Our History

The Keystone Capital Chorus has built a rich history over the past 50+ years. It was in May, 1945, that the group first assembled -- more a community singing society than a barbershop chorus, according to memoirs of late Charter Member Joe Moenig.

"The officers always stationed themselves up front at tables facing the audience all through the session," Moenig wrote. "After the business was over, (President Ed) Brubaker would lead the singing and after a song was sung, he'd ask what we should sing next. This went on for about an hour with no effort made to correct any of the discords, so if we had 100 present we had many different parts."

The following year, under sponsorship of the York Chapter of SPEBSQSA, 18 men petitioned the Society to create the Harrisburg Chapter, and the request was granted effective May 15, 1946. The two local references provided in the petition were State Senator M. Harvey Taylor and Harrisburg City Commissioner Joseph Vogler. Thus officially established, the Chapter benefited from "songsheets from the Society with words and music, and this of course made us sound much better," Moenig wrote. So, too, did the 1948 arrival from Chicago of Welsh Pierce, a barbershopper who brought with him the techniques and early traditions of the by-now 10-year-old Society.

In a burst of naive courage, the group volunteered to host the 1949 District convention and quartet contest. Moenig wrote that everything was fine until the afterglow, when they tried to fit 1,000 into the Harrisburg Republican Club, which held 200. "Hundreds were turned away, including some important people from the District!"

Charlie Knerr, who was to serve three years as President and a stint as Director, was first bitten in 1949, at the Chapter's initial show -- more a "parade of quartets" in those days. "My brother Jack and I heard the Chorus that night at the Forum, and both of us wanted to become a part of the organization," he says. Jack Knerr succeeded Charlie as Director in 1956 and held the post for a decade.

Under the leadership of a succession of Directors and Presidents, the Harrisburg Chapter (the performance name "Keystone Capital Chorus" wasn't adopted until 1958) grew in quality, in sophistication and in membership. "Some of those early years," Charlie Knerr recalls, "we put just enough guys on stage for competition -- 20, as I recall -- to qualify, and that was if you counted the Director!"

Over the years, Harrisburg became a force to reckon with in competition, winning its share of Division championships and usually doing well in the always-tough Mid-Atlantic District contest. But it was with the annual show -- expanded in 1966 to two nights, relocated in 1968 to the Hershey Theatre and shifted in 1978 from fall to spring -- that the Chorus had its greatest renown. With slick productions -- including themes such as riverboating, Irish, gay 90's, roaring 20's, Hollywood, World War I, the circus, and even a take-off on M.A.S.H (Men of America Sing Harmony) -- the Chorus left local audiences cheering and eagerly awaiting next year's show. Guest quartets included some of the best in the nation, many of them International champions. Emcees over the years typically came from the media, including Pete Wambach, Mac McCauley, Don Wear, Jim Chambers, and Mike Greenwald, who with Steve VanVoorhees, produced a string of audience hits.

Quartets flourished within the chapter, and one -- Keystone Congregation -- took the 1980 Mid-Atlantic championship. Appearances by the Chorus multiplied -- everything from visits to hospitals and nursing homes to artsfests, service club anniversaries, civic events, ball games and shopping malls -- even the barge in the Susquehanna River.

So more than 50 years since those convivial yet discordant gatherings on the fourth floor of the Harrisburg Republican Club, the Keystone Capital Chorus is today at a new plateau: membership is at an all-time high; involvement in community activities has never been greater; and quality of performance has made us the talk of the District -- perhaps for the first time, it's said, a threat for Internationals.

Hang on! It's been a great ride, but it's really just the beginning