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 WEST QUARTERFINAL

Downey Theater
Saturday, February 3rd, 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

Acasola is California State University, Northridge’s premier a cappella group. This diverse group of students aims to deliver a unique musical experience to the CSUN community through the art of a cappella music. 

Circle of Fifths A Cappella is UCI’s all-male a cappella group. This student-run group creates opportunities for male-identifying members to join and sing together. They prioritize showmanship and brotherhood. Circle of Fifths’ energy and closeness are reflected in their performances. Circle of Fifths provides a space for singers to compete, perform, and create memorable music. 

The FullerTones, from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), was founded in 2016 and is the only a cappella club at CSUF. This student-led organization includes a majority of people of color, queer, and trans individuals, bringing diverse spiritual beliefs and backgrounds. The FullerTones’ intersecting identities fuel their passion for music and contextualize their connection as a group. They believe in the power of representation and hope audiences can identify with their stories. This year's set was arranged and directed by student members. The FullerTones’ setlist will include themes of romance, loss, reminiscence, and reconnection, featuring songs from various artists and quotes from “The Notebook.” The group performs songs from multiple genres, including popular songs from the 70s to today, as well as R&B, rock, and most recently held a concert dedicated to classic and new Disney songs. In addition to competing for the first time this year, The FullerTones perform at CSUF for events such as the Farmer's Market, back-to-school events, talent shows, and at the Children's Center. In addition to singing, the group enjoys going on boba runs, retreats, concerts, karaoke, and even studying together. The FullerTones are excited to make their competitive debut at the 2024 ICCA!

Founded in 2012, Resonance started out as a quintet that grew in both size and sound, quickly becoming one of UCLA's premier a cappella groups. Their love of music unites undergraduate and graduate students from various majors and they pride themselves on their next-level content creation and competition. Over the years, Resonance has earned high rankings in numerous events such as the ICCA, notably earning 1st place at Southwest Quarterfinals and Semifinals in 2021 and progressing to Finals, winning Outstanding Arrangement at every stage of the competition season. In subsequent years, they maintained their competitive spirit, securing 3rd place at ICCA West Quarterfinals in both 2022 and 2023. Additional accomplishments include standout performances at the Los Angeles A Cappella Festival (LAAF), where they were awarded with Outstanding Vocal Percussion in 2023, and at Spring Sing, UCLA's largest and most competitive musical showcase. Their first studio album, In This Light, is available on iTunes, Apple Music, and Spotify. They have also released various singles and plan to release a music video and second studio album later this year. Resonance hopes to share their music with their community and make a lasting impact. 

ScatterTones is a student-run, all-gender, premier a cappella group at UCLA! Founded in 2002, the group performs regularly on campus and throughout the Greater Los Angeles Area. Performing a unique mix of pop, jazz, R&B, and indie, The ScatterTones love showcasing their original arrangements in both competitive and non-competitive settings. They are seven-time Finalists in the ICCA, most recently winning 3rd place in 2022. In addition, they have been featured on KTLA "Channel 5 Morning News," opened for Pentatonix in concert, sung backup for Taylor Swift, and had the honor of singing in the White House. They also frequently compete in UCLA's prestigious talent competition Spring Sing and in the LAAF. 

VocaLotus is a diverse, all-gender a cappella group at the University of California, Irvine. Their goal is to grow in a collaborative and uplifting singing environment, while creating a close-knit community. VL is one of the youngest a cappella groups at UCI and has enjoyed establishing their sound and image. VocaLotus was originally the choir of VSA, the Vietnamese Student Association of UCI, and began their own organization in winter 2020. Over the past three years, VocaLotus has welcomed members from a variety of different backgrounds, bringing opportunities to perform at culture nights for clubs across the Irvine community. They primarily enjoy pop, indie, and R&B pieces. Through rehearsals and social events, the VocaLotus members have built a unique familial bond and are grateful to share their passion for music with people they love! During the 2022-2023 school year, VocaLotus competed in their first-ever ICCA! They cherished the experience of performing among such incredible talent, and are eager to show how much they’ve grown in their music, stage presence, and overall performance! 

