By Four singers flew in from Canada last week with a new sense of bravado.
The Newfangled Four, a four-person male a cappella group comprised of two CSULB students, championed in the 2013 International Collegiate Barbershop Quartet Competition in Toronto, Canada on July 2.
During the Barbershop Harmony Society’s 75th Anniversary Convention, the quartet performed for more than 6,000 people and competed against 25 other a cappella groups from around the world.
The quartet consists of Jackson Niebrugge, senior music performance major, lead; Jake Tickner, senior music major, bass; Joey Buss, computer engineering and computer science alumnus, tenor; and Ryan Wisniewski, baritone, from Las Vegas.
All four members of the winning quartet are also active members of an all-men a cappella chorus from Orange County called Westminster Chorus — a two-time champion of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s international barbershop chorus contest.
Tickner said the quartet formed last November and knew they wanted to shoot for the international quartet title from the start.
“We wanted to give a gift to the audience and go into it with the mindset of a servant — not someone who is filling in just for the win, you know,” Tickner said.
After seven months of training, the four sung classics such as “Mistakes” and “Georgia Mae” for the Toronto crowd. Their performances garnered the highest scores in the collegiate round, making for their championship win.
“The night after the contest … we met up with the Westminster Chorus, and they all just surrounded us and hugged us and congratulated us,” Tickner said. “It was just a really good feeling knowing they were so supportive [and so was] everyone when we got back home.”
With the group’s recent win, Tickner said The Newfangled Four has received numerous offers to perform since their return to California.
“For now, people are wanting us in their shows so we hope to be gigging and training for the open division contest in Las Vegas next year,” Tickner said. “We just do all of this because we love singing with each other, harmonizing with our brothers. This has really been life changing.”
