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Diamond State Chorus - amazing a cappella!
Click Join Us.
Like to talk to someone about performing for your group or event? Click Hire Us.
Diamond State Chorus - amazing a cappella!
LATEST NEWS FROM DIAMOND STATE
On May 14, 2024, Diamond State Chorus held its installation evening. This is a time for us to acknowledge the ladies who have agreed to undertake the tasks that keep our organization running smoothly. Diane Scott joined our current board replacing Jane Adewole whom we thank for her years of service.
It was a fun evening with Jo Miller and her twin Jackie acting as MC's of the ceremony. Their humorous delivery in the presentation of the current officers and members of the board was greatly appreciated! They had an extra-special gift for each board member... handmade infinity scarves with the pattern on the fabric of each scarf depicting an element of the board members' respective positions.
We started off the evening with a terrific potluck dinner! And we are so thankful to Jeannie for enhancing our rehearsal hall with her beautiful decorative touches!!!
It was a fun evening with Jo Miller and her twin Jackie acting as MC's of the ceremony. Their humorous delivery in the presentation of the current officers and members of the board was greatly appreciated! They had an extra-special gift for each board member... handmade infinity scarves with the pattern on the fabric of each scarf depicting an element of the board members' respective positions.
We started off the evening with a terrific potluck dinner! And we are so thankful to Jeannie for enhancing our rehearsal hall with her beautiful decorative touches!!!
BIG NEWS!!! On March 26,2024, we welcomed back Pam Nichols who will be our interim director while we begin a search for a chorus director. We are so thrilled that Pam agreed to help us out! She was DSC’s director for 15 years before retiring 3 years ago.
Linda Beaver, our outgoing director, tirelessly led and promoted DSC since September 2021. She is the ultimate fount of Barbershop knowledge and we appreciate her dedication to our chorus during her time with us!
Linda Beaver, our outgoing director, tirelessly led and promoted DSC since September 2021. She is the ultimate fount of Barbershop knowledge and we appreciate her dedication to our chorus during her time with us!
Pam and Diamond State Chorus
We are so fortunate to be able to add two new members to our chorus roster! Melody is joining our tenor section and Meera is joining the leads.
Our Last Rehearsal in October!
We didn't have rehearsal on Tuesday, October 31, so some of us dressed up a bit the week before.
And..... some of us didn't!
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coaching Session with Lori jo whitehaus
Lori Jo Whitehaus, Director of Vocal Harmonix, joined us at our chorus rehearsal Tuesday night (October 17, 2023) for a mini-coaching session. Lori is also a member of the Regional faculty. She shared with us her expertise and taught us some singing techniques to practice.
summit performance
On Tuesday, July, 18, 2023, we were invited to perform at the Summit Retirement Community in Hockessin, Delaware. It's a lovely community and the audience was super-appreciative of our performance. DSC had a fantastic time!!! We love to perform and are waiting to hear from you to entertain you for your next event!
GOT SNEAKERS?
Those bags are heavy!!! Linda and Shannon are showcasing the first two bags we sent off.
***UPDATE***
Everyone has been so generous in supporting us by donating sneakers. We've accumulated enough to fill 4 bags!!!
Join Diamond State Chorus in our latest fund-raising venture. We are collecting old sneakers and sending them to GotSneakers to be reused and recycled We, in turn, will receive a small monetary reward for each pair sent in. Find a Diamond State Chorus member to give your old sneakers to. What a great feeling to have purged your shoe closet! And you'll have donated to your favorite Sweet Adeline Chorus!!!
Everyone has been so generous in supporting us by donating sneakers. We've accumulated enough to fill 4 bags!!!
Join Diamond State Chorus in our latest fund-raising venture. We are collecting old sneakers and sending them to GotSneakers to be reused and recycled We, in turn, will receive a small monetary reward for each pair sent in. Find a Diamond State Chorus member to give your old sneakers to. What a great feeling to have purged your shoe closet! And you'll have donated to your favorite Sweet Adeline Chorus!!!
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Shannon and Linda showcasing the bag we will use to send in donated sneakers.
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REGION 19 YEARLY CHORUS COMPETITION
We had a wonderful, exciting time at Sweet Adeline's Region 19 yearly competition. It took place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the weekend of May 19, 2023. On Saturday, May 20, 20 choruses went on stage and performed in different categories. Diamond State for the first time ever performed in the "Open Division" category. This category allows a chorus to perform on stage in front of the 4 judges and audience without being ranked amongst the other choruses. Open division means you present 10 minutes of skit/songs and receive scoring from the judges highlighting strengths and weaknesses. Our "package" was a silly take on getting out of the cold Delaware winter and moving to warm California. A link to our competition performance will be available below or by going to our Youtube channel.
