2024 ICCA West Quarterfinal @ the Fox Theatre

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

The Fox Theatre
Saturday, February 17th, 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

Coming from Pleasant Hill, The pH Scale is Diablo Valley College’s newest a cappella group! They may be a group of 14, but BASIC is the last thing they are. Whether they’re showing their dance moves or belting ballads, The pH Scale is ready to bring their all!

Drawn to Scale (DtS) is a co-ed a cappella group at UC Berkeley composed of dedicated, caring, and talented students. They strive to maintain a high standard of musicality while bringing original student-arranged pieces to life in exciting and innovative ways. From pop and rock to indie and R&B, Drawn to Scale has a wide-ranging repertoire and they’re ready to perform for any event.

Jhankaar is a UC Davis' premier South-Asian a cappella team that combines South Asian musical influences with popular Western music. They aspire to showcase this fusion through their award-winning choreography, arrangements, and performances! Jhankaar’s mission is to blend these powerful and versatile musical styles and convey that this kind of fusion has the ability to unite people from different backgrounds through a common passion for music. Their singers are trained in a wide range of styles and they hope to highlight these unique qualities in their arrangements to create unexpected and beautiful performances!

The Liquid Hotplates has been a top a cappella group at UC Davis since 2000. Named after MTV’s “Liquid Television” and the iconic hotplates of college dorm rooms, The Liquid Hotplates offers creative twists on pop and R&B songs that are just as unique as their memorable name. They have previously performed arrangements of songs by artists such as Hozier, Whitney Houston, Frank Ocean, Marvin Gaye, and Bon Iver. Known locally as the “hottest” all-gender a cappella group at UC Davis, The Liquid Hotplates aim to entertain countless crowds with their smooth runs and crisp harmonies. The heart and soul behind their music comes from their endlessly talented, diverse ensemble and the powerful friendships forged through years of teamwork and dedication. They were ICCA West Semifinalists in 2017 and 2018, as well as 2017 Quarterfinal Champions. They also love performing for the Davis community and at school events, and traveling far and wide to meet groups from other schools. No matter what they do, The Liquid Hotplates put everything into their music and do it as a family!

The Lounge Lizards originally began in 1995 with a group of friends living in the Tercero dorms at UC Davis. Magic happened in the dorm lounge and UC Davis's first a cappella group was born. Over 25 years later, The Lizards are still taking the stage and showing off the style and sass that makes them so unique among their UC Davis peers. As the oldest a cappella group at Davis, they are often seen at on-campus and local events, where they love to perform their favorite tunes. The best time to hear them perform is at their annual spring concert, No Instruments Attached, where they assemble groups from across the state for a night of wonderful music. The Lounge Lizards is also a competitive group, notably three-time ICCA Semifinalists and 2021 Los Angeles A Cappella Festival (LAAF) Finalists.

Cloud 9 is UC Santa Cruz's original and longest running a cappella group. This diverse group of students come together from different backgrounds to create beautiful music. All of their music is arranged (or created) by members of the group and they perform pretty much any genre. Despite Cloud 9’s status as the oldest group on campus, they love to have fun together both on and off stage. They hope you enjoy their performance as much as they enjoy singing for you.

The Mendicants is a group of singers devoted to performing the best songs of today, yesterday, and several decades ago. They are Stanford University's oldest a cappella group, founded in 1963, and one of the first collegiate a cappella groups on the West Coast. You can see them performing onstage, serenading in stairwells, or even just breaking out into song around campus. They are known for their distinctive bright red jackets, and you can often spot them biking in a gigantic red hoard to and from performances. They have participated in ICCA since 1998 and have won the West Quarterfinals several times. Competing in ICCA is in their blood and any Mendicant will tell you that being a part of ICCA is one of their favorite memories of their time in the group.

The Spokes is the premier all-female a cappella group at UC Davis! With their iconic pink dot logo noticeable from a mile away, you can catch them singing all over campus, from Olson Hall to the MU Quad. As seen on “Pitch Perfect,” this sparkly, pink, and sassy group competes in the ICCA and has taken home awards in the past, including Outstanding Soloist in 2021. They sing songs by a range of mainly (but not exclusively) female artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Beyoncé, NIKI, and more! They are best known for their annual West Coast premier a cappella showcase, HellaCappella, held at the Mondavi Center every spring and features groups from all over the West Coast! Just as a bicycle wheel relies on the support of all its spokes, all the sp’ladies in this group depend on each member’s dedication to produce the best music and results!

Vocalicious is a pop-focused group from Santa Clara University. They perform year-round at a cappella concerts, invitationals, and gigs, and are now making history as the first Santa Clara group to compete in the ICCA. The group members have a wide variety of majors and interests, spanning from computer engineering to sociology to studio art, but all share a passion for music. Many Vocalicious arrangements were crafted by their math major co-president and their latest soloist was a psychology major. They’ve worked incredibly hard to advance their sound and performance quality, looking deep into their song lyrics to find the best ways to connect with their audience. Their leadership team (a very complex bureaucracy with assigned HEX codes and flowcharts) has been hard at work establishing Vocalicious as a prominent member of the Nor-Cal a cappella community. Through ICCA, Vocalicious is eager to meet new groups, learn more about the community and the art, and spread the word about Santa Clara a cappella. Although they are one of tonight’s newest competitors, Vocalicious brings determination, leadership, and a true commitment to their music.

