New England Voices in Harmony won first place at the recent Area 2 Convention and Contests in Framingham, Mass. Courtesy photo

NASHUA – New England Voices in Harmony, the Nashua-based a cappella international championship women’s chorus, returned from Harmony, Inc.’s Area 2 Convention and Contests in Framingham, winning first place in a field of choruses from New England and Québec, Canada.

The group also won both the Area 2 Trophy and the Guiding Hands Award, presented to the winning chorus.

Voices has now accrued enough points in the music, singing and presentation categories to qualify to sing at Harmony Inc.’s International Convention and Contests, to be held this November in Louisville, KY. The chorus won by singing two songs: “What I Did for Love” from the musical A Chorus Line and “They Just Keep Moving the Line” from the television series Smash.

Additionally, two chorus-affiliated quartets won first and second place in the quartet contest: Intonations with Katrine Dickau of Hollis singing tenor and Deanna Dean of Bedford singing the bass part along with two singers from the Women of Note chorus in Hudson, Mass. won first place. The quartet High Gear placed second. They include Christina Tramack of Hudson singing lead; Jennifer Selby of Nashua, baritone; Debra Green of Merrimack, bass and Ari Schmidt of Billerica, Mass., tenor. Both quartets have now earned enough points to also compete in Louisville, Ky.

A third Voices-affiliated quartet, Out on a Limb, won two additional Harmony, Inc. Area 2 awards: the Rae Borror Memorial Award for showing the greatest improvement in consecutive contests and the Voices of Experience Award given to the highest-scoring Seniors quartet. They include Diane Fagerstrom, tenor and Joanne O’Connor, bass, both of Gardner, Mass.; Cathy DeCoste, baritone, of Scituate, Mass. and Diane Reynolds, lead, of Nashua.

New England Voices in Harmony is directed by Renée Tramack of Nashua who has been singing/directing or coaching with Harmony, Inc. for 42 years. She has directed several other choruses in New England and Virginia. Tramack also sings bass in two of Harmony, Inc.’s past gold medal winning international quartets, Showcase and Taken 4 Granite.

Harmony, Inc. is an international, non-profit, educational singing organization for women. New England Voices in Harmony, with 30 performing members of all ages from southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts, rehearses every Tuesday night from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on the second floor at the Nashua Senior Center, 70 Temple St.

The chorus is always looking for new members of all ages and is promoting a Discover Harmony Program to be held from May 7 through June 11. The membership drive will conclude with an opportunity for guests to sing three songs with the chorus at a New England Voices in Harmony show at 2 p.m. on June 15 at the Nashua Senior Center. The ability to read music, while helpful, is not necessary.