A Cappella Festival Brings Down the House

While everyone was running to the grocery store for bread and milk to prepare for the impending snowmaggedon on Sunday, high school students on Saturday night had other intentions. Nine a cappella choruses competed before an enthusiastic crowd in this year’s Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival. Headlining the evening was a performance by Iris Vocal Trio! (KO Middle School graduate Andrew Kim’s professional group). Two members of Iris Vocal Trip served as judges other judge is a local performer who has toured nationally with productions like Cabaret. Proceeds from the event went to Team Tobati, an organization that connects young people to community service initiatives while improving their standard of living and education in Tobati, Paraguay. 

The competing choirs included:

Crimson 7, KO, directed by David Baker

Oxfordians, KO, Thom Griffith director

Unlike the Rest, Wilton High School, Will Mandelbaum

Revolution, Conservatory of the Arts Magnet School, Marcos Carreras, director

Be S#harp, Conard High School, Sam Eurich director

Onomotopoeia, Lexington High School, Sarah Labrie

Peanut Butter & Jelly, Lexington High School, Sarah Labrie

Perilhettes, Miss Porter’s School, Patrick Reardon

The Grapes, Ethel Walker School, Laurie MacAlpine director

Crimson 7 sang “Valerie” (by Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse) with Leo Kollen ’26 singing the solo and Riley Mapp ’26 on vocal percussion/beatbox.  Their second song was “Grease Got a Hold On Me” from the musical The Outsiders, arranged by Kim for them.  He also offered a workshop for all competing groups, where they could show him their set and receive feedback before the competition.  The other two members of Iris provided a second workshop on musicianship and performance technique, where they helped all groups work on vowel sounds, group dynamics, balance, and blend.  For “Grease Got a Hold On Me,” Crimson 7 had four soloists (Jason Chen ’26, Marco Ramirez ’27, Riley Mapp ’26, and Gordon Beck ’26) as well as beatboxing by Mapp again.  Crimson 7 choreographed both songs for the performance, with Kollen and Mapp leading development and instruction.

Oxfordians sang two songs, an Abba classic, “Thank You For the Music” with Danica Arwen de Dios ’27 as soloist, and “Silver Springs” (originally performed by Fleetwood Mac) with Molly Palmer ’27, Marlee Diana ’26, and Sarah Balog ’27 as soloists. “Thank You For the Music” was choreographed by the group.

Both groups did an excellent job preparing for the festival and earned high marks from the judges.  The “Silver Springs” arrangement for Oxfordians was particularly complex, and the “Valerie” performance included crowd involvement, with group members dancing in the audience and on stage with audience members.  

While KO’s groups didn’t receive top awards this year, Leo Kollen was selected as Best Male Vocalist, and Riley Mapp won the People’s Choice Beatbox Battle as the crowd favorite beatboxer.  Lexington’s two a cappella groups, PB&J and Onomatopoeia, took 1st and 2nd place, respectively. Conard High School’s B S#arp took 3rd place, and Wilton High School’s Unlike the Rest won honorable mention for group ensembles.

Big thank yous to Todd Millen for running the WIAF as well as Ron Garcia for emceeing the event with his fantastic anecdotes, and Paul Merchant for his technical support, running sound checks for all nine groups before the performance and coordinating lighting, staging, etc.) as well as stage manager Hannah Bateson ’26 who organized a team of students for mic and staging support.