2023 ICCA Mid-Atlantic Quarterfinal @ The College of New Jersey

DEAR FRIENDS,

Welcome to Varsity Vocals’ 27th 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 610 groups and over 9,100 singers at 85 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 cinematic 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.

We have seen a cappella make great strides from where it began on our stage 27 years ago, and we can’t wait to see how our 2023 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 MID-ATLANTIC QUARTERFINAL

The College of New Jersey
Saturday, January 28th, 2023

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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 29th.

The high school tournament is now in its 18th 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 28th.

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

Casual Harmony is Rutgers University-New Brunswick's premier all-male a cappella entertainment group, ranging from the voices of bass to countertenor, for the purpose of performance, competition, and music education. They aim to serve the RU community, as well as the local, national, and international scenes, and to provide musical enrichment for members of the group. They sing a wide variety of arrangements, but focus mainly on R&B and pop songs. They are especially proud of the fact that all of their arrangements are curated in-house.

Founded in 2002, Rutgers Asian A Cappella Group (RAAG) is one of the first competitive co-ed South Asian fusion a cappella groups in the nation. They specialize in combining the styles of Bollywood and Indian classical music with pop, R&B, and western classical music. The team takes pride in its members' diverse musical backgrounds! RAAG has developed an environment in which its singers and audiences get to experience a melting pot of musicality. Throughout the year, the team travels across the nation to compete and perform, professionally records music, and hosts shows at their home campus, Rutgers University.

Created in 2016 by Molly McDonald and Danny Logan Eyerman, Rowan Vocals (RoVo) has been Rowan University's select SATB competitive a cappella group. RoVo advanced to ICCA Semifinals in its debut year and participated ever since. RoVo placed 3rd at ICCA Quarterfinals for three consecutive years, receiving Outstanding Vocal Percussion in 2021, due to the excellence of current vocal percussionist, Frank Ziegler, and Outstanding Choreography in 2022, thanks to the creative genius of soprano Maddie Herquet. Since its creation, RoVo has grown tremendously and has performed in various venues off and on campus. One of RoVo's greatest gigs on campus is RAHcappella, a night of a cappella co-hosted by RoVo and Profecy, Rowan University's tenor/bass group, also featuring neighboring a cappella groups. RoVo performs a variety of genres including funk, pop, rock, and alternative. When not performing, RoVo enjoys goofing around and sharing laughs together. RoVo has a recent influx of new voices and they are excited to share their new sound at this year’s ICCA.

The Deaftones is the premier co-ed a cappella group from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. The Deaftones originated at Westminster Choir College in 2008 and defined the college experience for many students. The Deaftones’ sound has major choral influences due to the institution’s rich history training classical musicians. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Westminster Choir College suddenly left its home in Princeton, N.J. and moved to the Rider University campus. They moved through the stages of grief as a splintered community, and The Deaftones became a cherished Westminster tradition that helped them cope with the change and bring the unique spirit of Westminster to their new home. The current group includes members from the greater Rider University community from majors spanning the performing arts. The Deaftones have developed an appreciation for the new opportunities they received to forge bonds through music. The group is now stronger than ever and has become a home for students from all corners of the Rider University community. This year, The Deaftones are taking the ICCA stage to show the world they are “Carrying On.”

The Trentones was founded in 2002 by a group of passionate students with a shared love of a cappella music. The Trentones have hosted workshops with middle schools and high schools all over New Jersey and regularly perform at weddings, engagement parties, event receptions, ICHSA deliberations, and even had the amazing opportunity to open for the Grammy-winning group, Pentatonix. The Trentones take pride in their musicianship and the members who make it possible with their diverse backgrounds and wide range of interests. Their mission is to foster growth, friendship, musicality, leadership, and love through their shared passion of performing a cappella music.

Vocal Point is the University of Delaware's most decorated competitive a cappella group! They have competed in the ICCA competition many times, making it to Semifinals eight times, and placing 3rd overall in Finals back in 2014! Vocal Point is a group of fun-loving friends who enjoy singing together and hanging out! Check out their music on Apple Music, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms. Vocal Point loves to travel to the campuses of neighboring a cappella groups to perform and build their aca-family (shoutout to UMD's Faux Paz). This year marks 25 wonderful years of Vocal Point! They hope you enjoy their set! #VPOD

The Willharmonics is the only competitive a cappella group on campus at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. They currently have 13 members, with three members on each voice part and one vocal percussionist. While the majority of group members are music majors, they welcome any student of the university. They select and perform a variety of student-arranged musical selections, from a variety of styles, such as pop, classic rock, hip-hop, alternative, and R&B. This competition season will be The Willharmonics' first since the pandemic. Their advisor, Dr. Christopher Herbert, is a two-time Grammy nominee in the Chamber Music/Small Ensemble category, and he is a Gramophone Award Finalist in the field of early music. For 10 years, he recorded and toured extensively with his ensemble, New York Polyphony. The group’s executive board consists of a president (Eva Tobin), vice president (Andie Baldwin), secretary (Nicole Parente), treasurer (Shay Ghaurab), and public relations chair (Jessica Tozzi).

