Wisconsin Show Choirs Aim for Another Step Forward in 2026
- William Soquet
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief
It’s safe to say that 2025 was a step forward for the Wisconsin show choir scene. After a 2024 season where Badger State groups scored only 10 wins (16 competitions happened within state lines) and were beaten by nearly every major out-of-state ensemble that dropped by, Wisconsin’s show choirs held their ground in 2025. The state’s show choirs put 12 Grand Championships on the board - Onalaska led the tally with five, De Pere and La Crosse each chipped in two, and Monona Grove, Reedsburg, and Sparta all hit the win column once.
Sure, the number of victories increased, but the manner in which they were acquired were just as impressive. La Crosse took a split-caption decision over Missouri giant Troy Buchanan at Milton for its first win as a combined program. Onalaska dispatched a resurgent Totino-Grace program twice in January to cement its dominance. De Pere got rid of a half-decade of bad Monona Grove luck with a statement vocals/choreo win over Iowa City 4th Avenue Jazz Company. The state’s top groups, who may have appeared shaky in 2024, are now back on track to throw haymakers with the heavyweights that enter their territory.
The growth went beyond just the groups that hit the win column, as well. New London started the season off with a second at Tomah and followed that up with a run of four more podium finishes (plus a finals berth at a crowded Sauk Prairie competition) in what may be tabbed a generational year for Vision. Milton, a Wisconsin legacy program that now had its feet steady after personnel turnover that defined the early post-pandemic years, looked like its historical self, making finals at Onalaska, placing second at De Pere, and representing Wisconsin in central Illinois. Neenah, featured in the “Who’s got something to prove?” section of this very column a year ago, certainly proved itself. Vintage 2025 tallied a trio of runner-up finishes across a five-competition season.
Outside of the rough top ten, things are just as hot as ever. Holmen narrowly lost the win at Sparta in 2025 to Monona Grove, but their 2026 campaign will feature only three in-state appearances. Preble was fourth and fifth in its home northeast competitions, and they will be returning to both this season. Plymouth made finals at De Pere for the first time in five tries in 2025, and Momentum will be going to Waukee Northwest in what will be arguably the biggest trip in the group’s history. A familiar cast of characters in both varsity mixed and prep are ready to go in the northwest as well.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Wisconsin season without a little shuffling of the competition schedule to throw an extra bit of spice into the upcoming campaign. Onalaska and New London will both host on Jan. 17, with Singstock moving up a weekend from its usual position. Milton, Altoona, and Sparta will share a date on Jan. 24, while Sauk Prairie is now the only contest on a usually-loaded last weekend of January. Medford made a temporary move up the calendar to host the same day as Monona Grove (Feb. 21), leaving no competitions on Feb. 28. Green Bay Southwest is back on the calendar for Mar. 14 after a year off, and West Salem will not host this year after a five-year run.
What’s Changed?
After a director change midseason last year, Hannah Ramsey will return for what will amount to season 1.5 leading Hamilton Synergy.
Elizabeth Brockwell retired from leading Milton Octave Above. Recent UW-Madison graduate Audrey Ferrero is now directing the group.
Leeya Nolan is now director of Green Bay East Rhapsody in Red, replacing Julian Sieber.
The Janesville Craig Spotlighters have enlisted the choreography services of Michael Stanek, taking the place of Shane Coe.
Green Bay Southwest Spotlight Singers are back on the competition scene after a one-year hiatus. The group will compete in the prep division at Sauk Prairie, De Pere, La Crosse, and Monona Grove. The group’s choreographers are recent Miami University (Ohio) graduate Liv Warner and the Chicago-based Liam Flynn.
Also returning to the competition scene after a year away is Westosha Central Central Swing Inc. The ensemble is on the De Pere lineup, and while plans aren’t known beyond that, it wouldn’t be a shock to see them at any southeastern competition.
Moving up to the varsity division is Bay Port Pandemonious after a very successful run in prep last year.
Who’s on the rise?
Perhaps an obvious pick, but Sparta Upstage Adrenaline continues its meteoric rise from a prep group immediately post-pandemic to a group that is one of the top five in the state. Upstage repeated as champions at Janesville Craig to end the season, this time over a much deeper field than in 2024. Now entering its tenth competitive season in the 21st century, Sparta’s leadership team has chosen a robust and challenging competition schedule that includes a traditionally tough Onalaska Classic, a bout with Hastings, Sioux City East and Waconia at Bloomington Kennedy, and a bout with Mt. Zion and Troy Buchanan at El Paso-Gridley.
