The past few years have been a Renaissance for a cappella—with a perfect storm of movies like the Pitch Perfect trilogy, television (NBC's The Sing Off), YouTube, and radio breathing new life and excitement into the world's first musical form. And as great as it is to see and hear a cappella performances on screens large and small, the best way to experience vocal harmony is in person.
PERFORMANCES BY THE FILHARMONIC, COMMITTED, BLAKE LEWIS AND WOMEN OF THE WORLD
Built on the classic Motown review tour model, A Cappella Live is bringing four of the nation's greatest a cappella acts to Irving Arts Center:
4 AMAZING ACTS | AS SEEN ON NBC'S THE SING OFF, PITCH PERFECT 2, AMERICAN IDOL AND MORE!
1) The rich harmonies of Gospel/R&B legends Committed, winners of the 2nd seasons of NBC's hit musical competition The Sing-Off
2) The charming boyband sound and moves of The Filharmonic featured in The Sing-Off, The Late Late Show and in Pitch Perfect 2!
3) Chart-topping lead vocals and live-looping beatbox by Blake Lewis, who starred on American Idol
4) Internationally-inspired songstresses Women of the World who perform in 32 languages
Audiences will have an opportunity to hear each group perform their greatest and best-known hits as well as large-scale production numbers featuring all four groups, plus some additional special surprises. DEKE SHARON, vocal producer of NBC's The Sing-Off and musical director and arranger for the Pitch Perfect trilogy, is creative artistic director of the show. A Cappella Live is a show that is guaranteed to appeal to all ages, spanning a wide range of music with something new happening at every turn.
COMMITTED is an a cappella group composed of six male vocalists from Huntsville, Alabama. All are graduates of Oakwood University. The group won the second season of the musical competition The Sing-Off on NBC, performing a jaw-dropping arrangement of We Are the Champions
from Queen. In 2011, Committed released their self-titled album, Committed, on Epic Records. Their 2015 Christmas album, Home for Christmas, earned the group a Grammy nomination for the rendition of Do You Hear What I Hear.
Committed are Robbie Pressley, Theron Therry
Thomas, Maurice Staple, Dennis DJ
Baptiste, and Geston Pierre.
THE FILHARMONIC, a Los Angeles-based a cappella group of Filipino-American youngsters has much to sing about. After being featured in NBC'S hit musical competition The Sing-Off, the 5-piece vocal group made the semi-finals and joined The Sing-Off national tour. They were featured in the Universal Pictures hit movie, Pitch Perfect 2, and became a viral sensation after their Late Late Show appearances. In 2016, The Filharmonic brought their unique blend of hip hop, pop, and 90'S nostalgia to more than 150 stages nationwide and were named the #1 college booked entertainment group of the year. Most recently they have opened for acts such as Fifth Harmony, Pentatonix, Future and Filipino super sensation Gary V. They consist of vocalists Vj Rosales, Joe Caigoy, Trace Gaynor, Vocal Bass Jules Cruz, And Beat Boxer Niko Del Rey.
BLAKE LEWIS first came to national attention as one of the most unique contestants ever to compete on American Idol, and long before that, as a teenager, he was well-known as Bshorty
in Seattle's a cappella, hip-hop, and rave scenes. But with the release of his ambitious and completely independent third album, Portrait of a Chameleon, Blake is taking things to a whole new level.
WOMEN OF THE WORLD is an award-winning international a cappella quartet that performs original and traditional folk music in 32 languages with a contemporary twist. The four singers represent Japan, Italy, India, and USA (by way of Haiti). Despite differences in upbringing, language, religion, ethnicity, food, and music, they are bound by one unique desire: to explore sounds, rhythms, and musical vocabulary from all over the world. Since 2008, Women of the World has journeyed through the music of Africa, South America, Asia and Europe, presenting audiences an exhilarating experience through chants, storytelling, dance, percussion, and improvisation. Mentored by Grammy-award winning maestro Bobby McFerrin, Women of the World have also collaborated with powerhouse American songstress Nona Hendryx, African vocal icon Angelique Kidjo, Greek classical artist Mario Frangoulis, and the Boston Pops Orchestra led by maestro conductor Keith Lockhart. Women of the World is Ayumi Ueda, Annette Philip, Debo Ray, and Giorgia Renosto.
See additional information below or visit:
Irving Arts Center | A Capella Live!
MORE ON THE FLASH LIST
