THE INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OF COLLEGIATE
A CAPPELLA
DEAR FRIENDS,
Welcome to Varsity Vocals’ 26th season! Our enthusiasm for the art of a cappella is greater than ever after more than a quarter century of presenting the best student groups on stage and in the studio.
Our tournaments have grown from a handful of events to the massive showcase they are today, this year featuring more than 578 groups and 8,772 singers at 77 events across North America and the United Kingdom.
Our original tournament inspired the hit movie "Pitch Perfect", based on the nonfiction book documenting the true story of rival groups competing against each other in our very own ICCA. The "Pitch Perfect" franchise remains the highest-grossing musical series of all time.
Despite the incredible growth and mainstream popularity we’ve enjoyed, our focus remains sharply on the promotion and development of the talent that crosses our stage. We believe competition fosters growth, as groups work together toward a specific goal and cultivate lifelong skills and relationships.
We provide insightful feedback from our highly qualified judges – but more importantly, our singers get to connect with a larger audience from across the country, learning from their peers and finding inspiration in other groups.
Two years ago, our 2020 tournament was sidelined mid-season by the pandemic, and we were unable to crown champions for the first time. In 2021, as a cappella groups were unable to gather to rehearse or perform, we adapted our program by challenging groups to create 4-minute music videos, recorded and edited remotely. The astonishing artistry and skill in these videos is a testament to the adaptability, ingenuity, and determination of our competitors, and we couldn’t be prouder.
This season, we are again challenged by the pandemic, as we attempt to present live events across thousands of miles in an ever-changing COVID landscape. Although some of our events have been postponed or converted to virtual, we are determined to see the season through. Many groups haven’t been able to compete live since 2019 – some students for their entire high school or college career. We are humbled more than ever by the importance of our role in setting the stage for the creation of so much magic.
We have seen a cappella make great strides from where it began on our stage 26 years ago, and we can’t wait to see how our 2022 competitors push the envelope. Committed to promoting our singers and energized by the incredible music they create, we look forward to another memorable season. Thank you for joining us!
Sincerely,
Amanda Newman
Executive Director
ICCA GREAT LAKES QUARTERFINAL
University of Wisconsin
Saturday, February 19, 2022
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ABOUT VARSITY VOCALS
Since 1996, we have encouraged students worldwide to sing a cappella throughout their lives. Our programs include the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA), and the International Championship of A Cappella Open (The Open). We also annually produce The Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) and The Best of High School A Cappella (BOHSA) compilation albums.
Our a cappella competitions give top-notch a cappella groups the opportunity to showcase their talents for an international audience and to take home valuable feedback from our qualified judges. This year, competing groups will appear in venues all around the world, offering their energetic musical performances for your enjoyment.
The college tournament takes place from January through April in nine regions across the country and around the world. Each region holds anywhere from four to five Quarterfinals, and the top groups from each Quarterfinal advance to the Semifinal. The winning group at each Semifinal is named Regional Champion and advances to the ICCA Finals at The Town Hall in New York City on Saturday, April 23rd.
The high school tournament is now in its 17th year. The winners of each of seven Semifinal rounds will advance to the ICHSA Finals at The Town Hall in New York City on Saturday, April 22nd.
The Open Tournament celebrated its third year in summer 2019 and featured six Semifinals that lead to the Open Finals featuring those six Regional Champions, two Wild Card Champions, and our 2019 ICHSA and ICCA Champions. Those 10 groups competed in October 2019 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
For a full tournament schedule, visit us at www.varsityvocals.com/events
ABOUT TONIGHT'S SHOW
The performance order was determined by random draw this afternoon and will be announced from stage.
Tonight’s performers will be evaluated on elements of their vocal and visual performance, which carry numerical weight. The highest and lowest score from the individual judges will be dropped for each group. Our judges may recognize exceptional performances with special awards as they see fit.
There will be a 15-minute intermission. After the final group has performed, a guest performer will entertain you while the scores are tabulated.
Because each group only has ten minutes to perform, we ask you to keep your applause to an enthusiastic minimum between songs. Please feel welcome to applaud as much as you want after each group has finished its set.
Videotaping and non-flash photography for personal use is permitted during the concert, so long as you do not disrupt our performers or other patrons. Due to licensing regulations, we do not provide a video or audio recording of this performance.
