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A Cappella Concert packs

Kori Bowns
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Since their founding in 2007,
[IT’S student A cappella groups have been
presenting concerts each semester to show off
their hard work and talent to friends, fellow IIT
students, and their families. The Spring 2015 A
Cappella Concert took place Friday, April 17,
2015. Due to construction on the ceiling of
Hermann Hall’s auditorium, the concert was
moved from its originally-scheduled location
in the Hermann Hall Auditorium to the south
court of Keating Sports Center.

“Mash-ups” was the theme of this
semester’s concert, with each of the groups
performing mashup arrangements of popular
tunes along with a few other songs. A Cappella
President Peter Z‘urowski opened the event by
thanking those in attendance, noting that the
Spring concert was the most well—attended he
has seen during his time with the organization.

The first group to perform was IIT
A Cappella’s Crown Ioules, an all-male group

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directed by Alexander Mitchell. The group
performed their own rendition of four songs:
Mark Iames’ “Hooked on a Feeling,” Freddie
Mercury’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,"
and their own version of Pentatonix’s Daft
Punk mashup, featuring an impressive solo
performance by Zurowski.

Next to perform were The
X—Chromotones, A Cappella’s all-female group
directed by Amy Czarkowski, who performed
five songs. “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
‘Cuz You’re a Sexy Bitch,” a mashup of two
songs by She 8t Him and David Guetta, was
their first song, featuring solo performances
by Veronica Castorena, Faiza_ Lalani, and
Christina Castillo. Kaylynn Barker was the
group’s soloist in The X-Chromotones’ next
song, “You Make My Dreams Come True,”
originally performed by Hall St Oats. The
group then performed a remix of R. Kelly’s
“Ignition,” originally arranged by The Ragtime
Gals. “Blackbird,” the classic Beatles song, was
then performed with solos by Sarah Williams,
Nicolette Lewis, and Jennifer Korleskj. To

 

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wrap up the Chromotones’ set, David Bowie
and Queen’s “Under Pressure” was performed
featuring solos from Czarkowski and Emma
Ghariani.

The last group to perform was IIT
A Cappella’s coed group, The Techtonics,
directed by Christian Perez. They performed
four songs during the concert, starting with
Matsiyahu’s “One Day,” featuring a solo by
Carlos Bustamente. Another Beatles’ hit,
“Here Comes the Sun,” was then performed
with a solo performance by Charlie Sommers.
The Techtonics’ mashup song was called “Stay
Next to Me,” a combination of two hit songs
by Sam Smith and Emile Sande, featuring two
powerful performances by Dana Buetow and
Anne Crotteau. The Techtonics turned up the
energy to conclude their set with Mark Ronson
and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk,” featuring a
solo performance by Khadija Nesbitt that got
the crowd pumped.

At the conclusion ofthe concert, all
three groups took the stage for a group song;
the final song of the evening; “All About That

Keating

Super Bass,” was a mashup of two immensely
popular songs by Meghan Trainer and Nicki
Minaj. The final performance of the night
featured several soloists, including Karlene
Gibbs, Buetow, Collin Dunn, and Castillo.

X-Chromotones Director
Czarkowski reflects positively on the event.
She thanks Al Mitchell, who worked on the
audio in Keating to help the A Cappella groups
be heard over intramural sports happening
on the north court of upper level. She says the
change of venue did provide some challenges
to the group, but worked out all right in the
end. “We were trying to decide between IIT
Tower and Keating for the concert, and the
main reason we chose Keating was because it
could fit way more people. I’m glad we chose
it too, since so many people showed up that we
had to get out extra folding chairs. We’ve been
getting more popular since A Cappella began
at IIT,” said Czarkowski.

 

Photos hv- Kori Ban ,

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