Sweet Adelines International 75th Jubilee Commemorative Album

In March 2020, the Sweet Adelines International Board of Directors (IBOD) met in Tulsa, OK (USA) for the installation of officers and our new president, Joan Boutilier. Shortly after that meeting, the COVID-19 pandemic caused much of the world to quarantine for safety. Sweet Adelines had been gearing up for regional competitions, and we planned to celebrate our 75th anniversary at our International Convention in Louisville, Kentucky (USA). For the first time in our history, regional and international competitions and conventions were cancelled. Almost immediately, Sweet Adelines leapt into action. Inspired by regions who created virtual events in place of their cancelled competitions, Sweet Adelines International produced its first-ever virtual international competition, complete with 75th anniversary commemoration activities. Choruses and quartets learned to conduct virtual rehearsals and record virtual performances, including a performance of the newly-reinstated official song, The Voice of Harmony which included representatives from all Sweet Adelines regions. SA International Faculty members and others contributed to an ever-growing online education portal for our members, and the Travel in Tune app was developed to showcase our regions’ unique cultures and educational offerings. As we learned new ways to strengthen our voices and bonds, we gathered our celebrations, our joys, and our encouraging words under the social media hashtag #SweetAdelinesStrong. As this book goes to press, Sweet Adelines are again waiting out a year of cancelled competitions in 2021, but some of our singers are able to meet in person, and hope is on the horizon that soon we will all be able to ring chords together again. 2020 and Beyond: Sweet Adelines Strong

Darlene Rogers receives the

President's Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2020 Virtual Convention.

T H E V O I C E O F S W E E T A D E L I N E S I N T E R N A T I O N A L The pitchpipemagazine.com | J ULY 2 O 2 O | Volume 74 — No.1 PitchPipe

The #SweetAdelinesStrong July 2020 issue of The Pitch Pipe highlighted the creativity of Sweet Adelines around the world and focused on encouraging singers during the early days of the pandemic.

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