagery. Once in the international competition, the chorus must sing “competition songs” (of members’ choosing) that fulfill the criteria established by the international directors. The semifinal round is two more competition songs. Choruses that make it to the top 10 finals must perform a show package, which is a 12– to 15-minute show and includes one competition song.
“We’ve got to put on a Broadway show while only practicing one day a week,” Gellert said about the 18-month preparation time, which seems long but is a short time to prepare. “The chorus is motivated because they learn a lot of music and it isn’t easy. We keep rehearsals spirited and energetic because we have a lot to accomplish, and everyone feels the excitement.”
To keep pushing their performances to higher levels, the group must also keep their fundraising creative. Their costumes are created by costume designers, who are also chorus members. Their sets are designed and built by chorus members. All the elements of a performance outside of the actual singing require money and fundraising.
“Any way we can sing and make money, we will try it,” Gellert added. “This is an amateur, creative and artistic organization with all of the same challenges of every other local theater.”
Gellert said the chorus’ goal is to win the international competition, but that’s not the endgame. While striving to up the complexity of the show, the Harbor City Music Company is its own closest competitor.
“More than just winning, which I see as being a natural outgrowth of excellence that continues on, winning gives us more credentials, and it’s an awful lot of fun to win,” he explained. “These women can do anything. They have no limits. I am impressed and humbled every time I stand with them. Every day I am thankful for this group of strong women.”
Stephanie Everett has been part of the Harbor City chorus for 11 years, and she recently stepped into a new role as team leader. She said the chorus members are ages 30 to 82, the elder member being a part of the chorus for 45 years.
“As team leader, one of my big things is to maintain the culture of love,” Everett said. “We are a very positive and supportive group. This chorus is more than a singing group. We are a family. An extended family.”
Lynne Javier has been part of the chorus for 14 years and cannot imagine a more supportive group of women. “We come from many different walks of life, but when we get together, we have one goal of making music that is beautiful and moves people,” she said.
The members’ shared passion for singing a cappella makes them an even closer group. “When it’s just voices, you have each other, and you really must be tuned into each other,” Javier said. “Our level of artistry requires us to be locked into each other singing with our voices and bodies to create auditory and visual magic.”
The performances are the payoffs of long rehearsals and the efforts of many tireless artists.
“It’s an awful lot of work, but we have high aspirations,” Gellert added. “Not just to eventually win international; we want to be known as the chorus that sets the bar, blazes the new trail, and build on our great reputation around the world.”
The group performed at Severna Park High School in September and has many other shows and Christmas concerts planned.
Everett added that the group is preparing its “Harmony for the Holidays” program, to be held at the Severna Park Elks Lodge.
“We’d like to invite women 16 years and older to come sing with us for the holiday season,” she said. “It’s free, with no obligation. It’s a great way to spread the joy of the season and get to experience some world-class a cappella singing.”
The welcoming women’s chorus rehearsals are always open to the public, whether guests want to sing along or simply enjoy world-class a cappella. Members rehearse year-round on Wednesdays at 7:00pm at the Elks Lodge; their doors are always open, and the public is free to drop in.
For more information on the Harbor City Music Company, performances, and joining or supporting the chorus, visit www.harborcitymusiccompany.org.
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