Wyvern Invitational a Cappella Festival (WIAF) - Kingswood Oxford

Wyvern Invitational a Cappella Festival (WIAF)

Our 2023 WIAF performance featureD Deke Sharon!

 

 

Heralded as “The Father of Contemporary A Cappella,” Deke Sharon is responsible for the current sound of modern a cappella. He produced NBC’s The Sing-Off and was the arranger, on-site music director, and vocal producer for Universal’s Pitch Perfect.

 

 

One of the Largest High School

A Cappella Festivals in New England

 

The WIAF Hits all the Right Notes – Celebratory, Competitive, & Collaborative

 

The Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival was founded in 2009 by KO music directors Marcos Carreras and David Baker ’04 with the help of Emmett Drake (Hall High School). The original plan was to create a local a cappella festival that would be competitive but also a celebration of high school singing. Most importantly, the WIAF was founded in partnership with Team Tobati to help raise money for improving the lives of disadvantaged youth in Tobati, Paraguay.

 

The first festival included three ensembles from Kingswood Oxford (Crimson 7) and Hall High School (Voce di Coeli and a Cafella.) Still, to this day, Crimson 7 and a Cafella continue to participate and compete in the festival! Since then, the WIAF has grown into New England’s largest high school a cappella festival, with groups from Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts annually.

 

The WIAF also brings a wide array of professionals in the a cappella, choral, and music business to adjudicate and provide critical feedback for the groups involved. Currently, the WIAF is organized and run by a committee comprised of KO faculty led by WIAF Committee Director Todd Millen and partnered with the Team Tobati Director Ron Garcia.