We were immensely pleased to tie for "Audience Choice Award" and came home with a blue ribbon!!!
This was our first regional competition since before Covid, also our first competition with Linda Beaver as our director, and we had 6 members who sang on competition stage for the very first time!!!
Overall, the weekend was great for reconnecting with other Sweet Adeline singers, listening to fabulous quartets and choruses and finally being able to relax after months of preparation!
This was our first regional competition since before Covid, also our first competition with Linda Beaver as our director, and we had 6 members who sang on competition stage for the very first time!!!
Overall, the weekend was great for reconnecting with other Sweet Adeline singers, listening to fabulous quartets and choruses and finally being able to relax after months of preparation!
Cathy, Lee, Laurie, Julie, Lauren and Shannon... our 6 newbies!!!
New slate of board members!!!
Newest board members alongside retiring board members.
Yesterday, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, the "old" board and the newly installed board held their joint meeting. Without a great deal of fanfare, the new members took over the responsibilities of DSC's board. Later in the year, we will hold a more formal installation dinner in recognition of the women who have been elected as our board.
Our newest board members are: Lisa Blozis - President Juli LaBadia - Vice-President Cathy Brock - Secretary Shannon Hevener - Finance Coordinator Jane Adewole - Board member Laurie Baker - Board member |
Our newest elected board from back left: Laurie Baker, Shannon Hevener, Lisa Blozis, Juli LaBadia, Cathy Brock, and, seated, Jane Adewole
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Our 2023 Weekend retreat with cyd wentsel
In preparation for our upcoming regional competition in Lancaster, PA (May 18 -20, 2023), we were lucky to get Cyd Wentsel as our coach over the weekend of March 17! DSC is performing in a new category this year: Open Division. This category is very different for those of us who have previously participated in the region's yearly competition. Cyd helped us tremendously in honing our singing skills as well as enhancing our presentation. Hope you all will be able to watch us on Saturday, May 20! Live streaming will be available for the competition. We will be the 5th chorus to perform out of 20!
Diamond State Chorus is so pleased to introduce our newest member, Lauren Rhodes. She has a Sweet Adelines' singing background and is singing lead. Here she is pictured with her new name badge alongside Diane Scott. (our membership coordinator and Lead section leader)
Welcome, Lauren!
Welcome, Lauren!
Our November, 2022, show was a lovely, successful event! Everything went smoothly and the audience appreciated our efforts! 16 of our members sang but the chorus, as a whole, contributed to making this show a success. We had programs, raffle tickets for our 2 bounteous baskets and 50/50 chance, snacks and decorations galore! We are very thankful for our appreciative audience because, without them, our efforts would have been moot.
Our inhouse quartet, Lee Radics, Joyce Fangman, Jane Adewole and Linda Beaver, performed 2 songs brilliantly during the program. We also were thrilled to have as our guest quartet, Lustre, 2018 Sweet Adelines International Champion Quartet! They are a harmonious blend of voices and so much fun to listen to.
Special recognition to Jeannie Gandeton who designed our hall decor, blew up ALL those balloons and transported ALL those balloons!!! And not to leave out Joyce Fangman who organized the transport of our risers, and organized the decor of said risers!
If you want to see a video of our show, you can find it on our YouTube channel:
Our inhouse quartet, Lee Radics, Joyce Fangman, Jane Adewole and Linda Beaver, performed 2 songs brilliantly during the program. We also were thrilled to have as our guest quartet, Lustre, 2018 Sweet Adelines International Champion Quartet! They are a harmonious blend of voices and so much fun to listen to.
Special recognition to Jeannie Gandeton who designed our hall decor, blew up ALL those balloons and transported ALL those balloons!!! And not to leave out Joyce Fangman who organized the transport of our risers, and organized the decor of said risers!
If you want to see a video of our show, you can find it on our YouTube channel:
Shannon being presented with her Sweet Adelines pin by Diane Scott, our membership chair and Lead section leader
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 Shannon with our director, Linda Beaver, and Diane Scott
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We are so pleased to welcome a new member to our chorus!!! Shannon Hevener has joined the lead section.
Tuesday, May 17th, was the date of our installation dinner. This means that we formally recognized Diamond State's newest slate of board members. This year's board members are:
Lisa Blozis, President
Jane Adewole, Vice President
Marilyn Ferguson, Secretary
Lee Radics, Treasurer
Juli LaBadia
Susan Charles
This evening was also an opportunity to renew our director, Linda Beaver's, contract.
