Author: Amanda Cornaglia

The Open Approaches

The week of #AcaOpen is here and we’re gearing up for an incredible weekend in a cappella. The Finalists will fill Carnegie Hall on Saturday, September 22nd with the sweet sounds of a cappella and one will walk away with the $25,000 prize.

Tickets are still available – See the action in person.

We’ll be catching up with all of the finalists in NYC, but here’s a preview:

Wild Card: Business Casual
San Mateo, CA

Current National Harmony Sweepstakes Champions and certainly a force to be reckoned with. With a deep repertoire of originals and unique covers, their sense of brand is as strong as their stage game.

Wild Card: COLLAB
Los Angeles, CA

Bringing together performers from UCLA and CSUN these 13 singers were inspired by the first year of the Open to give it a shot themselves. They earned a shot at the Wild Card after placing second to HIVE – we think the talent pool in California runs deep.

Northeast Champion: Ember
Baltimore, MD

What do you get when you pull from a top notch collegiate group and students at Peabody Conservatory and THEN add some handpick specialty talent? Oh, and then debut a full set of stellar originals? The hottest thing to come out of Baltimore since Old Bay.

West Champion: HIVE
Los Angeles, CA

Five superstar voices. Personality for days. If you’re in the audience live, you might just catch the talent that spills out of them on stage.

New England Champion: Iris
New York, NY

Only three members and first performed as Iris on the semifinal stage at Berklee College of Music and they walked away the winner and also took home Outstanding Arrangement and Outstanding Vocal Percussion. So new that there’s no trace of them online – this may be the very best kind of a cappella witchcraft.

2018 ICHSA Champion: Legacy
Los Angeles, CA

Founder Rob Dietz taps into to some serious scholastic talent with this high school community group. This will be the group’s second appearance in the Open, representing Southern California in last year’s inaugural event.

Midwest Champion: LUXE
Columbus & Dayton, OH

Another new group – this one full of  ICHSA and ICCA all-stars, many of whom are already making huge strides as young and rising pop stars. Can they use their former success to guide them to the big prize?

Virtual Champion: RISE
Arlington, TX

After taking 4th place in the ICCA Finals, RISE will return for another shot at the top. They make their own rules and they are clearly ready for more.

2018 ICCA Champion: The SoCal VoCals
Los Angeles, CA

5-time International Champions and a legacy in the ICCA. Will this collegiate magic win at a new level? We don’t expect the audience to stay in their seats, that’s for sur

International Champion: VoCollective
London, UK

This sextet is just getting warmed up. Largely unknown outside of the UK – making their US debut on none other than Carnegie Hall feels like a good start.

New Tunesday – September 11, 2018

In addition to all of the great variety of a cappella you can hear ’round the clock here at Acaville Radio, we’re going to bring you some bonus releases each Tuesday to make sure you’re finding all of the latest and greatest this talented community has to offer.

Here are our favorites this week:

The Swingles
No one reimagines a classic like The Swingles. In this new release, we hear a Kevin Fox arrangement of the classic Fleetwood Mac song, “Go Your Own Way” sung live at St. Saviour’s Church in London. Notably, this is the last video that features now retired Soprano, Sara Brimer Davey.

DCappella
We’ve already seen the studio version, but as the touring dates near, we’re treated with a live video from this group of superstars with their island-inspired cover of Moana’s “How Far I’ll Go,” which is a little reminiscent of lighthearted feel you’d get from an Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole song.

BYU Vocal Point
Utilizing the beautiful natural scenery of Utah and Oregon, this perennially strong group of gentlemen hit this Josh Groban cover of “You Raise Me Up” out of the park. Both the audio and video was produced and directed by alumnus, McKay Crockett, with the audio mix by Ed Boyer and cinematography by Nick Sales and Morrisey Productions.

Westminster Chorus
Arguably one of the world’s best barbershop choruses, and the reigning second place international medalists, Southern California’s Westminster Chorus shared a live take of their cover of “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen.

Listen Live! Platinum Moments – The Alexandria Harmonizers 70th Anniversary

Today at 4 pm EDT, we’ll be bringing you a SOLD OUT performance from Alexandria, VA!

Tune if for Platinum Moments, a celebration of the Alexandria Harmonizer’s 70th Anniversary. This 4-time international champion is fresh off an 8th place finish at BHS Internationals, where the chorus scores were off the charts!

They’ll be joined by special guests Signature Quartet, the 2018 International Quartet Runners-Up, and Toronto Northern Lights, the 2013 International Chorus Champions, now directed by Jordan Travis.

We hear there are plenty of surprises in store – hear it all live right here on acaville.org!

Voice Only 2018 Announced

After many years of a split scholastic and professional compilations, Voices Only combined forces for 2018 Vol. 1 & 2. Here is the extended track list with a great list of high school, collegiate and professional a cappella, expected to be available for download soon.

Volume 1
1) Don’t Belong – Ithacappella
2) Bad Blood – Faux Paz
3) Girlfriend – The Virginia Sil’hooettes
4) Come Together – m-pact
5) Pure Imagination – The SoCal VoCals

6) Animal Spirits – TAG – The A Cappella Group
7) My Favorite Things – Blue Jupiter
8) Super Mario Super Medley – David Fowler
9) The A Team – Freshman Fifteen
10) 22 (Over S∞∞n) – The Boston University Treblemakers
11) Something Beautiful – Kansas City A Cappella, SoundProof
12) Got To Get You Into My Life – Rip_Chord
13) New Rules – All-Night Yahtzee
14) Rise – Sound Off
15) Work Song – UNC Achordants
16) Shape of You – One Note Stand A Cappella
17) Bad Romance – Sensations
18) Pelu Mi – The Sons of Pitches

Volume 2
1) Beneath The Brine – Academical Village People
2) What About Us – OneVoice
3) Giants – Take 7 & Naughty Scotty and the Octapella
4) In The Real Early Morning – Juxtaposition
5) Girls Your Age – Amazin’ Blue
6) Beethoven Medley – Backtrack
7) Let It Be – The Tufts Amalgamates
8) Glowing in the Dark – Scott & Ryceejo
9) Jealous – BLACKOUT
10) Narnia – The Swingles

11) Machine – Pitches and Notes
12) The Circle Game – Doox of Yale (The Duke’s Men)
13) Haze – The Overtones
14) Crabbuckit – Cadence
15) Sledgehammer – Off the Beat
16) Into You – Mixed Emotions
17) Ultralight Beam – The Michigan G-Men
18) Take Me Home – Tufts University Beelzebubs