History

The Mad Hatter Chorus is a nonprofit fraternal organization affiliated with the worldwide, 30,000-member Barbershop Harmony Society. Based in Danbury, Connecticut (once the world’s leading hat-manufacturing center), the Mad Hatter Chorus has been singing since 1966. The chorus has had as many as 99 members, and as few as 12. We currently have 33 members, including 27 active singers and 6 who are dual members joining the Mad Hatter Chorus for contest. Our current music director is Joe Hudson.

The Mad Hatter Chorus is a men's chorus singing a capella music in the barbershop style. Some song titles include: Tonight (from West Side Story), I’m Yours (from Jason Mraz), Lag Jaa Gale (from Woh Kuan Thi) and many others. We even do some traditional music including Olatunji’s rendition of Betelehemu.

Our goal is to present quality men's a capella music to an ever growing audience.

We also perform publicly. We sing for civic events, in schools, at senior centers, for shut-ins, and for anyone else who enjoys the kind of music that brings tears, laughter, and joy. Each year, we produce an annual show. And once or twice a year we compete on stage with other barbershoppers from around the United States and Canada.

It’s not just the music…

…that brings us together, but the fun and fulfillment of meeting friends from all walks of life. Current members range in age from 22 to 85 and include a pediatrician, a tennis coach, a software entrepreneur, a CPA, a high-school principal, a philatelist, an insurance-fraud investigator, a math teacher, an oil-company executive, a landscaper, a hospital credit manager, a college student, a chemical engineer, a life-support technologist, a science teacher, a nuclear-power engineer, a gymnastics coach, a drug-company executive, two real-estate agents—and lots more.