2024 ICCA Midwest Semifinal @ Harrison High School

DEAR FRIENDS,

Welcome to Varsity Vocals’ 28th 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 650 groups and over 10,000 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 28 years ago and we can’t wait to see how our 2024 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 MIDWEST SEMIFINAL

Harrison High School
Saturday, March 16th, 2024

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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 27th.

The high school tournament is now in its 19th 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 26th.

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

The Mosaic Whispers is WashU’s oldest all-gender a cappella group. They compete nationally, most recently winning ICCA 2023 Midwest Quarterfinals and placing 3rd at the 2023 Semifinals, where they were also awarded for Outstanding Choreography, Vocal Percussion, and Arrangement. They are passionate and dedicated to music, but their sense of community sets them apart. The alumni that travel to their spring concert prove that you are always a Whisper, whether you’re TikTok viral, a backup singer on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, or releasing music of your own!

The Beartones is Missouri State University’s male-identifying a cappella group. Though the majors of these 15 (awesome) members span from graphic design to cell and molecular biology, they are united by a passion for music. Over the years, they’ve sung a variety of complex arrangements in multiple styles, from pop-rock to indie-electronic to soul! More than just the music, The Beartones is a culture of encouragement, authenticity, and friendship. The genuine bond of the group members brings their music to the next level. By encouraging making mistakes, they create a family of singers who can grow together without fear of judgement. The Beartones have traveled across the country, performing in their hometown, Springfield, Mo., along with St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, and New York! Their dedication and teamwork have earned them 1st place during many ICCA competitions, as well as numerous accolades, such as Outstanding Soloist, Outstanding Choreography, and more. While ICCA is their biggest annual event, they also sing at charity fundraisers, parties, and other local events across southwest Missouri throughout the year. The Beartones are excited to share their music with you!

Founded in 1991 by a group of friends with a love of music, The Washington University Amateurs is now an award-winning, all-gender collegiate a cappella group. In 2020, the Amateurs opened for “The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular” at the Radio City Music Hall in New York. Regularly competing in ICCA, The Amateurs won both Outstanding Soloist and Outstanding Arrangement at the 2019 ICCA Midwest Semifinals and won their 2017 ICCA Midwest Quarterfinal. Most recently, they earned Outstanding Soloist at the 2023 ICCA Midwest Quarterfinals and 4th place at the 2023 ICCA Midwest Semifinals. The Amateurs travel across the country to perform and compete in national a cappella festivals, including performances at Voice Jam, “America’s Got Talent,” and the a cappella reality show, “Sing it On!” The Amateurs have released nine studio albums to date and are set to release their 10th in the coming year. No matter what they do, The Amateurs stay true to their motto, “Do it because you love it.” The Amateurs sing for the sake of singing and have become a family that is truly a home away from home.

Originally founded in 2010, The Ohio State of Mind is The Ohio State University’s premier all-gender a cappella group. The group consists of 17 talented vocalists with a range of backgrounds and majors who share a common passion for making music. The Ohio State of Mind has performed on many different stages across the country and has made it to ICCA Finals in 2022 and 2023. Aside from ICCA, OSM performs at events and invitationals around Columbus and has released an EP, Coming Home, which is available on all streaming platforms.

Majors & minors is a co-ed a cappella group on campus at The Ohio State University! They sing a variety of music genres such as pop and jazz. They are very excited to keep working on their combined sound as they continue to grow as a group and perform around campus. They were proud to place 3rd at their 2023 ICCA Midwest Quarterfinal at the Maltz Performance Center! They spent last semester getting to know one another well and have become close friends. This tight-knit group values creating a fun and comfortable atmosphere while maintaining a high standard of musicality. Majors & minors is so excited to perform their best at ICCA!

