NOTEORIOUS captured first place with a record-setting score of 452 at the prestigious International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) in Plymouth on Saturday to advance to the semifinals in Worcester March 12. Members of the NRHS group are (front row, from left) JJ Pruisken, Eulalia Agganis, Alivia Rowe, Sophie Donovan, Lucy Wagner, Mason Murray; (back row, from left) Becca Mooney Green, Dylan Mills, Fahd Benhafoune, Colin Chin, Katie Leach, Piper Kirwin, Eddie McNeil, Vinny Costantino. (Courtesy Photo)
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
PLYMOUTH — Last Saturday was a record-setting day for the NRHS a cappella group, NOTEorious.
Not only did the 14-member vocal group capture first place in the Northeast division at the prestigious International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) competition, they achieved the highest score ever attained at this competition in the high school quarterfinals — 452 points out of a possible 465, setting a new record.
“They beat the New Jersey Northern Highlands Regional High School’s 2020 score of 451,” said NOTEorious Director Allison Kane, adding, “This competition has a rigorous application process so just being accepted is a huge accomplishment.”
“In addition, Colin Chin and Lucy Wagner won outstanding musical arrangement for the entire set, and Lucy Wagner and Katie Leach won individual awards for outstanding choreography for the entire set,” she said.
Finishing second at the Northeast quarterfinals was South Avenue, representing the host school, Plymouth South High School, with 370 points. The third-place group was Voices ReChoired from Marlborough High School with 321 points.
All three schools have advanced to the ICHSA semifinals at Mechanics Hall in Worcester on Saturday, March 12 at 3 p.m. where they will be joined by at least three other semifinalists, Falconize from Danvers High School plus The Thursdays and The Crescendos, both from Chelmsford High School.
The highest quarterfinal score was established at ICHSA in 2007 by the Cheyenne Mountain High School Crimson with 403 points, which held until 2016. Two schools, DeKalb H.S. Enharmonic Fusion and Port Washington H.S. Limited Edition, broke that record in 2016 with 437 points. In 2018, two schools established the new record wit 440 points, Appomattox Regional Governor’s School Dragon Scales and New Manchester H.S. InToneNation. Two years later, the Northern Highlands Regional H.S. Highlands Voices set the new mark to beat at 451, which NOTEorious achieved with its score of 452.
The 17th ICHSA competition, produced by Varsity Vocals, includes 185 groups with more than 2,800 performers representing the Northeast, South, Southwest, Central, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, West and U.K. — all vying for a spot in the finals to be held in New York City at the Town Hall Theater April 22.
“A cappella is a really cool genre. It is ever-evolving. If you think back to doo wop and then to more modern versions that use the voice to replicate the sounds of instruments, it is always something different,” Kane believes.
“NOTEorious tries to push the envelope and look at different ways of performing a cappella,” she told the Transcript. “The song arrangements are written with influences from Jacob Collier and Eric Whitacre – two very different musicians and writers who have taken arranging voice parts to a new art form.”
NOTEorious opens its set with “Snakeskin” by Rina Sawayama then moves seamlessly to “Grow” by Frances. The nearly 9:30 minute set closes with “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler from the 1984 hit “Footloose.”
“For a competition you can choose any songs you want that are age- and school-appropriate. Some schools choose all thematic songs. Some choose all the same genre,” Kane explained. “We chose to challenge ourselves by doing three different types of songs and finding a musical through-line within them.”
“The songs were chosen by the students and the arrangements of the songs are written by Colin Chin and Lucy Wagner with me guiding them. They had to write it in a way that we could modulate from one song to another or hold pitch while we get a new song starting,” she said. “Proud doesn’t begin to express how happy I am for them.”
Saturday’s record-setting performance can be viewed at this link: https://youtu.be/L3XExC6yKIY
Fan bus
Tickets for the semifinal contest in Worcester on Saturday, March 12 at 3 p.m. are $20 per person. For the convenience of the fans, a fan bus has been arranged through NRHS at $10 per rider. It’s a 70-minute ride to Worcester and parking is “NOTEoriously” difficult in the city, so they hope their fans will take advantage of this opportunity to ride the fan bus and get primed to cheer them on in Worcester.
The link to buy semifinal tickets is: https://varsityvocals.com/event/2022-ichsa-ne-sf-mechanics-hall/
Early arrival is recommended and patrons should have proof of vaccination and photo ID ready to present as they enter Mechanics Hall, as these items will be checked before concert tickets are scanned.