From the creative mind of Deke Sharon comes the “aca-perfect” concert experience Vocalosity, which will be at MemAud on Wednesday. Ohio University student a cappella group Title IX will open the show.
Deke Sharon said he wakes up every morning and gets to do what he loves, and what he loves is a cappella.
Sharon has produced, directed and arranged a cappella performances for NBC’s The Sing-Off, Lifetime’s Pitch Slapped and even worked on the set of Pitch Perfect. But only one of his creations has been dubbed his “baby”: Vocalosity.
The a cappella group Vocalosity will perform in the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Even though the production was still new when Andrew Holzaepfel, the senior associate director of the Campus Involvement Center, first saw it last January, he said he felt confident in bringing it to OU given the popularity of the Pitch Perfect movies and Sharon’s répertoire.
Seán Curran, known for his work on Stomp, works alongside Sharon and the a cappella group as the show’s choreographer.
“Given those two individual’s involvement, we felt pretty good moving ahead with booking it even though it was still in the early stages of development at that point,” Holzaepfel said.
From songs by Ed Sheeran to The Beatles to Michael Jackson, Vocalosity will be performing a wide range of tunes, Sharon said. He said the focus is on the popular music of the past five decades but will venture into certain areas such as a parody of The Sound of Music. Sharon added that the audience should “expect the unexpected.”
“The human voice is the oldest instrument and the most powerful,” Sharon said. “We wanted to create a show that showcases what the human voice can do.”
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Holzaepfel said the all women’s a cappella group Title IX will open up for Vocalosity.
Kori Chenetski, a member of Title IX, said the group was asked to kick off the concert.
“It’s a great opportunity, and we’re really honored,” Chenetski, a junior studying child and family studies, said.
Vocalosity combines the worlds of Pitch Perfect and Pitch Slapped, Sharon said. Everyone is professionally trained like in Pitch Perfect, but it is more raw like Pitch Slapped.
“There is no more of a powerful connection between the audience and the performer than in a cappella,” Sharon said. “It’s impossible to feel that other than in person.”
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