The audience holds their breath, waiting for the announcement of the Bowie’s Got Talent (BGT) winner, then the theatre erupts with cheering, confetti rains down on the winning group, smiles taking over their faces as the four boys are presented with their prize.
The Four Corners Quartet, an a cappella singing group, won BGT 2026 after being named first runner up the previous year. The group is made up of seniors Aidan Schexnaydre, Gavin Sewell, Dylan Shahid-Russel, and junior Spencer Findley.
“Honestly, it felt incredible to win, but knowing that there were so many other amazing performances makes this experience just all the more meaningful,” Findley said. “I am happy because the performance brought us together again and I hope it leads to more performances of ours in the future.”
The group was founded last year, when they created their iconic style and look. The quartet can be found wearing formal attire, always adorned with their straw hats. They also sing classic hits that are popular across multiple generations of audience members.
“We often choose songs from the 50’s, as that was when Barbershop Quartets were popular,” Schexnaydre said. “But we also always include “Life Could be a Dream” in our medleys, because that’s the song that founded the quartet. Dylan and I started singing the song for fun, and whenever we would sing around Gavin he would add a high harmony. When we heard about BGT last year we needed a fourth, and Spencer was more than happy to join us.”
Each member of the group gets to lead a song of their choice, in which the group will write their own harmonies into. The quartet started rehearsing a few weeks before the competition, where they spend hours in the practice rooms fine tuning volume, pitch, and an assortment of other factors.
“The majority of the songs I arrange myself using this app called BandLab,” Sewell said. “I record my voice over itself multiple times, and usually I have to go over to a piano to find the rest of the harmonies. Keeping all the harmonies in your head is definitely a challenge, but arranging harmonies is one of my favorite things and I’m overjoyed I get to put it to use.”
All four of them are actively involved in musical theatre, which allows them the freedom to switch who sings the high or low harmonies. They also get consistent practice throughout the year through musicals and vocal lessons so that they can improve independently.
“We have a lot of fun working together throughout the year and seeing how we’ve all improved vocally apart from the quartet,” Shahid-Russel said. “A funny memory was when each of us were doing our songs and I had a generational voice crack that ended our entire run because we couldn’t stop laughing for so long.”
After the Four Corners had their debut at BGT last year, they have experienced an influx in requests for their performances. The group’s participation in BGT this year was requested by Student Council sponsor Alejandro Garcia, and the boys have multiple other performances lined up for later this year as well.
“I thought they were incredible last year, because we last had a barbershop quartet perform back in 2017 so it was a cool talent to showcase once again,” Garcia said. “It was really cool to see how the runner up from last year came back stronger to win the competition this year, I could tell they really had fun.”
The quartet will perform at the Starlight Theatre Company’s end of year banquet (STARS), as well as being invited to perform in the Joy Act Club’s musical theatre revue for senior centers. The group rehearses during their free time to prepare for these end of year events, as this is their first year being invited to join forces with Joy Act.
“The club asked the quartet to perform because we hoped it would bring joy to the senior citizens,” senior vice president of the Joy Act Club Hailey Davidson said. “The quartet is special because of how unique it is; the singers, not using any backing tracks and doing music themselves, making their performance both impressive and interactive.”
As the 2025-2026 school year comes to a close, the quartet will be losing three out of their four members. Findley has the support of the rest of the quartet to continue their legacy and keep performing if he can find members, but nothing specific has been decided yet.
“The only reason we keep the quartet going is because we love it so much,” Sewell said. “So, I really hope Spencer continues the quartet because he is one of the most musically talented people I have ever worked with. I can’t wait to see what he does.”
The Four Corners Quartet expressed sadness about leaving Bowie behind, but the group will have had five performances before the year is over. Leaving behind one member to continue the legacy and a group of people who have enjoyed many of their performances.
“We’ve all really been able to connect through our appreciation for classical singing,” Shahid-Russel said. “There’s something to be said about the bond that’s made from working hard together to put something together for other people to come and watch for the overall benefit of promoting music.”
