Voicebox a cappella group from UCF has sung its way to the finals of this weekend’s International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in New York.
The 13-member group, which formed in the fall of 2014, beat out another UCF group – Gemini Boulevard – in the southern regionals to advance. The competition started with nearly 350 groups and is down to the final nine winners of regional contests from the United States and Europe.
“If we win, this will put UCF on the map in the a cappella community,” said Harrison Acosta, co-director of the group and a senior music major. “It’s difficult to get this far, but everyone in the south knows about us now.”
The annual competition takes place from January through April, with the Friday finals to be held at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan, where this year’s Tony Awards also will be held.
Voicebox has been busy the past few months. The group placed 3rd at the SoJam A Cappella Festival in Atlanta and 2nd at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella quarterfinals. Last month the group won the ICCA South semifinals in South Carolina. At that competition, special awards were presented to Acosta for outstanding arrangement, and to Acosta, Sami Sorce and Morganne Evans for outstanding choreography.
Others in the group are co-director Alexandra Quantz, Christine Sack, Colleen Nelson, Michael Basco, Dylan Henry, Zachary Anderson, Sydney Dotson, Jordan Goslin, Michael Farley and D.J. Paradis.
For the finals, Voicebox plans to present a 10½-minute set of songs based on the Hocus Pocus television show on the Disney Channel.
Acosta said the finals will give Voicebox some TV exposure. The competition will be taped and shown later on Netflix.
The group hasn’t quite reached is fundraising goal, so is asking supporters to go to Gofundme.com/voicebox.