On the evening of Saturday, December 9, I escaped the cold upon my entrance to the Touhill Performance Center at University of Missouri in St. Louis.  I was attending the Christmas Concert performed by the Ambassadors of Harmony, a four-time barbershop harmony society international chorus champion.  Their chorus of 150 men produces some of the greatest male vocal sounds in the world, such as the 2009 international champion quartet, Crossroads, who performed before the intermission.

The night began with a brilliant arrangement of The Pirates of the Caribbean theme.  The members of the chorus, dressed in full pirate garb, rang full chords through the massive, triple-tiered, concert hall.  Throughout the First Act, they sang classic Christmas carols arranged in barbershop format, interjected by a riveting drama of pirates on the ship, “Christmas”.  Each year they steal presents from the children inhabiting the Caribbean.

The captain takes on a young boy to do cleaning tasks around the ship.  The boy is extremely annoying and every pirate grows to despise him.  Towards the finale, the Pirate King comes to the boat to give the pirates “the greatest gift of all”. To the captain’s surprise, the young deckhand reveals the birthmark of an anchor on his forearm.  The captain reveals a matching tattoo of his own, and reveals that it is hereditary and the boy is his son.  

The Pirate King is also shocked as he reveals the same tattoo on his forearm, and is the father of the captain.  Finally, the captain exclaims that finding his family is the real “greatest gift of all”.  

Just before a fifteen minute interruption, the quartet Crossroads performed some of their favorite barbershop Christmas songs.  Their balance and blend are unmatched in the barbershop community, and they displayed this with their rendition of Deck The Halls.  They won a standing ovation from the packed house after they destroyed music itself with their final resolutive chord.

In the Second Act, The Ambassadors came on stage on their classic white suits to ring chords from more formal Christmas classics.  The climax of the night was an arrangement of Silent Night in which they left the stage and entered the audience to finish out the song.  Surrounding engrossed attendees, they invited all to join in for the final verse.  A fantastic way to give us one last merry Christmas, and leave us astounded at how much harmony we experienced on a blisteringly, icy Saturday night.

To learn more about the Ambassadors of Harmony visit their website :  http://aoh.org/