Forged in the sun-scorched mountains of Columbus, Ohio, Buck That!, a masc-identifying a cappella group from The Ohio State University, takes the Midwest by storm. The group is full of voices that are smooth like butter, sliding down a hot, fluffy stack of aca-pancakes. Established in 2010, they have performed all across the East Coast and Midwest, and have earned many ICCA accolades. Buck That! is made up of 16 unique singers that come together to form one energetic and soulful voice. As a tightly-knit community, the group emphasizes companionship, good energy, and strong musical prowess. While teaching music through tenor and bass voices is their goal, Buck That! is truly a family. They perform music from many different genres, eras, and arrangers, all to compliment the group’s sound. This year’s set explores the nuances of life, death, and grief. With a blend of pop and traditional choral music, Buck That! is excited to share a message that is traditionally suppressed by men. As a masc-identifying group, Buck That! hopes their audience finds this message as gratifying as they do. They hope this set will “buck” you up!

Remedy A Cappella is the University of Dayton’s premier a cappella group. This co-ed ensemble has found great success performing exciting arrangements of dark contemporary pop music. Since its founding in 2012, Remedy has built a history of competitive success, including multiple ICCA Quarterfinal wins, two victories at the Chicago Harmony Sweepstakes, and numerous awards for individual performers. Remedy has also released an EP, The Compilation, on Spotify in summer 2021, featuring some of the group’s favorite arrangements. The group currently consists of nine members, all non-music majors, who dedicate their free time on campus to sharing their passion for music with each other and with audiences across the Midwest. All choreography for Remedy A Cappella was designed by Kat Smith.

Dhamakapella is CWRU’s award-winning South Asian fusion a cappella group that derives its influences from Indian classical, contemporary Bollywood, pop, dubstep, and electronic genres. Since they began competing in 2011, they have accrued 25 national titles and 34 individual awards at competitions across the United States. They seek to blend songs together in innovative ways to create musical story arcs and they can’t wait to perform their set for everyone here today!

Vocal Intensity is an a cappella group from Kent State University. They arrange, rehearse, and perform music of all styles. They perform for various occasions, including their annual fall and winter concerts, festivals, and special events.

TONIGHT'S JUDGES

Christopher Andres attended The Ohio State University and studied music education and music performance. He also was a member of The Ohio State University Men's Glee Club and University Chorus. Chris has been singing and playing the piano since he was 5 years old and also plays flute, tenor saxophone, baritone, and trombone. Chris has performed on numerous stages around the world as both an instrumentalist and vocalist. He currently serves as the music coordinator and music director at Oakland Church of the Brethren where he directs the bell choir, adult choir, women's choir, and the contemporary praise band. He is currently in his sixth year at Greenville Senior High School in Greenville, Ohio as the assistant vocal music director and accompanist.

Charlie Arthur began performing at a very young age, participating in as many musical ensembles, theatrical productions, short films, and middle school dance battles as he could seek out. He discovered his love for contemporary vocal music when he joined Forte, the award-winning a cappella group at Centerville High School. In Forte, Charlie received national recognition as a vocal percussionist and began arranging, recording, producing, and teaching vocal music full-time. Over the last decade, these experiences have taken him across the U.S., Canada, Russia, and the Caribbean, working and performing with vocal artists such as Vocalight, m-pact, Vybration, The Edge Effect, and Peter Hollens. Currently Chicago-based, Charlie is also a member of the recently-launched band, Chasing Saturn, and a co-producer of Broadway Goes A Cappella.

Edric Mitchell has both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ball State University, where he studied musical theatre and executive development for public services. During his time at Ball State, he got his start in a cappella with the all-male group, Charlie's Angels. He quickly became a founding member of the all-male a cappella group, Note to Self, with whom he spent four years as a member, coordinator, and music director. In addition, Edric was a founding member and music director of Sedoctave, and founder of the Association of Collegiate A Cappella (ACA) at Ball State. ACA is an umbrella organization that unites all collegiate a cappella groups on the BSU Campus. When Edric was a competitor in the ICCA, he received two Outstanding Arrangement awards and an Outstanding Soloist award. Since 2017, Edric has been a founding member of Impromptu, an Indianapolis-based professional a cappella group that competed in The Open, placing 2nd in the Midwest Semifinal, 2nd in the Chicago Harmony Sweepstakes, and won the title of VoiceJam Champions in 2018. Impromptu has traveled around the world performing at a cappella festivals in Taiwan, Russia, Boston, Memphis, and of course the Midwest! As a member of impromptu, Edric has received awards for Outstanding Soloist and Outstanding Arrangement. He is currently the theatre director at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, Ind., where he directs the a cappella group Titan Harmony.

