Lawrence University Barbershop Quartet Vies for National Title

APPLETON, WIS. -- The Lawrence University male quartet, Die Wunderkinder, will vie for the title of best young barbershop quartet in the country in three weeks.

Die Wunderkinder will perform July 5 at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Ore., during the 64th annual convention of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America.

Group members James Estes, Maplewood, Minn., John Gale, Rockville, Md., Trent Jacobs Owatonna, Minn., and Sam Sather, Chaska, Minn., will be one of 20 quartets competing for the $3,500 first-place prize in the SPEBSQSA's college competition. They will perform "Sweet Georgia Brown" and the medley "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" and "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street."

Die Wunderkinder earned an invitation to the national competition last month by winning the Land O' Lakes District contest, which included college quartets from Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota, as well as Manitoba, Saskatchewan and parts of Ontario.

Die Wunderkinder's entry marks the sixth consecutive year a Lawrence student barbershop quartet has reached the SPEBSQSA's showcase event. In 1997, the Lawrence quartet Freefall won the college title at the national convention in Indianapolis.