The Spartones at San Jose State University is a student-run premier co-ed a cappella ensemble. The group is composed of students from various fields of study, ranging from music majors to aerospace engineering and to psychology. They are not confined to a singular genre of music, so every Spartones performance has its own unique feeling. They mostly perform for school and local events where they try to connect with their community. This ties into one of The Spartones’ core values, connecting people through their love of singing!

TONIGHT'S JUDGES

Samuel Dantowitz (he/him) is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, where he sang with Pitch Slapped (two-time ICCA Champion), Upper Structure (two-time ICCA Runner-Up), and award-winning vocal jazz group Point of Departure. His work on “She Used to Be Mine” with Upper Structure earned him several Outstanding Soloist awards and can be heard on Varsity Vocals’ 2018 BOCA compilation album, enjoying nearly 700 thousand streams on Spotify and a nod from songwriter and ICCA alum Sara Bareilles. In film and TV, Samuel was fortunate to work on the 2022 Academy Award Best Picture winner “CODA” and Lifetime’s “Pitch Slapped.” His quartet, Mixed & Mastered, was an inaugural mixed competitor at the International Varsity Barbershop Harmony Society Contest. Samuel currently serves year-round on staff at A Cappella Academy. Outside of music environments, Samuel still finds a way to burst into song at his 9-5, where he’s the current “Amazon’s Got Talent” National Champion.

Dr. Daniel Fister (he/him) is thrilled to be in his 10th (!) year judging for Varsity Vocals. He is a proud original member of Wilsonville High School’s Soul’d Out and alumnus of Chapman University SoundCheck. In both groups, he sang bass, arranged, served as music director, and competed in Varsity Vocals events. Daniel remains involved in a cappella as a judge for Varisty Vocals and the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs), a reviewer for the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (RARB), and a masterclass leader. His time singing and judging a cappella inspired him to pursue a doctoral degree in musicology and his dissertation examined how race impacts ideologies, policies, and sounds in contemporary scholastic a cappella. He is now an adjunct professor at various Bay Area colleges. He also sings with and is the assistant director of The Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus, for whom he directs the ensemble’s small group, Desperate Measures. Best wishes to all the competing groups!

Richman Neumann has been directing, arranging, and performing a cappella for nearly a decade. A classically trained pianist, Richman currently directs a cappella septet, Side Note, and 31-member pop choir, Scales of the City, both based in San Francisco. Richman competed in the ICCA for four years with The Carnegie Mellon Originals and received Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Arrangement awards for his work. He believes that pop music, a genre which draws influences from R&B, rock, theatre, cinema, and beyond, can make wonderful emotional statements to its listeners.

Hannah Robrecht, a versatile and accomplished classical vocalist, embarked on her musical journey as a member of the Contra Costa Children's Choir from 1997 to 2003. Hannah was a part of their level five elite choir and select a cappella group invited as guest performers at the IACC in 2003 held at UCLA. Hannah's involvement in the Bay Area's vibrant performing arts scene extended beyond the choir as she participated in various plays and musicals with organizations such as Contra Costa Musical Theater, Balasco, and Contra Costa Children's Choir. Her commitment to music led her to regional and national competitions in classical and musical theatre, culminating in an invitation to represent the United States at the 2003 World Championships of Performing Arts. Excited to be performing on a global stage, she brought home a gold medal for opera, a silver for musical theatre, and a bronze for gospel. Hannah was a vocal performance major at the University of Oregon for three years and studied under the guidance of Eric Mentzel and Sharon Paul. She was also a member of University of Oregon's premier treble a cappella group, Divisi. Post-college, she continued to contribute her talents to the musical community by singing with Cantare Con Vivo and is currently a first soprano with the San Ramon Valley Chorale. Currently residing in Pleasant Hill with her family, Hannah has found a harmonious balance between her musical pursuits and a successful career in marketing and communications.

Hahns Shin is a bass singer based out of Berkeley and East Bay. In undergrad, he performed with the prestigious Purdue Varsity Glee Club and the Purdue Symphony Orchestra. He currently performs in four different a cappella groups (including Side Note, winner of the 2022 Bay Area Harmony Sweepstakes competition) and is active in community a cappella meetups throughout the Bay Area. He has served on the board of the East Bay Harmony community chorus since 2018.

SPECIAL THANKS

Varsity Vocals would like to recognize and thank tonight's sound engineer, Greg St. Germain from RDX Productions, our emcee Ike Alexander and volunteers, Chris Rishel, Jordan Fabroni, Valentyna Simon, and Seth Fetro, and all the staff at the Fox Theatre, especially Ernie and Perry; 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!

VIEW ALBUMS

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