ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL SENIOR QUARTET CHAMPIONS PRESENTS FRANK LANZA AWARD

AISQC has awarded the Frank Lanza Award to two Barbershop Harmony Society Headquarters staff members and to a member of a senior quartet champion quartet. At the annual Midwinter Convention in San Antonio last week, the awards were presented to Ed Watson, CEO; to John Schneider, Director of Events; and to Ken Buckner, a member of the 2003 International Senior Quartet Champion, The Barons. The award was presented to the three for their ongoing support of AISQC which helped raise awareness of AISQC and Senior quarteting throughout the Barbershop Harmony Society. Darryl Cremer, past president of AISQC, said, “Thanks to these three men, the AISQC and the overall senior quarteting experience has been raised to new levels that will benefit the Society for the long term.”

Ed Watson commented, “John and I were honored to receive the Frank Lanza Award in recognition of our service to the Association of International Senior Quartet Champions. We are continuously working to make the ASIQC a viable, stable subsidiary organization of our Society and enhance the production value and attendee experience of their contests and shows. That’s our job.”

The award bears the name of Frank Lanza who was a member of the first International Senior Quartet Champion in 1983, the George Baggish Memorial Quartet and was the founding father of the Association of International Senior Quartet Champions. This award is not an annual award and is only given when appropriate to people who have made significant contributions to AISQC. Prior to this year, there has only been one other recipient of the award, Marlin Griffith, a member of the 1989 International Senior Quartet Champion, Bayou City Music Committee.

At this year’s senior competition in San Antonio, the quartet Eureka! was crowned the 2008 International Senior Quartet Champion.