A group that had a quiet, consistent, and successful season was the Chippewa Falls Chi-Hi Harmonics. Chi-Hi made finals at three of its four competition appearances in 2025, equalling its total from 2023 and 2024 combined. In addition, its runner-up placement at Eau Claire Memorial was its highest since since 2007, where it placed second at both Colby and the Grand River Showcase. Chippewa Falls’ 2026 competition schedule is identical to its 2025 schedule, and a season-ending showdown at Medford will be a prime opportunity for another great result.
Monona Grove Silver Dimension scored its first finals appearance in, well, probably ever at Sparta on February 1 in only the group’s second season in its post-pandemic revival. Silver D appears to have kept the momentum going in the offseason, as it will leave the ranks of the state’s womens groups and join the ranks of the state’s mixed prep groups. In an era when second mixed groups from a school are few and far between in Wisconsin, picking up another one is a welcome sign of progress.
Who has something to prove this season?
A January with no finals appearances in three competitions turned into a February with a win, a third and a sixth for the Reedsburg Choraliers. That win at Eau Claire Memorial, only the third in program history, showed the potential of what the ensemble can do. Reedsburg has a January filled with deep lineups again this year, but a Choraliers choir clicking on all cylinders can definitely be a finals-round contender at some of the most competitive events in the state. It will be up to them to both start strong and finish strong this season.
After tallying a combined eight finals appearances between them in 2024, Mayville Cardinal Singers and Fort Atkinson South High Street Singers only combined for three finals appearances in 2025. This pair of legacy programs now find themselves in similar spots after getting mired in many ultracompetitive lineups last season. While neither group has publicly released a competition schedule, both Mayville and Fort need to be right in the fight, both in larger competitions and smaller competitions, to prove that they are still groups that need to be thought about and reckoned with.
It’s a “coming of age” year for two groups in the prep division: Medford Momentum and Drummond Jack Attack. The 2026 competition season will be the fourth for both groups (technically seventh for Medford, but fourth in its current iteration), and that means that both groups now have the opportunity to have both upperclassmen who have been around competitive show choir their entire time in high school and an enthusiastic core of underclassmen. Look for the best shows yet out of these two growing programs.
What competitions are looking good this year?
Jan. 10: The Holmen Gathering is once again serving as a regional kickoff to show choir season. Eight of Wisconsin’s varsity programs, including Onalaska, Sparta, Sauk Prairie and Neenah, will do battle with two out-of-state programs: South St. Paul from Minnesota and Waukee Northwest from Iowa. The early-season test against elite Midwest competition will serve Onalaska well for later in the season (more on that later).
Jan. 31: Some schedule reshuffling this year has left the Sauk Prairie Music Show Choir Invitational as the only contest on a weekend that has traditionally held up to three. As a result, 18 groups will descend upon The Land of the Original Culver’s to grab some momentum heading into February. Onalaska will compete at Sauk for the first time since 2012; they will face last year’s returning finalists Dwight D. Eisenhower and New London plus Iowa City West’s Minecraft show and more.
Feb. 7: In a battle that lacks top-end power but is one of the more even toss-ups at this point in the preseason, Destination De Pere: Let’s Jam will feature a field of choirs that has a combined three wins in the past four seasons. In alphabetical order, Milton, Monona Grove, Neenah and New London all have a fighting chance at the top spot on the podium for a season-defining triumph.
Feb. 21: Conveniently placed in the state’s capital and positioned towards the end of the competition season, Monona Grove Silver Stage will be a packed event once again. Even without a schedule release, close to a dozen choirs are already confirmed to attend. It will serve as a de facto northeast championship, as De Pere, New London, Neenah, Preble, and Green Bay Southwest will all be in competition that day.
Mar. 7: A marquee top-end matchup awaits at the Janesville Craig Spotlight Spectacular. Onalaska will be at Craig for the first time in the history of the Spotlight Spectacular, and they will clash with Wheaton Warrenville South The Classics, who finished last season ranked number 12 in the country. If Onalaska can prevail, it would be a crowning achievement for Hilltopper.