The VLQ
(Very Large Quartet)

VLQ pictured at Chicago Botanic Garden Christmas Party

Hiring Info: Contact Us at Phone: 630-201-5544
Email: contact@westtowns.org

The Very Large Quartet is a subset of the larger chorus, usually 12 to 24 of the men, depending upon the occasion and the space.

We have sung for Town and Village Celebrations, for special benefits, for nursing and retirement homes, for Memorial Day and July 4th. We have sung the National Anthem at baseball stadiums, entertained classic car rallies, sung for the lighting of Christmas trees. We have sung at funerals and memorial services. We have been the entertainment for company anniversaries.

Sometimes we find ourselves forming an ad hoc Very Large Quartet.

A while back, the West Towns Chorus sang for a celebration dinner at a golf course near Chicago. After the singing was done, 12 of us adjourned to a nearby restaurant. One of our number met a gentleman in the Gentlemen's Room and, upon being asked what the shirt represented, told his new friend that we were Barbershop singers in a chorus. The man was thrilled to hear it, since his parents were in one of the restaurant's function rooms celebrating their 50th anniversary. He asked us to sing for them. So we gathered our men and marched into the party, singing as we came in. We sang a few love songs, received thunderous applause, and went back to the bar with the son of the anniversary couple, who was buying. He mentioned what we'd done to the bartender, and a woman at the bar overheard him. She said that her parents were celebrating their 50th anniversary in another function room. Could we sing for them? We did, singing them several songs, once again to great applause. What touched us was that the woman then asked us to sing a special "Irish Blessing" to her Irish aunt, who was dying of cancer. Of course, we did as she asked.

None of the things we did that night in that restaurant was a paid performance - and almost all of our performances are paid for. They were just plain wonderful things to have happen. They showed all of us (as if we needed to know) how this hobby can touch people and make moments memorable.

We will gladly sing for your occasion.

If it's a party or a benefit, we have a large repertoire and can fit it to your event. If it's an outdoor event or a fair, we can wander the event, stopping to sing two or three songs at each of many points in the venue.

If you or your community will be having a Memorial Day or Fourth of July Celebration, we can bring our patriotic song set to sing for you.

Our quartets do all of these things, of course. What we do with our Very Large Quartet is to bring a larger group of voices to the party.

VLQ pictured at Chicago Botanic Garden Christmas Party