This past weekend, students, parents & supporters of a cappella alike all gathered in the Ithaca High School Kulp Auditorium to be blown away by a cappella groups stemming from colleges and universities throughout the central region. The entirety of the show lasted about three hours total, starting at 7 p.m., and featured several different a cappella groups — three of which were from our own Ithaca College!

The ICCA — International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella — is a competition between collegiate a cappella groups throughout the country. The competition’s roots stem from 1996 where it began in a dorm room but has since expanded its friendly competitive vibe to over 450 groups worldwide.

During the Feb. 6th performance, however, only nine groups performed and two of those groups will proceed to the next round of the Central Region Semifinals. Every performance was astounding and featured music from old school Queen (performed by Binghamton University’s The Rhythm Methods) to the hit pop song “She’s Kinda Hot” (Syracuse University’s the Otto Tunes). There was even some Kanye West thrown in the mix which was performed by second place winners The Midnight Ramblers from University of Rochester. There were also performances by other popular IC a cappella groups such as Ithacapella and IC Voicestream, who both gave amazing performances as well.

However, the stage was truly taken over by Premium Blend from Ithaca College who took first place in the competition. They sang (and beat-boxed) a beautiful mashup that included John Mayer’s “Into Your Atmosphere”, which also won member Sara de Aguila an “Outstanding Soloist” special award for her incredible vocals and interpretation of the piece.

It wasn't all about a cappella, though. There was also a special appearance by Cornell University's step team, Phenomenon. The awesome choreography they showed helped pass the time and entertain the audience while judges made the final decisions. To further break up the tension of competition, the emcee invited all competitors on stage for a dance-off set to beat-boxing from some of the group members.

At the end of a long and entertaining night, Ithaca College’s Premium Blend took home the win with 435 points and was invited to sing an encore. The Midnight Ramblers from the University of Rochester took a close second place (432 points) and are also moving on to the next round of Central Region Semifinals at the University of Buffalo on April 2nd. Hope to see you all there!