Comps of the Week: 4/5/25

By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief

Four distinct circuits – New England, the west coast, Texas, and Canada – all wrap up their seasons this week.

John Burroughs Music Showcase

The Lineup (groups from California unless noted)

Advanced Mixed 1: American Leadership Academy “Evolution” (UT), Burbank “In Sync”, Los Alamitos “Sound FX”

Advanced Mixed 2: Boulder Creek “Broadway Bound” (AZ), Chaparral “Platinum FX”, Cypress “High Voltage”, Valley Vista “Vocal Thunder” (AZ)

Intermediate Mixed: Helix “HLX”, Los Alamitos “Connexion”, Oceanside “Soundwaves”, Pacifica “Encore”, Valencia “Just 4 Show”, Valley Vista “Voltage” (AZ)

Novice Mixed: Eisenhower “Ike Singers”, John A. Rowland “Infusion”, Los Altos “LA Dynamix”, North Torrance “Northern Lights”, Monterey “Big Song”, Western Sierra “The Alphas”

Advanced Womens: Burbank “Blue Impressions”, Los Alamitos “Soundtrax”

Intermediate Womens Large Group: Boulder Creek “Heart & Soul” (AZ), Los Alamitos “Xquisite”, Saugus “Blue Heat”, Valley Vista “Tempest” (AZ)

Intermediate Womens Small Group: American Leadership Academy “Rhapsody” (UT), Cypress “Pink Thunder”, Oceanside “High Seas”, Valley Vista “Vortex” (AZ)

Novice Womens: Chaparral “Dynamics”, Eisenhower “Ikettes”, Los Alamitos “Axcent”, Western Sierra “Sierra Serenade”

Mens: Los Alamitos “Xtreme”, Oceanside “Riptides”

Burroughs moves to the last competition in California this year, and it has the field to prove it. There’s significant travel flair here, with a handful of out-of-state visitors (ALA, Valley Vista and Boulder Creek) and a couple NorCal visitors (Western Sierra, Monterey). Los Al and Burbank will square off again after a showdown last week, where Sound FX was first with no captions and In Sync was third with music. Cypress and Valley Vista will rematch from last week, where High Voltage took the higher placing. Boulder Creek is making its second competition appearance of the year, and a high placement will show the world that there’s another Arizona group worth watching (alongside VV and Horizon). Everything breaks loose in intermediate mixed. Pacifica, a group that has essentially mastered the division, will go up against Connexion, a standard-bearing prep group. Helix and Oceanside haven’t seen the best results this year, and they will battle Valencia, a group that competed in novice earlier this season. Multiple group debuts will happen here as well - Oceanside is debuting a mens group and ALA is breaking out a womens ensemble for the first time since 2010.

Rouse Capital City Classic

The Lineup (all groups from Texas)

Open: Cedar Park “Timberwolf Show Choir”, Cristo Rey “Blazin’ Blue”, Fort Worth Southwest “Sound Machine”, Fort Worth Southwest “Southwest Effect”, Hebron “Harmony”, Leander “Legacy”, Timber Creek “Aerodynamix”, Whitehouse “Top Cats”

Expanded Preview: Capital City Classic Closes the Texas Season

The battle for the win here will likely be between Fort Worth Southwest and Timber Creek, the only two regular varsity-level competitors at this event. Southwest Effect led this event after prelims last year before Keller Blue Lights took home the win in finals. Cap City eliminated finals from this year’s contest, something that may favor Southwest Effect. Aerodynamix was right behind them at last year’s Classic, finishing third. Both groups boast runner-up finishes this year. Neither group has taken a grand championship before, so the show choir community is guaranteed a new winner this weekend. Hebron, despite only competing once each year, does well for itself, as the outfit was fourth at last year’s edition of this event. Behind them, it is a race between two Dallas-area prep groups (Sound Machine and Cristo Rey), Austin-area groups (Leander and Cedar Park), and a Tyler-area group making its competitive debut (Whitehouse).

Show Choir Canada Championships

The Lineup (groups from Ontario unless noted)

Open: All Saints “Flair”, FAME SOPA “Fame”, Music Academy of Western New York “ROAR”, Music Academy of Western New York “SHOUT”, Our Lady of Lourdes “The Pitches”, Pickering “Euphonix”, St. George’s “G Major” (Quebec)

The Canadian championships usually split into three divisions – community groups, high school large groups, and high school small groups. This year’s schedule is a bit of a jumble this year, with no divisions noted on the posted lineup. Should the usual split occur and community groups take the top tier, SHOUT has a great shot of defending its title, considering that it would only need to beat Fame to do so. If the competition goes to an overall format, St. George’s was the winner of the high school large group division last year and is a two-time overall winner of the event. Pickering was the runner-up in that division in 2024, and All Saints was the runner-up in 2023. One big name that’s missing is Etobicoke Splash. The seven-time winners hosted the event last year and performed in exhibition but are not attending in any capacity this year. However, the group does still exist, leaving the door open for a future return.

Waltham Eastern Show Choir Festival

The Lineup (groups from Massachusetts unless noted)

Large Mixed: Lowell “Sound Impressions”, Manteno “Magic” (IL), Tantasqua “ENCORE!”

Small Mixed: Boston Latin “Pizazz”, Dartmouth “Dynamix”, Leominster “Ignition”, Natick “West Street Singers”, Oliver Ames “Panache”, Shepherd Hill “Fantasy”, Somerset Berkley “Electrify”

Womens: Lowell “Soundsations”, Shepherd Hill “Illusion”

This year’s Eastern Show Choir Festival features a bit smaller of a field than usual, but that is by design as the team at Waltham adjusts to hosting in a new high school building that opened for this school year. Large mixed is still an intriguing battle. Manteno will seek to become the second consecutive Illinois group to win this competition after Mt. Zion took home the win last season. Tantasqua was runner-up at this competition last year, but the ensemble has slipped a bit this season and has not gotten the results they hoped for. Lowell did not place at this event last year, but Sound Impressions is under the new direction of Evan Caverly and is Stephen Todd’s debut New England group. They’ve been on the cusp of good placements and have beaten South Windsor, Andover, and Tantasqua this year. Small mixed will be a brawl, as it is one last chance to take the top spot before the offseason. Natick has only lost to Scranton this season and will be the choir to beat. Shepherd Hill has been second, third, and fourth this season, but they will be looking to secure an elusive division win. Somerset comes in as a bit of a wildcard, as Electrify has only competed once so far this season, but they could do some damage as well.

With each and every choir fighting for one last good placement at the end of the season, the results mean that much more. Check back next week to find out what the results mean for the coming offseason.