Participating Ensembles:
Deke Sharon
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“The father of contemporary a cappella" - Entertainment Weekly
"A one man a cappella revolution" - Boston Globe
“Deke Sharon makes a cappella cool again" - NPR
Born in San Francisco, California, Deke Sharon has been performing professionally since the age of 8, and as a child toured North America and shared the stage in operas with the likes of Pavarotti. Heralded as "The Father of Contemporary A Cappella," he is responsible for the current sound of modern a cappella, having created the dense vocal-instrumental sound in college, subsequently spreading it around the world. Deke produces "The Sing-Off" worldwide (USA, Netherlands, China, South Africa), which had the highest ratings of any new, unscripted television show in the US in 2009, and was the third highest rated show on NBC in 2010. In addition, Deke served as arranger, on-site music director and vocal producer for Universal's "Pitch Perfect" & “Pitch Perfect 2” starring Anna Kendrick & Rebel Wilson. Deke founded the Contemporary A Cappella Society while in college, and is responsible for many seminal a cappella programs, including the CARAs (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, ICCAs (International Championship of College A Cappella), BOCA (Best of College A Cappella Compilation), the first contemporary a cappella conferences (the A Cappella Summit), the Contemporary A Cappella League, and the professional ensembles Voasis and Vocalosity.
He is also contemporary cappella's most prolific arranger, having arranged over 2,000 songs, with many of them in print worldwide with Hal Leonard/Contemporary A Cappella Publishing. His first book, "Acappella Arranging" was published in 2012, and “A Cappella” will be published in 2015. As the founder, director and arranger for the House Jacks for almost 25 years, the original "Rock Band Without Instruments," Deke shared the stage with countless music legends, including Ray Charles, James Brown, Crosby Stills and Nash, Run DMC, The Temptations, LL Cool J and the Four Tops, and performed for luminaries including President Bill Clinton. He has produced dozens of award winning a cappella albums (including Straight No Chaser, Committed, Nota, Street Corner Symphony and the Tufts Beelzebubs), created a cappella groups for Disneyland and Disneyworld, and frequently tours the world teaching a variety of topics to students and professional singers. His voice can be heard in commercials and video games, most recently in "Just Dance Kids 2". He will appear on a new a cappella television show on Lifetime in 2015.
Ars Nova
Ars Nova is a fresh group from Dayton, Ohio that was created in 2015. Ars Nova is Latin for “New Art”, and as such they are the first a cappella group to emerge at The Miami Valley School, rising up with their colorful spark. They made it to the ICHSA Midwest Semifinals last March and performed at Camp A Cappella in June 2016. In addition to their performance and competition schedule, Ars Nova is also working on their debut album and music video.
Chamber Bravura
Chamber Bravura is an extra-curricular (a cappella only) vocal performance organization comprised of 30 vocalists from various middle and high schools in San Diego County. These students practice and perform rigorous choral music despite only meeting once a week for two short hours. Chamber Bravura is an internationlly traveling a cappella group with performances in Italy (including a Mass performance in St. Peter's Basilica) in 2013, performances in Austria and Prague in 2014, performances in Ireland, England, and Wales in 2015 and will be competing internationally in the Sydney Opera House in July, 2017. This will be Chamber Bravura's fifth performance in Carnegie Hall, the second with Deke Sharon and Total Vocal. Locally Chamber Bravura has performed in many charity events and parades throughout San Diego and performs annually for Disney's Community Arts Showcase and Candlelight Processional. They even have their own county-wide holiday as a thank you for their works in the community. This organization is comprised of exceptional kids, many who balance sports and rigorous studies on top of their committments to Chamber Bravura and prove that you really can do it all! Chamber Bravura is so honored to be working with Deke Sharon again and extends a huge thank you to DCINY for annually producing this amazing event.
Columbus High School Concert Choir
The Columbus High School Concert Choir is CHS's premiere large vocal ensemble and has a long-standing tradition of great choral singing. The group has been featured at numerous choir festivals and collegiate honor choirs throughout the state of Nebraska and is annually represented at the Nebraska All-State choir by many of its members. The group has toured most recently in Branson, MO and St. Louis MO.
