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quartetones /ˈkwɔːtə(r)ˌtəʊnz/ n. • a young a cappella quartet available for gigs and celebrations.

As seen on BBC's The One Show!

2011 winners of the British Association of Barbershop Singers Sheng Pitchpipe: The Novice Quartet Trophy.

To hire QuarteTones for your event, please contact bookings@quartetones.co.uk or just leave us a message.

members - [Bass: Iain Hallam] Link and plug

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Tenor: Graham Harper

Graham started his musical life as a brass musician, playing the Tenor Horn in a variety of bands around the country. At university, being unable to afford any instrument other than his voice, he became involved in stage musicals, taking lead roles in Jesus Christ: Superstar and Guys and Dolls.

In 2009 he was collared by the then-president of The University of Bristol Barbershop Singers after they met playing chorus roles in a Bristol Operatic Society production. This was his first exposure to the world of barbershop music, and it was love at first chord.

Graham is a member of The Great Western Chorus of Bristol, and was the TUBBS Gents' Tenor section leader and Performance Director of the mixed ensemble from 2010-2011. Outside the world of music, he works with Iain as a director of Bristol Digital Limited.

graham@quartetones.co.uk
grahamharper.net

Lead: Guthrie Freeman

Guthrie’s musical experience started when he was young, playing piano and saxophone to the giddy heights of his secondary school's wind band. His barbershop life also started at school in Kent but blossomed when he became the first Vice-President of The University of Bristol Barbershop Singers. He was also the Lead section leader of The Great Western Chorus of Bristol between 2010-2011.

An aspiring Natural History filmmaker, Guthrie currently volunteers for Ape Alliance and for the Great Apes Film Initiative. In his spare time he is an amateur wildlife and nature photographer.

guthrie@quartetones.co.uk

Baritone: Alex de Bruin

Alex has always been interested in music, playing alto saxophone and baritone horn from a young age. His main musical background has been through classical orchestras and brass bands. Alex has been singing barbershop since secondary school, and had previous experience with school choirs, tackling challenging works such as the Carmina Burana and Mozart's Requiem. Nowadays, Alex splits his singing time between QuarteTones, The University of Bristol Barbershop Singers (in which he is the musical director of the ladies' ensemble, and directed the men for several years), and The Great Western Chorus of Bristol. Alex is also a budding vocal and performance coach, so feel free to drop him an email if you're willing to let him see how he could improve your quartet or chorus!

Outside of music Alex is a scientist, and is currently a PhD student at the Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials. Broadly speaking, he plays with lasers in an underground lab and will often be found with a cup of coffee mumbling incoherently about coefficients and theories named after dead European gentlemen.

alex@quartetones.co.uk

Bass: Iain Hallam

Iain has been singing since primary school, in choirs, quartets, and almost anywhere else at the drop of a hat (probably a fedora). He's been a Bath Abbey choral scholar, a Royal School of Church Music soloist, and Bass section leader of The Great Western Chorus of Bristol, but most of his time is now divided between QuarteTones and waving his arms around as musical director of The University of Bristol Barbershop Singers. Iain also plays the violin, and arranges music for groups from barbershop quartets to big bands and orchestras. If you'd like an arrangement, visit his website to see some examples and get in contact for a commission!

In another life, Iain has been through astrophysics and computer science degrees to IT management, and now works with Graham as a director of Bristol Digital Limited making websites like this one.

iain@quartetones.co.uk
www.iainhallam.com

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About Us

QuarteTones are a young a cappella quartet who mostly sing in the barbershop style. We started singing together through The University of Bristol Barbershop Singers, the original idea for the quartet being born sometime over the university summer break of 2009. Our line-up was finalised around November that year.

After qualifying for the semi-finals of the BABS National Quartet Competition in November 2010, QuarteTones were awarded the Sheng Pitchpipe: The Novice Quartet Trophy for the highest placing novice quartet at the 2011 convention in Llandudno. Later that year we qualified for semi-finals again, and we're currently in seventh place as we go into this year's convention in Southport.

We're also all members of the prestigious Great Western Chorus of Bristol, and hold 2010 Chorus Champion gold medals for our part in the GWC's winning package at the BABS annual convention.

Our repertoire consists of a wide range of songs; from classic four-part harmonies from the 1900s, to modern barbershop classics and show-stopping musical numbers.