By Mia Ingui
Managing Assistant
The audience couldn’t “stop the feeling” after Acapalooza brought down the house in Mayo Concert Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
The fun-filled evening of performances by the College’s a cappella groups highlighted their talent and dedication, along with their ability to lift the spirits of the stressed out, election-hungover college crowd.
The College’s only competing a cappella group, The Trentones, opened the show with two selections: rising pop song “Starving” by Zedd and Hailee Steinfeld, with soloist Yesenia Rosado, and “If I Ever Fall in Love,” a power ballad by Pentatonix, with sophomore soloists Karaline Rosen and Pulkit Gupta.
The College’s Christian a cappella group, Voice of Hope, took the stage text. Performers opened with “You’ll Be In My Heart” by Phil Collins, which introduced some serious beat-boxing and cohesion within the group. They performed Hillsong Young and Free’s classic ballad, “Passion.”
The all-female a cappella group, The Treblemakers, then took the stage. The group launched into Twenty One Pilots’s hit “Heathens,” putting a new spin on the “Suicide Squad” anthem. Next was “Runaway” by Aurora, which was driven by powerful vocals from soloist Alyssa Fanelli. The Treblemakers concluded with the pop goddess herself, Adele’s “Send My Love,” with soloist Shayna Gallagher.
Next to perform was the largest a cappella group on campus, i-Tunes, which incorporates international songs into its repertoire. The first song was “Settle Down” by Kimbra, which featured soloist Lauren Agho and was the perfect opening for the set — a buoyant tune that had the entire group clapping and dancing.
Then came the familiar Ed Sheeran ballad, “Lego House,” in which soloist Joey Stambouly delivered smooth vocals on the well-known track.
Sia’s “Alive” followed, with featured senior soloist Derek Carper to put a new spin on the singer’s belty anthem of life and freedom. Closing the i-Tunes set was DNCE’s pop hit “Cake by the Ocean,” featuring soloists Amanda Hyland and Mallory Ives.
After the i-Tunes finished, the Trentones returned, ready to perform two songs before every group returned to the stage for one final performance. First up was John Mayer’s “Dreaming with a Broken Heart,” featuring freshman soloist Giuliano Falcone. The song began gentle and floaty, but its powerful end left many audience members breathless. The final Trentones song was “Ain’t Got Far to Go,” an upbeat and poppy jam to close out the solo groups for the night, with soloist Irene Yoon.
Every group then returned to the stage to perform the night’s last hit, “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” the summer anthem by Justin Timberlake, which featured at least one soloist from each group.
“I feel like tonight went really great ,” said Nicole Myers, a member of i-Tunes and a senior vocal music education major. “It was our first performance on the Mayo Stage. I know how difficult it is to perform in the space. I’m happy that we had the ability to adjust to it.”
Amanda Hyland, a member of iTunes and a freshman mathematics and secondary education dual major, agreed with Myers that their favorite song to perform that night was “Settle Down.”
“We love the story behind ‘Settle Down,’” Myers said. “I was a little scared for the percussion, but our soloist is so good, and it was great live tonight.”
This was not the last performance of the season for the i-Tunes. The students will be visiting Villanova University the weekend of Friday, Nov. 18, to sing with the university’s a cappella group, A Minor Problem.
On Wednesday, Nov. 30, the i-Tunes will sing alongside the popular a cappella group Philharmonic, which competed on NBC’s pupular competition show “The Sing-Off.”
On Saturday, Dec. 3, the i-Tunes will host “i-Cabaret,” in which members of the group will perform solos, some even with their own instruments.
