Amherst-based quartet brings home top honor
by ELIZABETH TAUFA Reporter

Members of the barbershop quartet Mystique are Lynda Mason, left, Carol Zeffiro, Karin Kirkham and Gail Higgins.

You may think of a barbershop quartet as four mustachioed men in red and white striped shirts, but the women of the group Mystique would encourage you to think otherwise.

Mystique, a quartet under the umbrella of the Amherst-based Niagara Frontier Chord Authority, recently took the honor of 2007 Quartet Champions, or Harmony Queens, at a Harmony, Inc. international competition in London, Ontario. NFCA is under the umbrella of Harmony, Inc.

Harmony, Inc.'s regional and international contests and conventions are held each year for the purposes of educating members in the performance of the barbershop craft, bringing together the membership to see the best perform and to encourage an atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie between its members.

Mystique members Lynda Mason, Carol Zeffiro, Karin Kirkham and Gail Higgins beat out 24 other quartets for the top honor.

"You have to qualify at a regional level," said fellow chorus member Marie Hutton. " "The quality of the competitors is better and better each year."

The regional competition was held at Maryvale High School in May. Mystique took first place regionally in order to qualify for the international competition.

"The whole audience was with us," Zeffiro said of the international competition.

The groups were judged on how well they presented the songs, matching tones and vowels while singing, and how their music fits in with traditional barbershop harmony.

NFCA, directed by Ron Mason and Sue Trenchard, is primarily an educational group, according to Hutton. As a result of winning, the members of Mystique will travel throughout the country working with other barbershop quartets and helping to preserve the style of music.

"We've coached other quartets so we plan to continue doing that," Zeffiro said. "We also want to sing shows all over the country. We're happiest when we're singing."

The NFCA, along with the members of Mystique, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14 at the Ismailia Shrine Temple Christmas Show, 1598 Southwestern Blvd., West Seneca. The concert is free but dinner will be served from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at a cost of $15.

For more information, visit www. harmonize. com/ nfca.