2024 ICHSA Great Lakes Quarterfinal @ Oak Creek 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

ICHSA GREAT LAKES QUARTERFINAL

Oak Creek High School
Saturday, February 17th, 2024

WE'RE SOCIAL

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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 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.

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.

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 Acafellaz is in their inaugural year as an a cappella group. This group of gentlemen is extremely proud to start the first all-male a cappella group at Hinsdale South High School. With goals of having fun and making great music, The Acafellaz take a lot of their inspiration from old-school a cappella groups and you can certainly make the connection between their group and their influencers.

Colla Voce is a student-run group at West High School. They have participated in ICHSA every year since their founding. They self-arrange and self-choreograph all of their pieces and have a blast with it! Colla Voce usually sings a variety of pop songs, but likes to include at least one classical piece every year, plus a holiday song at their annual winter concert. Outside of ICHSA, they sing at their school's concerts and at other gigs around Madison, like opening for UW's choir concerts. They love to do whip-shares at the start of every rehearsal and close off every rehearsal by dancing around to the “Rio” soundtrack.

Limited Edition is a talented mixed group of young men and women from the Port Washington/Saukville School District in Wisconsin. Founded by their director Dennis Gephart, the ensemble began as an extracurricular a cappella group that provided opportunities for advanced music students throughout the district. The name Limited Edition was chosen to represent the group’s most unique characteristic, that each roster of Limited Edition only lasts one school year before an entirely new group is formed. The members of Limited Edition are given a large degree of ownership in the music-making process. While they have plenty of guidance available to them, these students choose and arrange music, plan performances, organize their annual Acapocalypse A cappella festival, make music videos, and are in charge of their web page design. This level of ownership provides a great business model to emulate and wonderful educational opportunities for young adults.

Nothin' But Treble is Loyola Academy's all-female acapella group. They have performed competitively throughout the Midwest and are in demand throughout the Wilmette community. Nothin' But Treble won their ICHSA Great Lakes Quarterfinals in 2023 and 2018 and they’re excited to be back this year.

Resolve is the premier contemporary a cappella group at Niles West High School in Skokie, Ill. Resolve, a mixed ensemble consisting of 20 students from the ninth to 12th grades, performs repertoire spanning multiple genres of music. Founded in 2023, this is their first year competing at the ICHSA.

Secondary Dominance enters their second competitive year full of excitement and anticipation. Having brought their A-game last year, they are eager to see the waves they can make in the a cappella world with a year of experience.

Do Re Mi Fa SolTown! Back for a fourth year of competition, SolTown is excited to share their love for a cappella music and to bask in the warm, friendly hug that is the ICHSA community. There is some confusion about their odd name and its odd spelling, so sit tight for a little music theory. SolTown is from Germantown, Wis., commonly called GTown. G is the fifth scale degree when using fixed DO, also known as Sol. Therefore, GTown is SolTown (yes, they’re huge nerds). SolTown, always dominant!

Unaccompanied Minors is Brookfield East High School's only co-ed a cappella group. They are student-led and meet in the morning on Mondays and Thursdays. They have participated in the ICHSA for the past six years, qualifying for Semifinals in 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2023. In 2020 and 2023, they won 1st place at their ICHSA Great Lakes Quarterfinals.

TONIGHT'S JUDGES

Chlo Baumbach has been performing for many years. In addition to musicals and choir, they competed with Madison area group Midnight Voices from 2015-2018 while in high school. After high school, Chlo attended University of Wisconsin-Madison where they joined Pitches & Notes, the school’s competitive gender-inclusive treble a cappella group. As music director in 2020, they managed and worked on the mixing for Pitches & Notes online 2021 ICCA video. Chlo debuted their vocal percussion in Pitches & Notes’ 2020 ICCA set, and carried on as the group’s main vocal percussionist until they graduated. In 2022, Chlo had the immense pleasure of experiencing New York and ICCA Finals with their best friends and group mates, culminating in Pitches & Notes’ historic victory, a first-time win for a University of Wisconsin-Madison group and for the Great Lakes region. Since graduating, they have been working with a friend on mixing an EP and continue to write new music. They are very excited to be back at ICHSA, the competition that led to their love of a cappella and involvement in college.

A multi-instrumentalist from age 9, Sean Binkley plays viola, violin, cello, and ukulele, in addition to singing. He found his way to a cappella after a scheduling error at Saint Louis University kept him from continuing with orchestra. He joined the Bare Naked Statues in 2012 and quickly became a featured soloiost, arranger, and character actor in the group, helping lead them to ICCA Finals as a soloist in 2014. Sean continues to compose, arrange, and perform his own multitrack music, and is currently finishing a concept album blending folk storytelling and classic rock. He also works in development at WFMT, Chicago's premier classical radio station.

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.

Heather Newkirk is a proud alumna of Syracuse University's Main Squeeze, for whom she sang, arranged, choreographed, and did vocal percussion. Since graduating, Heather has remained active in the a cappella world as social media coordinator for Boston Sings (BOSS), Program Manager of Social Media for the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA), associate producer of Voices Only, and an instructor for workshops and masterclasses at a cappella festivals nationwide. She has won ICCA awards for Outstanding Arrangement and Outstanding Vocal Percussion as a college student and Varsity Vocals has held a special place in her heart ever since.

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 two placing groups at this event will advance to the 2024 ICHSA 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!

VIEW ALBUMS

#ICHSA