Salt Lake City, Utah, home of the 58th Annual International Convention in 1996. A place where the Masters of Harmony broke the record books, again. It's also where, for only the second time in barbershop history, the international quartet champions hail from the same chapter that captured the chorus contest gold! Nightlife, after a very disappointing 3rd place in Miami in 1995, now walked away with the gold. Just before the quartet finals, do you think Nightlife waited backstage patiently thinking about their upcoming performance? Heck no they didn’t. They climbed up on the risers with the Masters and helped reprise the chorus’s winning contest set with nothing but gold on their minds.
The Masters of Harmony secured their third Barbershop Harmony Society International Championship in Salt Lake City during the summer of 1996, receiving the highest score in an international chorus contest up until that time.The Masters had worked hard over the past three years. After all, they were trying to make this their third championship in a row. That’s a feat that not many other choruses have been able to do. With the contest package they had, the chorus members knew they would have to put 110% into their performance. The ballad, "Love Me, And The World Is Mine," brought the audience in so close that you could feel their breath on your face. Then, "All Aboard For Dixie Land" sent the 10,000 audience members to their feet before the last chord had rung.
The Masters of Harmony gold-winning performance set a record that year. After the judges had added up the score sheets, the Masters had accumulated the highest amount of points in an international chorus contest up until that time. (Rumor has it that they actually received a 96 from one judge.) But, that wasn’t all the Masters did while they visited Salt Lake City.
On the following Sunday morning, the Masters had been invited to perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. What a complete thrill it was to sing in such glorious harmony! The combined voices of the gold-medal-winning Masters of Harmony and Nightlife, together with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, made the hairs on the hairs of your arm stand at attention.