2025 ICCA West Quarterfinal @ Redwood City Fox Theatre

DEAR FRIENDS,

Welcome to Varsity Vocals’ 29th 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 700 groups and over 11,000 singers at over 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 29 years ago and we can’t wait to see how our 2025 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

Redwood City Fox Theatre
Saturday, February 8th, 2025

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 both the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), and the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA). 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 four or 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 26th.

The high school tournament is now in its 20th year. The winners of each of seven Semifinal rounds will advance to the ICHSA Finals at The Town Hall in New York City on Friday, April 25th.

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

Cloud 9 A Cappella is UC Santa Cruz's original and longest running a cappella group. This diverse group of students comes together from different backgrounds to create beautiful music. All of their music is arranged or created by members of the group and they perform all types of genres. Despite their status as the oldest group on campus, they love to have fun in and out of performance. Cloud 9 hopes you enjoy their performance as much as they enjoy singing for you.

Drawn to Scale, affectionately known as DtS, is a close-knit co-ed group from UC Berkeley. The group members have a wide variety of interests and majors but a shared love of singing. DtS won their ICCA West Quarterfinal in 2020 and secured 4th place in 2024, along with a special award for Outstanding Choreography. While they're one of the more competitive groups on campus, DtS members often express how much they value the group as a creative and social outlet. DtS provides a space to unwind, connect, and make music together outside of their busy lives.

The California Golden Overtones is UC Berkeley’s premier a cappella group for women and gender non-conforming singers! Founded in 1984, they cover music ranging from pop to R&B, and love to sing songs primarily written by women. In 2023, Tones competed in ICCA, placing 2nd in Quarterfinals and advancing to Semifinals in Oregon. This past summer, they travelled to Hong Kong to perform at UC Berkeley's Light The Way fundraiser closing ceremony. Along with their live performances, they’ve also released two songs, “Hold the Girl” and “Still in Love,” both available to stream on all major platforms!

Jhankaar is UC Davis's 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 this fusion’s ability to unite people from different backgrounds through a common passion for music. These singers are trained in a wide range of styles and they hope to highlight the unique aspects of each to create unexpected and beautiful arrangements!

The Liquid Hotplates is UC Davis's hottest all-gender a cappella group. They perform original arrangements in all genres of music from pop to R&B and even soul. LHP is a three-time award-winning group at the ICCA, placing 3rd at Quarterfinals last year. You can find them performing at Davis and other college campuses across California, but no matter what they do, they put their heart and souls into their music.

The Lounge Lizards began in 1995 as a group of friends living in the Tercero dorms at UC Davis. The oldest a cappella group on campus, The Lizards can be found performing at local events, most notably at their annual spring concert, No Instruments Attached. As four-time ICCA Semifinalists, most recently placing 1st at the 2024 ICCA West Quarterfinals and 3rd at the 2024 ICCA West Semifinals, The Lizards bring their award-winning a cappella to competition and beyond.

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 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 group memories.

Two-time ICCA Semifinalists, Stanford Mixed Company has been recognized for its talent and professionalism, both on campus and around the country for almost 40 years. Also known as Mixed Co, they have been featured on several BOCA and Voices Only compilation albums. As the group’s name suggests, Mixed Co produces a wide variety of music from all genres, singing today's top hits, classics from previous decades, exciting songs by up-and-coming artists, and throwbacks from yesteryear. Mixed Co strives to build a meaningful community by fostering strong bonds among current members and continuing traditions from the group’s alumni of over 250 singers. The group boasts 19 current members and 16 albums to date!

Stanford O-Tone is Stanford's newest all-gender a cappella group, dedicated to sharing East Asian music and culture through song. Their repertoire includes a wide variety of styles and genres, ranging from traditional folk songs to contemporary pop, alternative rock, and R&B. They also span languages, including Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and English songs by Asian-American artists. Since its founding in 2016, O-Tone has been an integral part of both the Stanford Asian American community and performing arts scene. In recent years, O-Tone has expanded its impact by bringing its music to a broader audience, throughout the Bay Area and the rest of the United States. They have performed at events like the 2023 National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., the 2024 Taiwanese American Cultural Festival in San Francisco’s Union Square, and the Koreatown Senior and Community Center in Los Angeles. This is O-Tone’s first year participating in ICCA. They hope to highlight the contributions of Asian artists for the broader music industry through a set featuring artists of Asian heritage.

Coming from Pleasant Hill, The pH Scale is Diablo Valley College's premier a cappella group! They may be a group of 14 (+1), 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!

The Spokes is the premier female-identifying a cappella group at UC Davis, slaying since 2004! Their fierce, fun, and feminine style brings joy to audiences all over the West Coast, most notably in their annual spring a cappella showcase, HellaCappella. Apart from exciting crowds with their vibrant energy, The Spokes have excelled in their craft, placing 2nd in their 2024 ICCA West Quarterfinal and taking home an Outstanding Soloist award in 2021. The Spokes take pride in uplifting their community of high-voice singers and promoting female empowerment. Just as a bicycle wheel relies on the support of all its spokes, all the Spokies depend on one another to be the fabulous group they are!

