Feature Story

November 7, 2013 | By Josie DiNovo ’17

Fans reacted with loud applause as 10 a cappella groups stormed the stage during OWU’s Nov. 2 A Cappellooza. One group had to stop singing until the cheers and applause quieted. (Photo by Josie DiNovo ’17)

Ohio Wesleyan Hosts A Cappellooza

Ohio Wesleyan’s Pitch Black female a cappella group entertains the crowd at the first A Cappellooza. The Campus Programming Board hopes to make the event an annual OWU tradition. (Photo by Josie DiNovo ’17)

Gray Chapel was filled with laughs, cheers, and beautiful music Nov. 2 as 10 singing groups performed during Ohio Wesleyan University’s first A Cappellooza.

The a cappella singing event featured groups from Ohio Wesleyan, Denison, Wittenberg, Akron, Oberlin, and a professional a cappella group. The groups performed songs ranging from gospel tunes, to the Pokémon theme, to “I Will Survive.” The audience was appreciative of the performances, with one group having to stop mid-song to let thunderous applause to die down.

“For the numbers that made them happy, they were really animated about it, and they cheered and everything,” says Aletta Doran ’17, an OWU choir member who attended the event. “That made it more fun that the audience got into it.”

Urvija Rishi ’17 adds that watching the Ohio Wesleyan groups perform made her proud to be a part of the University.

“I thought it was pretty awesome, Rishi says. “I’ve never been to an a cappella show before. … I cheered so hard when the JAYwalkers and Pitch Black came on stage and left stage.”

Fans reacted with loud applause as 10 a cappella groups stormed the stage during OWU’s Nov. 2 A Cappellooza. One group had to stop singing until the cheers and applause quieted. (Photo by Josie DiNovo ’17)

The final group to take the stage was Overboard!, a professional group from Boston whose performance included one member giving attendees an impromptu beat-boxing lesson.

“They were good performers, too, because they didn’t just sing a cappella and move on to the next a cappella song,” Doran says. “They interacted with the audience, which was fun.”

Ohio Wesleyan’s Campus Programming Board (CPB) sponsored A Cappellooza, the University’s first a cappella-focused event.

Kassidy Spring ’15, a major force in planning A Cappellooza, says she was pleased by the number of participants and the large, enthusiastic crowd.

“I think that it’s cool that although it [was] Halloween weekend, we still have five groups from other campuses coming as well as our four groups on campus and a professional group,” Spring says.

The CPB plans many OWU events, including Day on the JAY and Stuyin’ Up All Night. But this one was different because it was open to the entire Delaware community and other schools.

“What’s different about this event compared to our other events is that we’re really trying to attract the public, like Delaware,” says Nicole Nitti ’16, a CPB president. “So we’ve done a lot more marketing and publicity for this event than we do for our other events.”

The event was so successful that CPB hopes to make it an annual Ohio Wesleyan tradition.

“It has the potential, we think … to be an annual event or just something like it because a cappella’s really popular,” Nitti says.