Panda Ring

A FOND FAREWELL FROM PANDA RING

When the four of us first started singing together back in 2022, the goal was to see if we could qualify for international once. Three of us had never made it to the International Quartet Contest, and we wanted to see if we could fulfill that dream. We were elated to accomplish that feat, but even then we had no plan to continue long-term. But in the lead-up to that International, we agreed that we were having so much fun making music and spending time together that we wanted to keep going, wherever the ride might take us.

It’s been a great ride since then. We’ve competed at International three times, we’ve won and lost steak bets with each other, we’ve had a blast with our Broadway & Barbershop collaborations, we’ve watched basketball together, we’ve sung at Midwinter, we’ve supported each other through great and terrible times in life, we’ve sung at our friends’ weddings and engagements, we’ve supported and been supported by our choruses, we’ve learned a lot, and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way.

But as our lives have changed, we’ve realized that it’s time for the ride to end. Despite our attempts to deny it, it’s become clear over the last several months that the four of us can’t give the quartet the time we need to in order to accomplish our goals. It’s been a hard realization to come to because we love making music together and, more importantly, we love being together. But we have so much gratitude for the time we’ve spent together, and we are so proud of the music we’ve made over the last three and a half years. We know our friendships will stay very strong, and we're certain that our group chat will stay very active.

We want to thank everyone who’s been part of this ride with us. Thank you to our coaches who pushed us to grow, especially Allen Otto, Ryan Wisniewski, Steve Scott, Ben Shively, and Blair Brown; to our choruses, Space City Sound and The Houston Tidelanders, for supporting us every step along the way; to Eric Horn, who helped get things started as our original tenor way back in 2019; to Heather Cryer (Custom Quartet Stuff) for creating our logo and merch; to all of our Fandas (especially if you bought a shirt - we love seeing you wear our stuff!); to our friends and family; and most importantly, to Lisa, Liz, and Sarah for your love and support.

This Saturday we will be making our farewell performance as part of Lightyear 10 - Space City Sound 10th Anniversary Concerts. We are really excited to perform one more time (well, technically two more times) in support of the chorus that’s been there for us from the very beginning. Our first performance together was on a Space City Sound show, and it’s only fitting that our last performance will be too. We’d love to see you there.

Love to all of you, from Patrick, Zach, Daniel and Robby - Panda Ring

Who needs rehearsals when you can just go watch basketball instead??

Come see us on Saturday!!