GUEST PERFORMER

MST Music Academy's MYST A Cappella is a determined group that is fired up and ready to head into their third year competing in the ICHSA. They are proud of their successful 2024 showing, placing 2nd at their Quarterfinal and 3rd at West Semifinals. These talented young performers have grown up with backgrounds in performance art and share a profound love of music. MYST members are grateful everyday for the opportunity to perform a cappella.

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.

Casey Ellis is a vocal teacher, music director, and professional musical theatre performer in northern California. She received her Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied under the renowned tenor, César Ulloa. She has directed several competitive high school a cappella groups who have won special awards and progressed to ICHSA Semifinals. Currently, she is the director of MYST A Cappella from MST Music Academy, where she also serves as the artistic director and lead vocal teacher. She is the resident music director of Missouri Street Theatre, a professional regional musical theatre company, where she also frequently performs. Casey has a deep love for the vocal instrument and has dedicated her life to teaching young performers how to properly find and use their true voices.

Bill Hare is a Grammy-winning recording engineer/producer and is recognized as a pioneer in bringing pop/rock production techniques to recorded contemporary a cappella. Over the past 35 years, Bill has recorded and/or mixed acclaimed albums for some of the best-known contemporary a cappella groups around the globe, from The Swingle Singers to The King’s Singers in the U.K., Basix to Vocal Line in Denmark, Italy's Cluster, The Ghost Files, Alti & Bassi and Maybe6ix, German supergroups Wise Guys, Amarcord, and Maybebop, to name just a few, as well as artists from dozens of other countries, from Australia to Zambia. He also covers the U.S. from his home base in California, working with top American acts including The House Jacks, m-pact, Pentatonix, Peter Hollens, Street Corner Symphony, NoTa, +4dB, Duwende, The Backbeats, Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys, as well as NBC’s hit show, “The Sing-Off.” Collegiate a cappella clients include The Tufts Beelzebubs, University of Oregon’s On The Rocks and Divisi, The Stanford Harmonics, and scores of others. Bill’s story was also told in the original book version of “Pitch Perfect,” from which the popular movies were adapted. Bill’s accolades include more than 70 appearances on BOCA, over 100 CARA nominations, nearly 40 albums on RARB’s "Picks of the Year" lists, and 11 "DeeBee" awards since 1987 in the vocal jazz category from Downbeat Magazine. Bill has also had numerous appearances on Billboard, iTunes, and other major charts, Gold and Platinum record certifications around the world, and multiple music awards and nominations.

Jessie Louise Mark holds a bachelor's degree from Duke University, where she majored in history and minored in music, and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. During her four years as a member and director of Duke’s award-winning all-female a cappella group, Lady Blue, Jessie developed a love for music theory, arranging, and a cappella education. Upon graduation, she taught music theory and vocal arranging at a cappella festivals around the country, ultimately co-founding Miami’s a cappella festival, The Betsy’s A Cappella Festival, in 2014. Jessie currently sings and beatboxes with all-female vocal band VXN. She is currently based in the Bay Area where she works as an HR Consultant. Contact Jessie at jessielouisemark@gmail.com

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 emcee, Richman Neumann; sound engineer, Greg St Germain from RDX Productions; our guest performers, MYST A Cappella; our volunteers, Grace Rowe, Kali Monma, and Seth Fetro; and all the staff at the Fox Theatre, especially Ernie Schmidt; 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
Senior Producer, ICCA & ICHSA West

Lindsay Howerton-Hastings
Senior Producer, ICCA South

Arvin Zabalerio
Senior Producer, ICCA Central

Gemma Davies
Producer, ICCA United Kingdom

Emily Benjamin
Producer, ICCA Northeast

Adam McNeil
Producer, ICHSA Great Lakes

Valentyna Simon
Producer, ICHSA West

Ben Garza
Producer, ICHSA Southwest

Bryce McCracken
Associate Producer, ICCA Central

Bri Decerio
Associate Producer

Angelina Corbin
Associate Producer
ICCA & ICHSA South

Sara Yood
Senior Producer

Emily Flanders
Director of Adjudication
Senior Producer, ICCA Great Lakes

Andrew Poole
Director of Digital Media

Charlotte Taylor
Marketing & Social Strategy

Holli Kitching
Senior Producer, ICCA Mid-Atlantic

Leah Alrutz
Senior Producer, ICCA Midwest

Alaina Wegner
Producer, ICCA Southwest

Christopher Witham
Producer, ICCA United Kingdom

Jillian Kimberlin
Senior Producer, ICHSA Mid-Atlantic

Christopher Hoffman
Producer, ICHSA Northeast

Jake Yoakum
Producer, ICHSA West

Nicole Palmetto
Associate Producer, ICCA Northeast

Tyandria Jaaber
Associate Producer, ICCA Mid-Atlantic

Rebecca Williamson
Associate Producer, ICCA South

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 2025 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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