BALTIMORE, Md. — History was made with nothing more than four voices. Baltimore-based quartet GQ recently became the first all-women group to win the Barbershop Harmony Society International Quartet Championship, breaking a barrier in an organization that spent decades as an all-male society.
For nearly 15 years, the four women have gathered to do something increasingly rare in today’s music industry. They sing. No backing tracks. No Auto-Tune. No elaborate production. Just four voices blending together to tell a story.
For Amanda Sandroni, one of the quartet’s founding members, the championship was never simply about winning.
“If you’re going onstage and you’re singing to get a score and to win, that’s fine,” Sandroni told The BayNet. “But what really matters is using your voice to help other people have an experience, bring up a memory or feel something.”
That mindset, she believes, is what ultimately carried GQ to the biggest moment in the quartet’s history.
More Than Performers
Away from the stage, three of the quartet’s four members spend their weekdays in Maryland classrooms.
Sandroni teaches elementary music. Fellow member Samantha Tramack also teaches elementary music, while Ali Hauger has spent more than a decade teaching kindergarten. Their lives are split between rehearsals, performances, lesson plans and helping young students discover a love for music.
For Sandroni, those two worlds have always strengthened one another.
“The teaching has helped the singing, and the singing has helped the teaching,” she said.
Every school year begins the same way. She shows her students a video of GQ performing. Not to impress them, but to show them what’s possible.
“I want to show my students what is possible,” she said. “People say you can’t be successful as a musician. It is hard, but I think it’s important for kids to see that if you can dream it and put the work into it, it’s possible.”
For many of her students, seeing their music teacher perform on an international stage changes the way they see both music and themselves.
“If she can do it,” Sandroni said, “then maybe they believe they can too.”
A Different Kind Of Victory
GQ entered this year’s championship ranked near the top of the field but without expectations.
Their goal was simple: sing music they loved, connect with people and let everything else take care of itself.
When second place was announced during the awards ceremony, the quartet exchanged uncertain looks.
Then came the announcement that changed everything.
GQ had won.
“It was like an out-of-body experience,” Sandroni said. “Euphoria, but also shock.”
The victory carried extra significance.
The Barbershop Harmony Society opened its membership to all singers in 2018, and women first became eligible to compete internationally just a few years later. After finishing fourth in 2022 and fifth in 2025, GQ returned this year to become the first all-women quartet to claim the championship.
“To be able to represent the society as the first women is such a gift,” Sandroni said. “It’s something we’ll never take for granted.”
Singing Through Life
Behind the championship was a year that reminded the quartet what truly matters.
One member welcomed a baby just months before the competition. A week before traveling to the championship, Sandroni learned she had a blood clot in her leg.
Instead of distracting them, those moments reshaped the way they approached the performance.
“It really made us think about how life is so fragile,” she said. “It put everything into perspective.”
Suddenly, the pressure of winning felt much smaller than the opportunity to stand together on that stage. The quartet stopped worrying about scores. Instead, they focused on sharing music that reflected who they were and everything life had taught them along the way.
“I think we were able to channel those emotions into our singing,” Sandroni said.
Carrying The Music Forward
For Sandroni, making history is only part of GQ’s legacy.
Years ago, the quartet wrote down its goals. Winning a championship wasn’t at the top of the list. Inspiring young singers was.
“We’re real people,” Sandroni said. “We have families, and we care about this art form. We care about sharing it with everyone.”
Today, little girls regularly approach the quartet after performances for photos, hugs and encouragement.
As the mother of a five-year-old daughter, those moments have taken on even greater meaning.
“I hope in her eyes, I’m showing her, ‘Wow, Mommy did it, and that means I can do it too,'” Sandroni said.
That, more than the trophy itself, is what GQ hopes people remember.
Not simply that four women became champions, but that they helped open another door for the young singers who will follow them.
“At one time, women couldn’t compete,” Sandroni said. “Now they can, and we’re proof of that.”
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