About Us

3 Men & A Tenor is an A Cappella quartet based in Perth, WA. They formed in early 2007 with the intent of going to the 2007 National Barbershop Convention which they went on to do quite successfully in, receiving silver in the Nationals Youth section. They recently competed again in September last year and not only took out the gold medal in the youth section, but also the Audience Favourite Award and the bronze medal in the open division, putting them in the top three quartets in Australia!

They may compete in barbershop competitions, but their musical repertoire is by no means limited only to the barbershop style. Other genres include jazz, pop, folk and the occasional a cappella arrangement of rock ballads.

Each member of the quartet has had many years of musical experience, both on their individual instruments and also in other vocal groups such as the WA Youth Chorale and Vocal Evolution (Australia's national gold medal men's chorus). As a quartet, they have been featured performers at functions such as the WA Youth Awards, and for corporate giant BHP Billiton. The quartet are waiting on notification of whether they have been accepted to perform at the Fairbridge Festival next year, and, having won the gold medal in the youth category in Australia, 3 Men & A Tenor have been invited to compete at the international youth competition in America in July 2010.

A little about each of us:

Mark Coso (Lead):

Mark graduated from Perth Modern School in 2006 and Mark is currently in his final year of study at Curtin University of Technology, from which he hopes to graduate with a bachelor of chemical engineering. In his high school years, Mark was part of numerous musical ensembles as a singer and playing the Double Bass. Today, he is waiting for a good opportunity to play his bass, but is still a keen singer. As well as singing with 3 Men and a Tenor, Mark sang at the 2009 national Barbershop competition as part of gold medal winning groups such as chorus Vocal Evolution and youth chorus Off Campus.

Email: cozbass@msn.com

Jeremy de Vries Turnell (Baritone):

Jeremy attended Perth Modern School as a singer. He was involved with all the school’s vocal groups and upon graduating in 2005, joined Vocal Evolution and the WA Youth Chorale in 2006. It was only through Jeremy being invited to join the chorus that Mark and Adam joined the following year, and hence that 3 Men & A Tenor was formed. Jeremy is currently in his final year of Film at Murdoch University.

Email: jdvt@mac.com

Adam Brockway (Bass):

After learning piano for a short time, Adam began studying the violin at the age of 6. In 2003, he won the WAYO scholarship and joined the WAYO Philharmonic, which he co-lead for two years before moving onto the West Australian Youth Orchestra itself in 2005. In 2006 he graduated from Perth Modern School and received the award for the Most Outstanding Instrumental Student.
Adam joined Vocal Evolution in 2007 and formed the quartet 3 Men & A Tenor soon after. Adam also plays violin in Panforte, a string trio and soprano combination, and in the Hyde String Quartet. Adam was appointed as the Assistant Musical Director of Vocal Evolution at the end of 2008.
In the first year of his degree at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, he won the Faith Court Award for “the most outstanding first year violinist”. Upon completing his Bachelor of Music (Violin Performance Major) Adam plans to further develop his choral conducting skills at the Kodály Institute in Hungary. To see other groups that Adam performs with, please visit www.ambrosiaensembles.com.au

Email: a_brockway@me.com

And the one and only... Lionel Pierson (Yep, the Tenor):

Lionel graduated from Churchlands SHS in 2007 and is currently undertaking studies at the University of Western Australia. He enjoys the challenge that it is to combine Music Performance and Civil Engineering studies. After having completed 2 years towards his double degree, he still has another 4 to go!

On the musical side of things, Lionel is a percussion student, part of the Perth based percussion ensemble Defying Gravity – directed by Tim White. He is also involved with the university’s orchestra and choir, which have already produced such works as Orff’s Carmina Burana and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. In 2010, Lionel will also join the WA Youth Orchestra as percussionist. Finally, there is nothing that Lionel loves more than singing, as is reflected by his membership of 3 Men and a Tenor as well as leading Australian Barbershop chorus Vocal Evolution and another barbershop quartet Refridgerator.

In 2009, Lionel performed with the WA Charity Orchestra, (WACO) which raised over $20,000 for Princess Margaret Hospital for Children over 3 concerts between January 2008 and December 2009. In 2009 also, Lionel received a Wesley Instrumentalist Scholarship, which saw him perform for the Perth Wesley Church throughout the year, both as solo percussionist and as part of 3 Men and a Tenor.

Lionel aspires to be a famous orchestral conductor, touring the world spreading the beautiful noise that is music. Until then, he enjoys his musical journey and will build bridges with his spare time.