TONIGHT'S COMPETITORS
Founded in 2008, The Gold 'n Blues (GnB) is Marquette's first and only co-ed a cappella group on campus.Their humble beginnings consisted of small concerts in the University's cafe, the Brew, but GnB has expanded their scope to reach the rest of Marquette's campus, Milwaukee, and the Midwest. GnB includes a wide variety of undergraduate students with unbreakable bonds and memories that can last a lifetime. GnB currently has several professionally recorded tracks up on their Spotify and Apple Music accounts starting with several Christmas singles released back in 2011. More recently, they released an EP titled Generation in February 2020. GnB hopes to record again soon so that they may continue their track record of creating and immortalizing their music for everyone to hear. GnB made the most of their time during COVID, releasing music videos on the GnB YouTube account of senior songs for the class of 2020. Historically, GnB has never been a competing group, so they are incredibly excited to take the leap and showcase their talents to many more people. They hope you like what they have to show!
Parkside Range is the flagship ensemble of the Contemporary Commercial Music - Voice program at UW-Parkside. This contemporary a cappella group performs songs from popular genres of music. Students have opportunities to write original compositions, arrange pieces and also provide group management and artistic leadership. Founded in 2016, the group has appeared at SoJam’s A Cappella Festival in Durham, N.C. and the National A Cappella Convention (NACC) in Memphis, Tenn. They can also be heard on Acaville Radio. The group has worked with professional clinicians and vocal bands such as Tony Huerta/Sonic Audio, Edge Effect, Six Appeal, Freedom’s Boombox, and Christopher Diaz. They perform on and off campus and provide how-to-a-cappella clinics, such as at The Tall Tales Music Festival in Burlington, Wis. During the summer, they are the host group of A Cappella University, which is an annual camp at UW-Parkside dedicated to teaching middle and high school a cappella singers, and music educators alike. For more information or to book Parkside Range, contact Prof. Ami Bouterse, the Parkside Range Director, at bouterse@uwp.edu.
Pitches and Notes is the University of Wisconsin-Madison's only competitive treble-voiced a cappella group. Pitches and Notes strives to increase a cappella opportunities for upper-voiced musicians on the UW campus, utilize members' talents to bring forth new musical experiences, and foster individual character and musical growth in a group setting. While they primarily specialize in pop, they are open to trying any and all musical styles!
The Enchantments, founded in 2006, is an all-treble a cappella group from the University of Minnesota. They work to inspire female-identifying groups to redefine the standards placed upon them. They enjoy singing pieces from artists of various identities and racial backgrounds, especially those by powerful women.
The Naturals is Marquette University’s premier all-male a cappella group. Founded in 2003 by several guys who simply wanted to get together and sing, they have spent the last 18 years growing and perfecting their craft. The group members hail from vast reaches of the country, with past and current members representing every part of the USA and beyond. Each “Natty” brings something unique to the group that undeniably adds to its energy and vibrancy and their love of performing is clear to anyone who attends their shows. The Naturals also love to compete in ICCA and were Quarterfinal Champions for the first time in 2019! One of the group’s favorite parts of ICCA is singing with other groups and forming new relationships. They are thrilled to be back on the ICCA stage for the 2022 season!
Under A-Rest is an all-gender-inclusive a cappella group composed of students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Under A-Rest or “UAR” is UW-Madison’s only gender inclusive group that competes in ICCA and it is one of their absolute favorite things to do. The members in UAR are all students who love arranging, learning, and performing a cappella music for live audiences! Above all else though, UAR is a family and the group believes that making music together is one of the greatest things in the world!
As the youngest group on the University of Minnesota campus, Urban Sound has brought new competition to the face of the a cappella community. Founded in 2013 by Sarah Creegan, Julia Burke, Keighly Colangelo, Karl Rehfuss, and Jasmine Gorton, Urban Sound is a student-run, gender-inclusive a cappella ensemble at the University of Minnesota. The group provides singers an opportunity to combine their love of singing with meaningful outreach. Urban Sound entertains audiences of both the U of M and Twin Cities area with concerts, events, and benefits. Urban Sound strives to be a part of the community through service and awareness of local issues. Each year, the group selects a charity that they strongly support and a portion of the season's showcase proceeds will go towards this respected foundation.
GUEST PERFORMER
The 18 members of Fundamentally Sound make up the only competitive, lower-voiced a cappella group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Known for their lively personalities, genre-bending arrangements, and engaging performances, Fundamentally Sound performs throughout the UW-Madison campus, the state of Wisconsin, and the greater Midwest. These fine young gentlemen come from various backgrounds, but come together to accomplish a common goal: to make beautiful music and have fun doing it. They compete in ICCA every year and even received 3rd place at Finals this past year. They are incredibly excited to perform here tonight and hope you enjoy their set!