We like to make this a fun evening for the chorus and usually invite a special guest to emcee our proceedings. On this occasion, Judith Weidman, talented sister of our very own director, Linda Beaver, was kind enough to moderate our evening. In the picture below you can see the props she brought with her... different cereals to highlight each member's special role on the board!!!
Lisa Blozis, President
Jane Adewole, Vice President
Marilyn Ferguson, Secretary
Lee Radics, Treasurer
Juli LaBadia
Susan Charles
This evening was also an opportunity to renew our director, Linda Beaver's, contract.
We like to make this a fun evening for the chorus and usually invite a special guest to emcee our proceedings. On this occasion, Judith Weidman, talented sister of our very own director, Linda Beaver, was kind enough to moderate our evening. In the picture below you can see the props she brought with her... different cereals to highlight each member's special role on the board!!!
In all the pictures, you'll see the decorations made by our very talented Jeannie Ganderton. A very colorful array of flowers! And we started off our evening with a tasty potluck supper with contributions brought in by chorus members.
Pictured below are the board members receiving their special cereal box from this evening's emcee, Judith!!! Juli was not able to attend in person but was present via facetime.
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This was also a time for us to recognize members who have reached milestones in Sweet Adeline years. Edwina Nowland received a pin commemorating 30 years with Sweet Adelines and Jeannie Ganderton received a pin for 35 years!! Ronda Bolinger also reached the 30-year milestone but unfortunately was not able to be with us. The pins were presented by Diane, our membership chair.
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Newly installed board with our director and emcee
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Linda signing new contract with board president, Lisa, and secretary, Marilyn.
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Linda gets a special cereal box too!
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The evening was made even more special with our introduction to Amanda's baby. she tells us that she will be able to start rehearsing with us again in the very near future.
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spring retreat - March 18-19, 2022
It's customary for Sweet Adeline choruses to bring in an experienced coach to prepare for the yearly regional competition. This year Diamond State Chorus will not be going to competition but decided to still take advantage of the amazing coaching talent that is available to all Sweet Adelines' choruses. This year we invited the extremely talented Michael Gellert (Master 700 director of Harbor City Music Company) to coach us on some of our repertoire songs and help us refine some of our singing techniques. We had a ton of fun and learned ways to improve our singing. All was not hard work as Joyce Fangman organized some games for us to play during our breaks. To finish off the weekend, we ate dinner at a local Italian restaurant.
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Meet Cathy Brock, Our newest member! She is a welcome addition to our tenor section. She is featured below with our Tenor section leader, Lee Radics.
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DIAMOND sTATE'S cHRISTMAS vIDEO
Since we couldn't put on a live performance this year, we put together a video for you to watch. We had a lot of fun singing some of our favorite Christmas music. We are so thankful for all our members who are able to help in the technical and "behind the scenes" details.
Yep!!! It's fun to have fun but you have to know how!!!
fALL IS HERE!
We're almost all present for this fall picture. Enjoying being together after months apart and being able to sing with each other in person rather than over zoom. Once again, Jeannie did a fabulous job decorating Klair Hall!!
first rehearsal with our new director
linda beaver
We are delighted to welcome our new director, Linda Beaver, to our chorus. Here we are on September 7, 2021, at our first formal rehearsal with Linda as our director. We are looking forward to a stellar future in which we will grow as a chorus while learning new vocal techniques and new musical arrangements under Linda's direction. So many possibilities, so many goals to be achieved! Come join us in DSC's latest chapter!!!
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Making it official!
***pam's retirement party***
BIDDING FAREWELL TO PAM NICHOLS
On August 31, 2021, Diamond State Chorus bid farewell to Pam Nichols as she closes the chapter on her long and rewarding years as our chorus director. We celebrate her time with us and will never forget her musical knowledge, dedication, tenacity, enthusiasm and friendship!
Some past members were able to join us as well. Our favorite event planner, Jeannie Ganderton, decorated our rehearsal hall with the swan motif.
We will sorely miss Pam, but are happy to keep her in our chorus as an associate member!
On August 31, 2021, Diamond State Chorus bid farewell to Pam Nichols as she closes the chapter on her long and rewarding years as our chorus director. We celebrate her time with us and will never forget her musical knowledge, dedication, tenacity, enthusiasm and friendship!
Some past members were able to join us as well. Our favorite event planner, Jeannie Ganderton, decorated our rehearsal hall with the swan motif.
We will sorely miss Pam, but are happy to keep her in our chorus as an associate member!
We are back to in-person rehearsals at Limestone Presbyterian Church 3201 Limestone Road, Wilmington, DE 19808, from 7-9:30 pm.
All women who love to sing, harmonize and perform are enthusiastically invited to come join us! We do ask that you are vaccinated against Covid.
If you are interested in attending, please contact Diane at [email protected]