Naya Zamaana is UCLA's official South Asian a cappella team. The group was created in 2006 to celebrate the diversity of talent prevalent among Indian American youths today. These singers come from a variety of musical backgrounds and are trained in Western, Carnatic, Hindustani, and many other forms of music, exemplifying the distinct mix of Western and Indian culture. They hope to bring these sounds together to create a unique voice that will usher in a new era in the world of a cappella. 

Awaken was established in fall 1992, making it southern California's first collegiate co-ed a cappella group! Awaken alumni over the years include actress Nicolette Robinson ( former lead in Broadway’s “Waitress”), members of the award-winning group ARORA, and nine-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles (who arranged and recorded the original version of her hit “Gravity” as a member of Awaken in 2003). Bareilles can be heard on both “Gravity” and Awaken’s cover of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” in Dysfunktional Family Album. Awaken has released six studio albums, two of which have won awards and were recognized by BOCA. Awaken performs at both on-campus and off-campus events such as UCLA Spring Sing, UCLA Dance Marathon, AIDS Walk Los Angeles, The West Coast A Cappella Showcase, ICCA, and other festivals and competitions around the West Coast. 

Aerodynamix A Cappella is an all-gender a cappella group at UC Irvine formed by music-loving college students. Founded in 2019 with aspirations to share their music with the world, Aerodynamix is a platform to harness and amplify these students’ tremendous musical potential. Aerodynamix hopes to inspire, entertain, and impact others with their music. They hope you enjoy what they have to offer. 

Clair De Lune is UCI's only female-identifying a cappella group composed of members from various ethnicities, social classes, and levels of musical experience. The group provides a space for them to come together and celebrate music that promotes women’s empowerment as they navigate the path to adulthood. They are thrilled to showcase their sisterhoood’s growth at their fourth ICCA. 

Random Voices A Cappella, UCLA’s premier female-identifying a cappella group, was founded in 1999. Over the past 20 years, Random Voices has been a prominent symbol of female empowerment in the UCLA a cappella community, performing at events such as Ms. Carol Block’s Women in Power and Leadership Luncheon, Spring Sing, Disney’s Annual Candlelight Celebration, Welcome to BruinLife, and LAAF, as well as hosting the annual California A Cappella Festival. They are so proud of all of the amazing women who have made a lasting impact on the group and on UCLA as a whole. In 2020, Random Voices placed 3rd at their ICCA Quarterfinal and they’re ecstatic to be back for their third consecutive year!

TONIGHT'S JUDGES

Michael Alfera is a conductor, composer, pianist, and vocalist who in 2014 founded the L.A. Choral Lab, a performing arts nonprofit organization. He established and conducted the L.A. Choral Lab's core ensemble, an SATB chamber choir, producing over a dozen concerts and premiering many new works at unique venues in the Los Angeles area. He is a 2009 graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music and a proud alum of USC Reverse Osmosis, having served as business manager and music director. Michael is the staff accompanist at Temple Israel of Hollywood and he previously served as principal accompanist for the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, conductor of the Ebell Chorale, and teaching artist for the L.A. Master Chorale's Voices Within educational outreach program. Michael is a licensed attorney, a 2018 Southwestern Law School graduate, and a judicial law clerk at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. 

Will Lagos (he/him) is a Los Angeles-based singer, actor, and vocal arts educator with over 20 years of singing experience. Will attended the University of Southern California’s School of Theater, where he performed with four-time ICCA champions The SoCal VoCals, winning the title of ICCA Champions in 2008. He is also an active barbershop harmony singer, and currently serves as the music and performance director of The Westminster Chorus, which holds titles such as 2009 Choir of the World and International Barbershop Chorus Champions in 2007, 2010, 2015, and 2019. As a member of The Westminster Chorus, Will has given concerts all around the United States, as well as in Canada, England, Germany, Holland, The Netherlands, and New Zealand. He is a sought-after clinician and coach, teaching barbershop performance and singing technique here and abroad, whether on the faculty at Harmony University in Nashville, Tenn., as a guest clinician at the LAAF, or as a candidate judge in the Performance Category for the Barbershop Harmony Society. Will can also be heard as a vocalist on film scores, international albums, children’s music education materials, and even croaking out alien drinking songs at Galaxy's Edge at both Disney resort properties. Will currently serves on the faculty at the California School of the Arts - San Gabriel Valley, where he teaches musical theater repertory, vocal technique, and theater history. 