TONIGHT'S JUDGES
Maggie Condon is a music educator currently teaching high school choir in Wauwatosa, Wis. She earned her B.F.A. in music education from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her Master of Music Education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Maggie has directed, served as a clinician, and arranged for many high school a cappella groups, and notably directed the 2019 Great Lakes Semifinals 3rd place group, Graftonics. Outside of a cappella, Maggie teaches and coaches contemporary voice through musical theatre and private lessons. She is thrilled to be joining the outstanding Varsity Vocals team as an adjudicator and looks forward to hearing all the students perform!
Felicia Francois fell in love with a cappella when she became a member of The UNCG Sapphires. After serving as director of that group, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with bachelor’s degrees in vocal performance and choral music education. She worked as a chorus teacher and private voice teacher in Greensboro for four years and then went on to receive a master's degree in speech-language pathology from Boston University. Felicia is now working as a speech-language pathologist with a specialty in voice. She is thrilled to be an ICCA judge once again and wishes the best to all those competing!
Laura Kruschke has been involved in a cappella since her college days at UW-Madison, where she sang with Tangled Up in Blue and earned her degree in music education. In 2007, she participated in launching the Contemporary A Cappella League (CAL) and founded greenTONE A Cappella in fall 2007. gT is 10 members strong today and sings for a variety of local events, including weddings, holiday parties, fundraisers, and flash mobs. In addition to gT, Laura continues to offer her expertise to local high school choirs through workshops and group coaching. In addition to Laura’s aca-involvement, she arranges music for local high school show choir and a cappella groups, sings and plays saxophone in a local band, teaches yoga, and wears many other hats as a mom to three busy school-aged kids.
Stephen Lanza has been referred to many times by his friends as a walking encyclopedia of a cappella music. He graduated from the University of Missouri in spring 2015. As a student, he ran the all-male group Add9 for four and a half years and was a member of Hitt Street Harmony, the contemporary music group through the School of Music, for a year and a half. In summer 2013, Stephen had the privilege of performing alongside “The Sing-Off” contestant Groove For Thought as a vocal percussionist during their exhibition performance at VoCALnation. Currently working as an industrial engineer in the Milwaukee area, Stephen continues his love of a cappella by writing for the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB). He has penned nearly 50 reviews since fall 2015. He is currently the music director for Focus, an extracurricular a cappella group at Port Washington High School and a member of the Chant Claire Chamber Choir.
SPECIAL THANKS
Varsity Vocals would like to recognize and thank Ryan Nolan, Fundamentally Sound, and Joseph Aquino; our judges, hosts, competitors, volunteers, partners, and producers; and you, the audience, for supporting Varsity Vocals programming.
Amanda Newman
Executive Director
Dave Rabizadeh
ICCA Director
Elise Hackl-Blumstein
ICHSA Director
ICHSA Great Lakes Producer
PA/MA Program Coordinator
Andrea Poole
ICHSA Co-Director
Lucy Jacobs
The Open Director
ICCA West Producer
Andrew Poole
Director of Digital Media
Erica Tackett
Director of Marketing & Social Strategy
Emily Flanders
Director of Adjudication
ICCA Great Lakes Producer
Emily Sucher
Director of Publications
Patty Floyd
Accountant
Virginia DeMoss
Album Production Coordinator
Sara Yood
Senior Producer
Holli Kitching
ICCA Mid-Atlantic Producer
Lindsay Howerton-Hastings
ICCA South Producer
Leah Alrutz
ICCA Midwest Producer
Bronwyn Jensen
ICCA Southwest Producer
Gemma Davies
ICCA United Kingdom Producer
Christopher Witham
ICCA United Kingdom Producer
Emily Benjamin
ICCA Northeast Producer
Arvin Zabalerio
ICCA Central Producer
Jillian Kimberlin
ICHSA Mid-Atlantic Producer
Danielle Sutherland
ICHSA Midwest Producer
Jake McVey
ICHSA Northeast Producer
Donald Paradis
ICHSA South Producer
Cameron Clemens
ICHSA West Producer
Courtney Jenson
Associate Producer
Emcee
Ben Garza
ICHSA Southwest Producer
Katherine Mosher
ICHSA South Day-Of Producer
Bri Decerio
ICHSA West Day-Of Producer
Jake Yoakum
ICHSA West Day-Of Producer
OUR TEAM
We have an amazing team of people who work tirelessly to make our programs so valuable for our singers and audiences alike — and they all do it while holding down full-time day jobs, too!
The top two finishing groups will advance to the 2022 ICCA Great Lakes Semifinal.
BRING THE HARMONY HOME
Find your favorite groups on The Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) and The Best of High School A Cappella (BOHSA), available for purchase on Apple Music and Amazon Music!
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