Long Island Harmonizers - Nassau Mid-Island Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society

Book a Performance | Book the Chorus | Book a Quartet

Book A Performance

Looking for a "book" with a happy ending (and a happy musical time for listeners from opening song to that conclusion)? The Nassau Mid-Island Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society makes it a certainty with its Long Island Harmonizers Chorus, with its personable quartets, with a blending of nostalgia with the more modern, spiced with humor, with audience participation and more.

Book The Chorus

The words for the "whys" are many. The all-male a cappella sound of a talented Long Island Harmonizers Chorus of some 40 voices. The enjoyable chords that are unmistakably barbershop. Segments featuring our quartets. Presentations guaranteed to generate fond memories spiced with explanation about what barbershop is all about, it's history and so on. -forty five minutes or so of sheer delight.

"On the face of it" (or should we say faces?) it is quite easy to understand why having the Nassau Mid-Island Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society perform is such a pleasurable experience. It is seen over and over again. It starts with the happy on-stage faces of our members, cognizant that they are offering an art form currently being sustained by approximately 25,000 society members here and overseas. And it reaches across to the faces of seated audiences that immediately light up in response to our all-male sound of voices in a repertoire that includes the nostalgic, the more recent arranged in barbershop harmonies, the patriotic, the humorous, special songs to mark an occasion or perhaps a season, love songs, ballads, show music, and so on -- all designed to elicit delight. or so members of the Long Island Harmonizers can bring that enjoyment to your civic, fraternal, religious or other gathering. In local libraries, at special events. Yes, to paraphrase, "have pitch pipes -- will travel." Performances also include songs by our talented Chapter quartets, some intriguing interaction with our listeners, and more. Our Chapter has been providing the gift of song to the local community for over 60 years, and would be pleased to offer its talents for you. For more information, contact John Brolly by phoning 516-938-4272. Should you care to hear a sampling of our singing, it is available for you upon request for you to review. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Book A Quartet

On your mark. Get ready. Get set to "glow" -- while listening to four voices with enjoyable repertoires that help fulfill the Barbershop Harmony Society's mandate to "Keep America Singing." You'll feel encouraged to sing along, and whether or not you do, sharing the delight with our quartets and those around you will make the experience even more rewarding. Let us bring a quartet to you. The barbershop style of music, whether sung by a full chorus or four members in a quartet, has, of course, its very special mutual appeal. There is a basic difference between the two kinds of presentations though -- like the difference between listening to a full symphony orchestra and a chamber group. Hearing a skilled barbershop foursome is to experience the purity of each harmonic voice in a pleasurable blend. Moreover, there is also an intimacy that a smaller group can inherently provide. The Long Island Harmonizers are fortunate to have several performing quartets that perfect their talents with weekly rehearsals on their own and under guidance of the Nassau Mid-Island Chapter's musical director, continually increase their repertoires and are always delighted to receive requests for appearances at moderate cost whether on stages, at street fairs, in malls, in living rooms, at restaurants -- wherever -- and whether the arranged presentations call for a few songs or longer performances of -five minutes with explanations about "barbershop," sing-alongs and a bit of humor.

Below are our Quartets and their contact information.

(click on Quartet name for their information or scroll down)

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AfterGloWorms

Harold Verity, Tenor*
Bob Miraglia, Lead
Steve Stojowski, Bass
Maurice Debar, Baritone

The AfterGloWorms were formed to sing one song at one show. We discovered that we liked similar music and decided to learn one more song which became one more and then one more etc. That was about four years ago. We sing barbershop, jazz, standards and show tunes. Steve Stojowski is the heart of our quartet since he is a true bass. He can dig really deep to give our harmony true depth. He even looks and sounds like Lurch. Steve is an instrumental musician as well, having played in one of the bands in the U.S. Army. Hal Verity is our tenor. While Steve provides our quartet with physical height, Hal’s ethereal voice provides vocal height to our sound. He not only sings in his church but he is the song leader at Sunday services. (They think his high voice is angelic.) Maurice Debar, our baritone and musical maestro, taught band instruments in the public school system before he retired. He has the most difficult job in the quartet of filling in the chords to make the wonderful fullness of our four part harmony. Newest member of the quartet is lead Bob Miraglia, once a soprano-voice standout in his grammar school choir in Queens, NY, later delighting listeners as he learned to play the accordion (Maurice still plays his to this day), and now -- a barbershop afficionado as a member of Long Island Harmonizers. Whatever we sing, we never need to be asked twice.

Quartet contact: Hal Verity, - or phone 516-208-3483

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Long Island Express

Bill Ruth, Tenor*
Gene Kammerer, Lead
Joe Massaro, Bass

Bob Roth, Baritone

The Long Island Express barbershop quartet has sung as a foursome for more than a decade and each year gets busier and busier with a rewarding calendar of fulfilled requests. Our well-received performances are approximately 45 minutes to an hour in length, during which time we intersperse our singing with joke-telling as well as sing-a-longs that encourage listener participation. All of us are retired, and as such, are normally available for both afternoon and evening performances. Our enthusiasm stems in part from realizing that this is a great hobby, and we love singing and performing.

Quartet contact: Click here to email Bill Ruth -

or phone 516-334-5681

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Quatrain

Bob Kelly, Tenor
Steve Marrin, Lead*
Al Fennell, Bass
Paul Santino, Baritone

Quatrain is a barbershop quartet named after a type of poetry which uses four rhymed lines. That's about as poetic as we get. Our quartet has been competing very successfully for the past several years at the Mid-Atlantic States quartet competitions. The majority of our performances for the past few years have been as the featured quartet on many NY, NJ, and PA Barbershop Harmony annual Chapter Shows. These choice opportunities have recognized us as a standout quartet by our peers. The four of us have also sung together in previous quartets. As Spotlight quartet we sang center stage at Carnegie Hall -- featured as part of a "Big Apple" (Manhattan) Chapter Show. Also at Carnegie Hall we performed on Skitch Henderson's New York Pops "Music Americana Show." In addition we enjoyed performing at the famous Rainbow Room in New York and have been not only been featured on many Barbershop Harmony Society shows, but those offered by chapters of the Sweet Adelines as well.

Quartet contact: Steve Marrin, Smarrin1@aol.com - phone 516-223-4705

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BBQ

Kevin Montevirgen, Tenor*

Shawn Geller, Lead

Gerald Tabaosares, Bass

Andrew Jorquera, Baritone

Brand new to barbershop singing, BBQ all met in the Bronx High School of Science while on the gymnastics team in 2008. They have been singing as BBQ since their high school production of the musical "The Music Man" in 2010. The idea to continue as a group came from a fascination with the barbershop songs within the musical, and the Bronx Barbershop Quartet (BBQ) was born. They try to practice at least twice a week. Three of the BBQ quartet are still attending the school where they quickly bonded, while the foursome's tenor has now continued his studies at Hunter College where he hopes to prepare himself for medical school. Currently, the chapter is helping BBQ musically grow, learn about the art of barbershopping and gather a repertoire.

Quartet contact - Kevin Montevirgen -montevik@bxscience.edu - 718-465-0523

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