Shumway, John

Arranger and tenor from California who started out with the Piedmont Children’s Choir in a tour of the Far East. He attended Brigham Young University, Harvard, and UC-Berkeley.

While at BYU, he participated in the Men’s Chorus; While at Harvard, he sang with the Harvard Din & Tonics, the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus, The Harvard University Choir, and VoxJazz. In 2000, he appeared on the HUC yuletide offering, Christmas in the Busch.

At UC-Berkeley, he performed with the Chamber Chorus and the Men’s Octet. The Chamber Chorus tackled some pretty big projects such as Carmina Burana and the U.S. premiere of King Arthur: A Dramatick Opera.

In recent years, he has been active with two very different groups, Polyhymnia and the West Side 5. Polyhymnia specializes in Renaissance music, whereas the West Side 5 is an a cappella jazz ensemble.

The Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch in New York is where you can usually find Polyhymnia, performing music by composers such as Heinrich Isaac, Orlande de Lassus, Clemens non Papa, and Ludwig Senfl.

The West Side 5 has haunted venues such as the Alphabet Lounge and the Everett Library Café at Columbia University. It is comprised of alumni of VoxJazz, a similar ensemble they performed in at Harvard.

Harvard University Choir recordings
Adeste Fidelis (Frederick Oakeley/John Francis Wade)
Pro Organo CD 7134 (Christmas in the Busch)
Conductor – Murray Forbes Somerville
Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra
Director – Robert Mealy
The Harvard Brass
Soprano – Awet Andemichael
Bass – Mark Risinger
Organists – Erica Johnson and Edward Jones

Sources:

Shumway, John

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