Our History

The Great Northern Union Chorus (GNU) was chartered as a chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society as part of the Land o’ Lakes District in 1986.  We won our first regional championship that same year.  Since then, we have appeared on the BHS International Chorus Contest stage more than 20 times and placed in the top ten each time, including 12 top five medalist finishes and two silver medals.

For 35 years, our goal was for men to use exquisite harmony to cooperate unselfishly and express their authentic selves.  Our typical annual calendar included spring and holiday concerts, tours of greater Minnesota, youth outreach workshops, charitable appearances and barbershop singing contests.

In January 2020, a global search led us to hire Mo Field, the first openly gay, gender-fluid woman to direct a high-level BHS male chorus, as our Artistic and Musical Director.  With Mo, we embarked on a deeply reflective visioning process, and realized that our greater purpose is to use harmony as a healing practice and connector for all individuals and communities.

A new vision is born: Harmony In Union With Humanity.