“We got lucky because we hit right in the sweet spot, being on the front edge of it with ‘The Sing Off’ and all that kind of stuff,” Brody McDonald, Fairmont’s director of choirs, told us in a previous interview. “It’s been good because we had a chance to play Johnny Appleseed. We did our first presentation about a cappella to the state teacher’s conference all the way back in 2007.”
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“We did it again in ’08 and then ’10,” McDonald continued. “Then as we started this festival, we saw schools were forming groups all over the place. Some of them were even forming just to come to the festival. We like to think we have a little hand in the growth of it all, although I’m sure it would’ve happened inevitably.”
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ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The annual festival will feature more than 60 high school and college a cappella groups participating in workshops and performances. On Friday night, one of the headlining groups, Stiletta, will be joined at the Trent Arena in Kettering by the eight groups selected by video submission. Then, on Saturday night, the weekend of a capella ends with a performance by the festival’s other headliner, Rockapella.
Apart from the Main Stage events, guests and performers alike have the opportunity to experience an Aca-Bomb performance. These performances will take place in a more intimate setting without the use of microphones, allowing the performer to form a closer connection to the audience.
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“It has just gotten huge,” said McDonald, author of “A Cappella Pop: A Complete Guide to Contemporary A Cappella Singing.” “For a lot of the early years, we were running 13 to 20 groups. Then, once we got into 30 we were like, ‘Oh, this is so big.’ Then after Pentatonix showed up in 2013 we hit the 50s and after that the number of groups just kept going up.”
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THE SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 8, 2019
Academic Showcase: Featuring 8 groups selected by video submission and a performance by Stiletta
Soundchecks throughout the afternoon from 3-6:30 for guest groups
7:00 p.m. — Doors open
7:30 p.m. — Concert begins
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Daytime Festival
8:00 a.m. — Check-in opens
9:00 a.m. — Festival begins
Group clinics, masterclasses and performances throughout the day
Breakfast and Lunch available through the concessions stand
5:30 p.m. — Festival ends
Catered dinner available (through REGISTRATION form)
Evening Concert
featuring local groups Fusion and Eleventh Hour and national act Rockapella
6:15 — doors open
7:00 p.m. — Concert begins
WANT TO GO?
What: Kettering National A Cappella Festival with student groups and headliners Stiletta and Rockapella
Where: Trent Arena, 3301 Shroyer Road, Kettering
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8 and 9
Cost: $15 Friday, $20 Saturday
More info: Website