Men’s chorus to perform free concert at Northwest on May 31

Central Standard, a Kansas City-based men's a capella choir, will present a free concert at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 31, at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts. (Submitted photo)

A Kansas City-based men's a capella chorus that includes a large number of Northwest Missouri State University alumni will present a free concert on the University campus this month.

Central Standard will perform its concert, "Traditions in Song," at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 31, at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts.

The concert, which is open to the public, will feature the chorus's 2026 international contest set in addition to new repertoire performances by chapter quartets.

Formed in 2007, Central Standard is a six-time medalist chorus in the Barbershop Harmony Society's International Chorus Competition, which features the highest-ranking choruses from around the world. In 2016, it earned a second-place medal in Nashville, Tennessee - the first for a Kansas City group at an international competition since the chorus contest's inception in 1954.

In 2018, Central Standard was the headlining act at the British Association of Barbershop Singers convention in the United Kingdom and performed at the Southwest American Choral Directors Association conference in Oklahoma City. The group also performed at the national American Choral Directors Association conference in Kansas City in 2019.

Among its 55 members, 15 are Northwest alumni, including Dan Rasmussen, a 2012 Northwest alumnus who serves as Central Standard's assistant director. Rasmussen is beginning a new role in the fall as an assistant choir teacher at Oak Park High School in North Kansas City after 13 years in the Liberty Public School District.

Rasmussen has been a member of Central Standard for 15 years and sings in its tenor section. He said he carries fond memories of his interest in barbershop choirs beginning at Northwest.

"I first learned about barbershop at Northwest in the halls of the Fine Arts Building," Rasmussen said. "There was so much history of amazing quartets like 3 Men and a Melody, Millennium, or Freefall and choruses like the Barberboys in St. Joseph and Heart of America in Kansas City, all of which had singers tied to our school. I remember several of us would leave after our last choir rehearsal at 4 p.m., drive to Kansas City on Thursday nights, sing in Central Standard, drive home at 1 a.m., and pray we made it to our 8 a.m. classes on time the next day.

"That time in my college career is hard to forget because it bonded several of us music students together. Several of us alumni are still very present in each other's lives, even though we have very different careers. I think that is the power of music - the ability to bring people together around the humanity we all share through music and stories."

The concert is sponsored by Northwest's School of Fine and Performing Arts.

For more information about Central Standard Chorus, visit https://centralstandard.net/.