Germantown High School Maverick Singers
Maverick Singers—made up of 9th-12th grade students from Germantown High School in Madison Mississippi—made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2014. Since their inaugural year in 2011, Maverick Singers has consistently received Superiors at festivals in Mississippi, received multiple Sweepstakes Awards at State Choral Festival and received their first “Best in Class” in 2015. Maverick Singers performs for local venues and their Acappella ensemble, Legacy has participated in the National A Cappella Convention, in Memphis TN for two years. Maverick Singers hope to continue creating and spreading their powerful magic for decades to come.
Greens Farms Academy Concert Choir
The Greens Farms Academy Concert Choir was established by Betsy Bergeron in 1988. It is one of four high school singing ensembles at GFA. All students are welcomed into this choir, regardless of ability level or experience. The fifty four voice mixed ensemble has received several awards over the years from various music festivals for outstanding and excellent performances. This marks their first performance ever in New York City, hopefully not the last. They are honored to be included in the concert and they hope you enjoy the performance!
Millburn Singers
Pitch Please
Pitch Please is Northwood High School’s award-winning contemporary a cappella group. These 18 auditioned singers rehearse twice a week under the direction of
NHS Choral Director, Matthew Hanson. After winning 1st place in the MIX 101.5 Christmas Choir Competition in 2014, they returned to take 2nd place in 2015. Last February, they competed in the Semi-Finals of the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) against 9 other groups from Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. They took the runner-up spot, placing 2nd in their very first year in the competition. In May they traveled to Concord for the North Carolina Association of Scholastic Activities (NCASA) High School A Cappella competition. The group took 1st place and received special awards for "Best Male Soloist," "Best Female Soloist," and "Best Choreography."
The hOWLers
hOWLers are characterized by their proclivity for making musical noise with their mouths. They can be found humming, whistling, beatboxing, and singing at almost any given moment and particularly when they are together in their natural habitat; freestyle rap and mellow acoustic guitar-vocalist duos are frequent. When they're not making noise, the hOWLers are often observed eating in creative ways, doodling on manila folders, and writing acrostics.
h- haggardly high schoolers
O- Ornate octaves
W- Whimsical wild wanderers
L- Lethargic lyric lovers
e- eccentric edelweiss enthusiasts
r- rippin ragged reggae rap rhymes
s- splendiferous subharmonic-singing students
The Lafayette High School Choir
The Lafayette High School Choir program consists of 240 students comprising six choral ensembles. Present in this select ensemble are members of La Voix du Lion and La Belle Voix, two premier auditioned ensembles at Lafayette High School. Comprised of sophomores through seniors, these members demonstrate superior vocal skills, as well as the highest caliber of personal excellence. The choirs have performed at the 2011 & 2015 LA ACDA State Vocal Conference, as well as the 2016 ACDA Southern Division Conference in Chattanooga, TN. Additionally, they have been a featured choir Mississippi State University Choral Colloquium from 2012-16.
Unaccompanied Minors
The Unaccompanied Minors is the elite a cappella group at The Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, CA, comprised of 15 girls in grades 10-12. Members of the group are leaders on the athletic field, Artemis Merit Scholars, YoungArts winners in Songwriting and Musical Theater, volunteers dedicated to their communities, members of the National Children's Chorus, burgeoning filmmakers, active singer-songwriters performing across the West Coast, authors, and worldwide advocates for education. The group is featured on the Best of High School A Cappella 2016 album and a semifinalist in the International Competition of High School A Cappella in 2016.
WISS Community Choir (China)
The WISS Community Choir celebrates the simple joy of singing across generations. Mothers, fathers, staff members and children aged 8 to 18 - all singing as one! Living in the international setting of Shanghai, China, members have come and gone over the years, but the choir continues to grow from strength to strength. Since starting in 2010 we have performed at the Shanghai Formula One Grand Prix, Hong Kong Disneyland and numerous Christmas and charity events across Shanghai. We are honored and delighted to be a part of this very special event.
Forte
Carpe Sono
Carpe Sono is a southern COED Contemporary A Cappella group based in Austin, Texas. We sing a variety of contemporary, all vocal arrangements, that covers all genres, ranging from Top 40 pop to classic rock! Examples of artists we cover include Coldplay, Alicia Keys, U2, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and more! We are a family friendly group that started when husband and wife, Lacey and Darnell Dibbles, decided to post on Craiglist to look for fellow singers who had a similar passion for a cappella. 5 years later, the group is still going strong and are humbled by the opportunity to be a part of Total Vocal!