With a Master of Music in choral conducting (Kent State University) and a Bachelor of Arts in music theory and voice performance (Ashland University), BK Riha is a music educator, producer, vocalist, live looper, and arranger with a special interest in building pop a cappella repertoire for treble ensembles and young scholastic groups. Surpassing 25 thousand copies sold worldwide, BK's 200+ innovative yet accessible arrangements have been performed and recorded by ensembles all of levels and ages in over 30 countries, with notable appearances at 2018 World Choir Games in South Africa, the 2021 World Choir Games in Belgium, and the 2023 NACC in Orlando, Fla. BK also adjudicates for the ICHSA, the ICCA, and the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs). BK regularly coaches ensembles and leads workshops at festivals like SoJam and the Nordonia A Cappella Festival, as well as various Ohio high schools. BK currently teaches Commercial Voice, Music Fundamentals and Second Year Project at Tiffin University, one of the only schools in the country to offer scholarships for a cappella, beatboxing, live looping and hip hop music. BK also directs TU's vocal harmony group, Higher Ground, and assists with arts recruitment. BK is the founder, director, and producer of ZERO TO SIXTY, Ohio's summer a cappella group. In their free time, BK tries new recipes and studies the link between psychology and music.

Jeremy Witt is an educator, conductor, and performer from Hilliard, Ohio. He holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal music education from Cedarville University and a master's degree in music education from Kent State University. At Cedarville, Jeremy founded the school's first contemporary a cappella group, The Inversions, and served as music director/president for four years. Jeremy currently serves as the Director of Choirs at Hilliard Bradley High School, conducting the symphonic choir and tenor-bass concert choir. In addition to his responsibilities at Bradley, Jeremy directs the seventh and eighth grade tenor-bass choir at Memorial Middle School. Alongside his coworkers Alyssa Schott and Kelsey Burkett, Jeremy established the Jaguar A Cappella program. This program boasts four contemporary a cappella groups, including one middle school group, Blue Notes, and three high school groups, WAVE, ECHO, and the award-winning Shades of Blue. In 2023, Shades of Blue won the ICHSA!

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

Elise Hackl-Blumstein
ICHSA Director
PA/MA Program Coordinator

Dave Rabizadeh
ICCA Director

Emily Sucher
Director of Publications

Lucy Jacobs
ICCA West Producer

Lindsay Howerton-Hastings
ICCA South Producer

Arvin Zabalerio
ICCA Central Producer

Gemma Davies
ICCA United Kingdom Producer

Emily Benjamin
ICCA Northeast Producer

Danielle Sutherland
ICHSA Midwest Producer

Adam McNeil
ICHSA Great Lakes Producer

Cameron Clemens
ICHSA West Producer

Jody Hagler
ICHSA Mid-Atlantic Producer

Bryce McCracken
Associate Producer

Bri Decerio
Associate Producer

Courtney Jensen
Associate Producer
Emcee Extraordinaire

Sara Yood
Senior Producer

Emily Flanders
Director of Adjudication
ICCA Great Lakes Producer

Andrew Poole
Director of Digital Media

Charlotte Taylor
Marketing & Social Strategy

Holli Kitching
ICCA Mid-Atlantic Producer

Leah Alrutz
ICCA Midwest Producer

Bronwyn Jensen
ICCA Southwest Producer

Christopher Witham
ICCA United Kingdom Producer

Jillian Kimberlin
Senior Producer

Christopher Hoffman
ICHSA Northeast Producer

Ben Garza
ICHSA Southwest Producer

Luke Thomas
ICHSA South Producer

Alaina Wegner
Associate Producer

Jake Yoakum
Associate Producer

Rebecca Williamson
Associate Producer

Andrea Poole
Consultant
ICHSA Director Emeritus

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 placing group at this event will advance to the 2024 ICCA Finals.

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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