The New Tradition Chorus is a men's barbershop

Barbershop music

Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture...

 chorus

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 based in Northbrook, IL, in the Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 area. Founded in 1982, they have competed at the International Chorus Contest of the Barbershop Harmony Society

Barbershop Harmony Society

The Barbershop Harmony Society, legally and historically named the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. , is the first of several organizations to promote and preserve barbershop music as an art form. Founded by Owen C...

 19 times, winning a medal on every attempt, until the 2009 competition, where they finished 13th. They have won nine bronze medals, a record eight consecutive silver medals (1993–2000), and were the International Chorus Champion in 2001.

Director

Jay Giallombardo served as musical director of the New Tradition Chorus in Northbrook from its inception in 1982 until 2009, with a short two-year hiatus during 1990/91. Giallombardo is notable in the barbershop community for his 1979 gold medal as baritone for the quartet Grandma's Boys

Grandma's Boys

Grandma's Boys is the Barbershop quartet that won the 1979 SPEBSQSA international competition.-Discography:* I Had a Dream, Dear LP* Grandma's Boys LP* Tonight LP* Grandma's Boys III LP* When The Toy Soldier Marched On Parade CD...

. He has also directed several choruses before the New Tradition Chorus, including the Arlingtones and North Shore chapters of SPEBSQSA, the Melodeers

Melodeers Chorus

The Melodeers are an all-female, a cappella chorus based in the metropolitan Chicago area.-History:Founded in 1960 in Deerfield, Illinois, the Melodeers Chorus is an a cappella chorus of female singers who sing in the barbershop style...

 of Sweet Adelines International

Sweet Adelines International

Sweet Adelines International is a worldwide organization of women singers committed to advancing the musical art form of barbershop harmony through education and performances. This independent, nonprofit music education association is one of the world's largest singing organizations for women...

, and the Village Vocal Chords of Harmony Inc. He directed the Melodeers to a Third Place Bronze at the Sweet Adelines International Contest in 1976, and directed the Village Vocal Chords to a First Place Gold Medal at the Harmony Incorporated International in 1980 and 1982. He also sang bass in Chicago Chord of Trade, a three-time International Quartet Medalist Quartet of SPEBSQSA, and with Excalibur, placing in the International Top 10 Finalists. In 2009 Jay retired for two years from the New Tradition and has returned to be the director this August.