(Courtesy photo) Members of New England Voices in Harmony, after winning a regional competition in Massachusetts recently, are now looking forward to competing in the international contest in November.

NASHUA – New England Voices in Harmony, a women’s a cappella chorus based in Nashua, won first place last weekend at their annual regional convention and contest held in Westborough, Mass..

Co-directed by the mother-daughter team of Renee and Samantha Tramack, the chorus won the contest by performing two songs: “The Place Where Lost Things Go,” a ballad from the film “Mary Poppins Returns,” and Irving Berlin’s “Let Yourself Go!”

Also taking first place was “New Q,” a quartet affiliated with the chorus that won the quartet contest.

New England Voices in Harmony, a nonprofit educational singing group for women based in Nashua, has more than 30 members from across southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts.

The chorus is in Area 2, one of several areas, or regions, across the U.S. and Canada that operate under the umbrella organization Harmony Inc.

Area 2 includes choruses from all six New England states, along with Quebec, Canada.

The COVID-19 pandemic, not surprisingly, created numerous challenges for the choruses. The Nashua group rehearsed via Zoom, “or met in parking lots to sing (using) automobile technology, or met to sing outdoors … then indoors with masks, and finally, indoors without masks,” according to Renee Tramack.

“It’s incredible that we not only came in first, but we achieved scores like the ones we earned before the pandemic.

“And the fact that we earned A-level scores in singing just proves that all the education we had over Zoom and the dedication of our membership … paid off,” Tramack added.

Her daughter, Samantha Tramack, said she found it “incredibly humbling to direct New England Voices in Harmony for the first time in a contest.

“And it was great to be back with everyone from around New England to sing,” added Tramack, who just recently earned a bachelors degree in music education.

For the quartet “New Q,” its winning two-song package included “Come Rain or Come Shine,” and “How Deep is the Ocean?”

Singing the lead part was Kathleen Macdonald, while the Tramacks added the baritone and bass and Linda Noble, from Providence, sang tenor.

“Out on a Limb,” another quartet affiliated with Voices, won two awards: the Rae Borror Memorial Award, for the quartet showing the greatest improvement in total score, and the Jane Beale Memorial Award, for the greatest improvement in the performance category.

Nashua residents Diane Reynolds and Karen Hayden sang lead and bass, respectively, while singing tenor was Diane Fagerstrom of Gardner, Massachusetts, and singing baritone was Cathy DeCoste of Rockland, Massachusetts.

Next up for the chorus and its two affiliated quartets, along with the other three competing quartets made up of Voices members, is a November trip to Verona, New York, where they will compete in Harmony Inc.’s International Contest.

Lynn Gresock, president of New England Voices in Harmony, said that “like so many others, we have really missed having the ability to sing together during the pandemic.

“We were so pleased with our scores, which demonstrate a return to our core skills,” Gresock said.

Now, the chorus is “looking forward to continuing on our singing journey together,” she added.

Gresock also said Voices is seeking new members “to expand our group and spread the joy of harmony.”

New England Voices in Harmony meets weekly on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. at the Nashua Senior Center, 70 Temple St.

For more information on the chorus, and to learn more about joining, go to www.newenglandvoicesinharmony.org, or call 686-SING.

New England Voices in Harmony spokeswoman Michele Hansen provided the content for this article.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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