Dr. John Markel

John took over leading the Bay Country Gentlemen in August 2018. He joined the Dundalk Chapter of the SPEBSQSA (now the Barbershop Harmony Society) in 1975 and immediately started quartet singing. He has sung in various Division quartet winners and made the Mid-Atlantic District Quartet final round three times. In 2015, his quartet Susquehanna Flats was the District Seniors Quartet Champions.

John has previously directed the Hanover, Pa., Carroll County and Baltimore, Md. Chapters, winning two Small Chorus Division championships. He has a vision to take a step back into our Society’s history and move the Harford County Chapter forward by renewing the Society Founders’ original concept of the pure joy, fun and fellowship of ringing those barbershop sevenths. He says, “It should be fun, or why do it?”

John works as a dentist in Millersville, Md. He is married to Robin and lives in the White Marsh, Md. area. His hobbies include golf, photography, and writing, but he really misses driving airplanes. He is a member of the BHS and SPPBSQSUS.