Forte
Forte, the premier contemporary a cappella group at Centerville High School in Centerville, Ohio, is the 2016 ICHSA champion and a three-time national runner-up to the ICHSA Champion in New York City. Forte has released seven albums to date and three albums of all-original music. Their album, Uncharted Heart, was runner-up for Best Pop/Rock Album after Grammy-winning group Pentatonix. Since the start of 2015, Forte has opened for the national Sing-Off Tour; recorded a music video with Grammy-winning artist Kirstin Maldonado of Pentatonix; and performed with pop star Jojo on her national tour.
Choriosity
“Choriosity” is an a cappella pop choir from Ulm, Germany. We are more than 120 amateur singers aged 18 to 30 convinced that having fun and learning to sing at a high level are intimately connected, so everybody is welcome to join the choir! Their repertoire consists of modern rock/pop-arrangements inspired by Pentatonix, Perpetuum Jazzile and Vocal line. Martin "Monty" Winter leads the choir and together with its members creates a mixture of recent pop and rock songs of such artists as David Guetta, Adele, Daft punk and many more. “Choriosity” wants to share an unforgettable choir experience: within just three years they developed from a small group of 20 people to the biggest a cappella choir of the region, and now are looking forward to taking part in the “Total Vocal” project!
Fjordte
Fjordte is a small a cappella group based in Juneau, Alaska and born out of an unforgettable experience at Total Vocal II in 2016. Afer having the amazing opportunity to work with Deke Sharon and perform onstage at Carnegie Hall last year, our four members came together in hopes to return to New York in 2017 and once again work with the father of contemporary a cappella. We are so grateful to be involved in this incredible event!
Shirley Tempos
Shirley Tempos is one of Elon University's all female a cappella groups, founded in 2013. The Tempos are made up of 17 young women with a wide variety of majors and interests. Performing regularly both on campus and around the community, the group seeks to share their love of music with audiences while also growing as a group and individual performers. They released their first ever single Hide and Seek last March, and recently released their first ever EP earlier this year. They host an annual benefit concert called Acapocalypse in October benefitting the Ronald McDonald House of Duke Hospital.
SoundCrowd
As a Musical Director in theatre, Scott has MD'd regional productions across Canada. He has appeared as a performer in the Canadian premiere of The Hobbit, and was most recently seen as Jamie in two separate productions of The Last Five Years (Broadway World Award nominee). He had the honour of being a featured soloist in The World Beloved at Carnegie Hall with DCINY in 2013, returned to Carnegie in 2015 to perform in the first Total Vocal concert, and is thrilled to be back for another dose of a cappella awesomeness.
Scott Pietrangelo officially launched SoundCrowd in April of 2016 having had the experience of working with Deke Sharon in the inaugural Total Vocal concert with DCINY. Since starting rehearsals in September, SoundCrowd has already performed with former Barenaked Ladies lead singer Steven Page, alongside singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk, and enjoyed their first solo sold-out concert. A force to be reckoned with in the Toronto music scene, they will close out their inaugural year in May with a concert affiliated with SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival. Be sure to follow SoundCrowd on Facebook, Twitter @SoundCrowd and YouTube to watch for #SoundCrowdSaturdays, surprise pop-up performances all around Toronto.
The Trinity College Quirks
Thrive
A few fun-facts about Thrive's Artistic Director: (1) Boardwine was named Streetsboro, Ohio's 2014 ""Citizen of the Year."" (2) In 2009, Boardwine, his brother (Joe) and children (Desiree and Brett) appeared multiple times on CBS's national broadcast, The Early Show, and were named by the network giant, one of the Top 6 ""family bands"" in the country. (3) Boardwine is the only Streetsboro graduate to be inducted into the SHS Athletic Hall of Fame twice: as a student-athlete for being a 3x state place winner and Ohio State Wrestling Champion, and as a coach of the 1997 SHS Ohio State Wrestling Championship team. (4) Boardwine has been nominated multiple times, and won Streetsboro City Schools' District Teacher of the Year award in 2006-2007.
THRIVE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that supports individuals' performing arts passions and strengthens communities by creating and producing excellent live and recorded entertainment that fosters partnerships and provides educational opportunities.