RENDEZVOUS

“Four Voices Meeting In Harmony”  

“Four Voices Meeting in Harmony” (in the Barbershop style) is the motto of the quartet Rendezvous. “Rendezvous” is the French word for “[four voices] meeting [in harmony].” The quartet is part of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. (SPEBSQSA), which is now calling itself “The Barbershop Harmony Society” (so you can remember it more easily).  The members of the quartet represent three SPEBSQSA chapters in the Northern Virginia area, the Fairfax Jubil-Aires, the Loudoun County Chorus of the Old Dominion, and the Bull Run Troubadours in Manassas. 

Tenor RALPH JOHNSON, a member of the Bull Run Troubadours, has been singing in Barbershop quartets since 1988.  He also performs with the Washington Savoyards in the light operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.  A native of San Francisco, Ralph lives in Annandale with his wife Ellen, and has a son and daughter.  Ralph holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and works at the Center for Army Analysis at Fort Belvoir.

Lead singer LARRY PIGUE also began his Barbershop singing in 1988 when Ralph Johnson and two other colleagues at the US Army’s Concepts Analysis Agency asked him to join their quartet without so much as having heard him sing.  He and Ralph have sung together ever since.  Larry is a former US Army Colonel and is currently a vice president of SAIC.   He is a member of the Fairfax Jubil-Aires.  He lives with his wife Janice in Manassas.  For Larry, Barbershop harmony is the stress reliever that makes life more enjoyable.

Baritone TOM MEIER is not sure where he works this week, but he came back to the National Capital Region because it was better than being a road warrior for IBM in Connecticut. Unfortunately, his wife Kathy is still there (CT), but she comes to visit often (to see their grandchild in Chantilly, VA). He sings classical music with the Friday Morning Music Club Chorale, and directs the Fairfax Jubil-Aires and the Chorus of the Old Dominion in Loudoun County.

Bass PETE BRINTNALL was introduced to Barbershop by his father in Omaha, Nebraska when he was in High School.  He sang in various quartets, not always Barbershop, during much of his life and began singing with Rendezvous in 1999.  Pete is a former US Army BG and directs the activities of Partners in HealthCare, a non-profit company that works in international medical long-distance learning.  He lives with his wife Janice in Springfield – and just became a grandfather!  Pete also sings with the Jubil-Aires chorus.