The BHS
The Barbershop Harmony Society is the world’s largest all-male singing Society, with 22,000 members across North America. Affiliated men’s and women’s organizations in more than a dozen countries bring the total number of active singers to more than 80,000 worldwide.
Through active programs in music education, publishing, performance, and outreach, the Society preserves and extends the reach of a uniquely American close harmony musical art form whose roots lie in African-American improvisation and European harmony traditions.
Founded in 1938 as the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. (SPEBSQSA), the Society now expends $1.3 million annually in support of community and school programs that bring the fellowship, fulfillment, and excitement of vocal music to a new generation of singers.
The Society relocated its headquarters to the heart of Nashville in 2007, and has established powerful relationships in the civic and education communities. Belmont University in Nashville is home for the Society’s flagship annual education event, Harmony University, and in 2016 and 2017, the Barbershop Harmony Society was recognized by the Nashville Business Journal as one of its Best Places To Work.