Holding a master’s degree in voice from the California Institute of the Arts, Jim Raycroft has performed all over North America and Europe. He is a 40-year member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and sang with the Los Angeles Opera for 12 years. He can be heard on movie soundtracks including “Home Alone,” “Hook,” “Jurassic Park,” “A.I.,” “Mars Attacks,” “Waterworld,” “XXX,” “Lady In The Water,” “Godzilla,” “Willow,” and “Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker,” and appeared as a singing pirate in the opening scene of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” He has appeared on the Grammys, in numerous TV shows including the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and has sung for the President of the United States and the late Queen of England. He founded The Singers Elite Vocal Big Band, sang for five years with Disneyland’s barbershop quartet, The Dapper Dans, spent Christmas of 1983 with Disneyland’s Dickens Carolers, recorded with the Roger Wagner Chorale, and participated in a Grammy-winning recording in 2021. He recorded music for Disneyland Paris and is involved with a company called Musicals Lost and Found that records old, forgotten musicals. He appeared in Fatboy Slim’s music video “Rockafeller Skank,” and provides singers for the international wine-tasting club Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. He founded and sings with the vocal jazz group Pacific Swingline and the barbershop quartet The Nickelodeon. Jim is a published arranger and orchestrator, the choral director for the Los Angeles Lawyers Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, and has prepared choruses for the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. His singer referral service, Singers Elite, has provided vocal entertainment to Southern California audiences for over 30 years. In 2002, he founded the annual “Choral Taste of Los Angeles,” a reading session of choral music by L.A. composers. Jim is the Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church of Encino. 

Avery Roberts (she/they/he) is a songwriter, composer, and arranger based in Los Angeles, Calif. She’s been working as a professional choral singer as long as she can remember, and has performed with directors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, and Grant Gershon. During her time at Chapman University, she served as artistic director and lead arranger for The ChapTones for three years, seeing the group through a booming period of competitive success and recording, as well as co-founding the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Queercappella. In her last year at Chapman, she founded the semi-professional group Aperture, and within their first year of existence, they had their public debut in Varsity Vocals' Aca Open, earning Avery an Outstanding Arrangement award at the 2019 Open Finals, and performed as featured guests at the 2020 LAAF. Avery can be heard performing with and arranging for Aperture and continues her work as a solo artist under the name Avo. 

Selame Scarlett hails from Okemos, Mich. and is extremely thankful for this California weather. As an undergraduate at Michigan State University, she was the music director, arranger, and vocal percussionist for the mixed group, Capital Green A Cappella. Post-college, she served as a percussionist and vocalist for the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (CARA)-winning, all-female sextet, Lady Jaye, and the all-female gospel powerhouse group, Traces, which was featured on Season 5 of NBC's “The Sing-Off.” She is a sought-after clinician for high school and collegiate groups in the Great Lakes region and beyond. In the summertime, Selame is an instructor and counselor at A Cappella Academy, a Los Angeles-based vocal camp for young adults (ages 13 to 17). Selame has been fortunate enough to record alongside groups such as Naturally 7, The Boxettes, Pentatonix, Duwende, and Traces of Blue (formerly Afro-Blue)! She has led percussion workshops and masterclasses, individually and with her beatboxing colleagues. She is excited to see and hear some great music tonight! 

SPECIAL THANKS

Varsity Vocals would like to recognize and thank tonight's sound engineer, Jeff Eames; emcee Aaron Jung; our volunteers Kawika Ryan Chun, Seth Fetro, and Valentyna Simon, and all the staff at the Downey Theater, especially Stephen Humenski, Elizabeth Speltz, and Kimmi Perkins; 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 two placing groups at this event will advance to the 2024 ICCA West 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!

#ICCA