The award-winning Naperville-area barershop a cappella quartet Stiletto Quartet will be among the featured performers Saturday at the Chorus of DuPage’s fall show, “Melodies and Memories,” in Naperville.
The all-female group will be joined by former Barbershop Harmony Society international quartet champion Vocal Spectrum and Chicago-area quartets the Upside Downers and Stratosphere at the concert being presented at Grace United Methodist Church.
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Stiletto, an all-female ensemble, features a mother-daughter team of Lindsey Bondi, tenor, and Linda Herza, bass, as well as lead singer Kim Blair and baritone Missy Roberts. Formed in 2017, they compete annually and perform several times a year.
In May, they were crowned SingUnited (formerly Sweet Adelines International) Midwest Harmony 2026 Quartet Champions, qualifying them for the 78th annual SingUnited International Convention and Competition, which this year is being held Oct. 26-31 in Columbus, Ohio.
The 3 p.m. concert will have them performing several songs before joining with the other quartets and chorus for a grand finale.
“We do classic barbershop and once in a while we throw in some contemporaries,” Bondi said. “For this show, we are going to be doing ‘To Make You Feel My Love,’ ‘Seven Bridges Road’ by the Eagles and some other barbershop tunes — ‘Sweet Adeline’ and the like. (Barbershop) is its own genre. It’s taking a popular song and adding barbershop chords to it and structuring it a little bit differently. (And) it’s only a cappella. Never any instruments.”
Bill Murschel sings bass with the Chorus of DuPage, a mixed barbershop chorus of about 30 voices, he said. The fall program is their opportunity to showcase local, regional and national talent, he said.
“Our chorus will do eight or nine numbers and then the quartets will perform and then we’ll do an en masse showstopper to close the show,” he said. “Our component has several sections. One section we’re calling the ‘Romantic and Dreamer’ section.”
That will include “Yesterday” by The Beatles and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” by Frankie Valli. Another section will include classic barbershop tunes like “Hello Mary Lou.” A third section will include spiritual and patriotic numbers like “God Bless America” and an upbeat gospel medley, he said.
Murschel said he’s very excited to bring Vocal Spectrum to Naperville for the concert.
“They’re polished and professional,” he said. “They’re famous in the barbershop community and they’re relatively close to us so it’s easier to get here. It is a rarity to hear a barbershop quartet of that quality in our own backyard.”
The four members of Vocal Spectrum met while attending Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. In 2004, they won the Barbershop Harmony Society’s International Collegiate Quartet Contest and two years later they took the top prize at the society’s International Quartet Contest. The quartet was inducted into the Barbershop Harmony Society’s Hall of Fame in 2023.
“They’re a signature name in barbershop circles,” he said. “It’s kind of a headline to have a group like that in Naperville. I’m really looking forward to hearing an incredible quartet. These guys are amazing and it’s not the kind of barbershop quartet that many of us get to hear. There’s a lot of us around but very few of us rise to the level of being an international champion.”
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Bondi agreed.
“Seeing Vocal Spectrum live is going to be a treat,” she said. “They’re fantastic.”
Murschel described the program as “casual and engaging.”
“It will be fun and light and engaging,” he said. “Barbershop music sometimes gives you goosebumps because you hear those four parts come together at the end of a song and it’s just drama, is what it is.”
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students; children under 5 are free. They can be purchased online at www.chorusofdupage.com/Fallshow, by phone or at the door if still available.
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.