TONIGHT'S JUDGES

Jenna Camacho is a passionate music educator in the School District of Philadelphia, with a specialization in a cappella and vocal performance. Jenna graduated from Temple in the spring of 2022 with a B.M. in music education and a minor in American Sign Language. She continues to share her love of a cappella and vocal music with her students. She has an expansive musical background, most recently serving as the music director of Cape Harmony, Cape Cod’s professional female a cappella group from 2020-2022. Jenna is excited to give back to Varsity Vocals, since this organization helped inspire her love for a cappella. She has competed in the ICCA with Singchronize, Temple University’s female a cappella group, as well as the mixed group, LEGEND which placed 3rd in the Open Semifinal. Jenna is a known arranger in the Mid-Atlantic region for high school and collegiate level a cappella groups. She also participated in the Varsity Vocals production assistant program where she had the chance to experience the Mid-Atlantic ICHSA from a different perspective.

Kevin DeLisa is a charismatic, well-rounded vocal educator with a bachelor's degree in music education from Ithaca College and a master’s degree in music and music education from Columbia University. He has taught in a wide variety of musical spaces throughout his young career, allowing for a sense of diversity in educational thought. Kevin’s pedagogy for music education through an instrumental, vocal, and theoretical basis provide a high level of musicianship, community, and performance abilities for all of his students. Kevin has also been nationally recognized for his vocal and a cappella arrangements, with accolades from the ICCA in 2018 and winning a Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (CARA) for Best Male Collegiate Arrangement in 2021. He has written over 90 vocal arrangements for multiple collegiate, professional, and high school ensembles, all of which return with high praise of engraving, voice leading and enjoyment. His writing style focuses on cohesion of line for the performers, without sacrificing intrigue and emotional development for the audience.

An instrumentalist for most of his early life, Christopher Hoffman found his calling in vocal music as a member (and eventual president) of Hofstra University's Sigma'cappella. He helped bring the group to ICCA Semifinals twice in its first three years of competition, and earned individual awards on the way for Outstanding Arrangement. During this time, he began arranging for and collaborating with various professional, collegiate, and high school groups, and has continued in this work since graduation. Christopher helped SingStrong coordinate collegiate talent for its inaugural New York festival, and has worked with The Vocal Company’s marketing team. He currently lives on Long Island where he spends his free time working with high school a cappella groups.

Kevin Kelso is a jack-of-all-trades singer and freelance a cappella arranger, entering into his 14th year of the a cappella music world. He is an alumnus of the University of Delaware, where he served as president of The MelUDees. During his time in the group, The MelUDees won their 2016 Quarterfinal and went on to perform at the Kimmel Center for Semifinals. Post-college, Kevin arranged and performed with In the Mix, a post-grad a cappella group. In 2018, he founded a new group called The Philly Accents with some UD alumni and local singers. You can find several solos/arrangements of Kevin’s on music streaming platforms under The MelUDees or The Philly Accents. Kevin has attended over a decade's worth of ICCA shows and he’s excited to give his feedback to all of these hardworking groups of musicians. He would also like to wish broken legs to all of the performers!

Thomas Paster is the director of vocal music at Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, N.J. He is the director of Highlands Voices, which is currently being featured on Lifetime’s “Pitch Slapped.” The group has won the National A Cappella Convention (NACC) Championship, was ICHSA National Champion in 2014, and won the ICHSA Mid-Atlantic Semifinals numerous times. Thomas has been an adjunct professor of music at Kean University and William Paterson University and received his B.M. from Ithaca College and M.S. from the University of Scranton. Thomas is an active composer/arranger and writes arrangements for numerous a cappella groups. He is proud to be the N.J. rep for the A Cappella Education Association.

SPECIAL THANKS

Varsity Vocals would like to recognize and thank 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
PA/MA Program Coordinator

Lucy Jacobs
The Open Director
ICCA West Producer

Emily Flanders
Director of Adjudication
ICCA Great Lakes Producer

Andrew Poole
Director of Digital Media

Erica Tackett
Director of Marketing
& Social Strategy

Emily Sucher
Director of Publications

Sara Yood
Senior Producer

Holli Kitching
ICCA Mid-Atlantic Producer

Lindsay Howerton-Hastings
ICCA South Producer

Arvin Zabalerio
ICCA Central 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

Jillian Kimberlin
ICHSA Mid-Atlantic Producer

Danielle Sutherland
ICHSA Midwest Producer

Jake McVey
ICHSA Northeast Producer

Cameron Clemens
ICHSA West Producer

Ben Garza
ICHSA Southwest Producer

Luke Thomas
ICHSA South Producer

Adam McNeil
ICHSA Great Lakes Producer

Nicole Kholweiss
ICCA Central Day-Of Producer

Courtney Jenson
Associate Producer
Emcee Extraordinaire

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 placing groups at this event will advance to the 2023 ICCA Mid-Atlantic 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!

VIEW ALBUMS

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