About SOA
Since 1947, the Sounds of Aloha Chorus (SOA) has been entertaining Hawaiʻi and Mainland audiences with its unique a cappella sound, off-beat humor, and heartfelt presentation.
We are the the Aloha Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society.
I really like singing Barbershop! The Sounds of Aloha is like a family to me since I joined at 17 and I now have the pleasure of directing it.
The Chorus
Under Musical Director Bryce Irvine, SOA performs a diverse repertoire of barbershop standards, hapa haole favorites, Broadway and jazz numbers, holiday music, patriotic songs, and other songs from the Great American Songbook. Its members range in age from teenagers to octogenarians and also comprise a number of quartets.
SOA produces its own popular shows, frequently featuring original comedy scripts and the best barbershop quartets in the world, and has given countless other public and private performances, on its own and in collaboration with many of Hawaii’s outstanding performing arts organizations. The chorus is available for booking, as are its quartets. The group also offers quartets for singing telegrams, including for its well known Singing Valentines program.
The Sounds of Aloha Chorus periodically holds a Hawaii A Cappella Academy for high school singers and in the past even sponsored a young men’s barbershop chorus called 8zero8. SOA was influential in planting the seeds of barbershop harmony in New Zealand and Japan and has hosted the Pan-Pacific Barbershop Convention with barbershoppers from other Pacific nations. Over the years the chorus has traveled to perform in California, Oregon, Australia, and New Zealand.
SOA is recruiting new members to experience the joy of singing and has a standing invitation for prospective members and other guests to visit its weekly rehearsals. The group is grateful for the generous support of its sponsors, the Friends of Four-Part Harmony.
Sing With The Sounds of Aloha
The Sounds of Aloha Chorus is always interested in new members. Male singers of all ages and all walks of life are invited to share in the fun!
Our Mission
The mission of the Sounds of Aloha Chorus, a service organization, is to promote and perpetuate an ever-growing fraternity of men who are drawn together by their love of four-part harmony, predominantly in the barbershop style. We will do this by offering people of all ages and cultures wholesome, artistic, barbershop entertainment and by expressing the uniqueness of Hawaii and the Aloha spirit through Hawaii songs sung in the barbershop style. We will share our tradition with the community and our fellow barbershoppers through our quartets and the Sounds of Aloha Chorus.
We will support charities that further the goals of harmony. We will provide fun and fellowship to our members in an atmosphere of song, and we will offer social events that include our spouses, families, and friends.
We will strive for musical excellence through the education of our members. We will work cooperatively with each other to learn, to teach, and to provide time and resources to the group, so that all gain increased expertise and enjoyment in singing barbershop harmony. We are accountable to each other in offering the time and energy required to meet the goals of the chapter. We will assess our personal levels of knowledge and skill and work toward constant improvement.
We will accept performance and competition opportunities with the goal of promoting the public appreciation of barbershop harmony.
Our Vision
The Sounds of Aloha Chorus provides a fun, social, and educational environment to its members that allows them to experience the joy of striving for excellence of musical performance in the a cappella barbershop style and the camaraderie of the Aloha spirit with one another, their families, and the community.
Our Leadership
Musical Director
Bryce Irvine
The Sounds of Aloha Chorus (SOA) is led by one of Hawaii’s home-grown local barbershop talents, Bryce Irvine. Bryce became Interim Musical Director early in 2023 when longtime Musical Director Mark Conching, also a home-grown leader, had to step back to attend to professional commitments. In December 2023 he became our permanent Musical Director.
Bryce first learned about the Sounds of Aloha Chorus at the tender age of nine, as a member of the Honolulu Boy Choir, when one of the chorus quartets came to sing for the choir’s retreat. He attended the next SOA Annual Show in 2003, and the showcase of barbershop singing he heard there convinced him he wanted to try it himself someday. He eventually joined the chorus at age 17. In the years since then Bryce became a lead section leader and then assistant director, and he sings lead in the with the quartet 19th Avenue.
Bryce grew up in Kailua and is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama. When not engrossed in barbershop harmony, he is the Assistant Musical Director for the youth program Hawaii Education of the ARTS (HEARTS) and a staff member for the Windward Clubhouse of the Boys and Girls Club. After performing as a kid for the Honolulu Boy Choir, in SOA’s former youth barbershop group 8zero8, and at Kamehameha Schools, as an adult Bryce went on to perform in six community musical productions directed by the legendary Ron Bright, for three years with the University of Hawaii at Mānoa Chamber singers, and for 11 years in the traveling musical “Honu By the Sea,” with which he toured worldwide.
Board of Directors
Rick Wagner – Immediate Past President
Bruce Wee – Treasurer
David Hurley – Secretary
Tom Hutton – VP Membership
Jay Henderson – VP Marketing
Adam LeFebvre – VP Music
Alan Lemieux – Member at Large
Glenn Crowder – Member at Large
Robert Siebert – Member at Large
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