Filharmonic and Straight No Chaser

How did I get lucky enough to see two wonderful a cappella groups perform in Rochester within two weeks?

First, we were invited by our friends Stephen and Caroline to attend the Filharmonic at Nazareth. No, that is not a spelling mistake. The Filharmonic is a group of five Filipino-American men – 3 tenors, a bass, and today’s requisite beat boxer. They were featured on the Sing-Off and in Pitch Perfect 2. Amazingly, the beat boxer at the performance we attended was a substitute, and he was incredible! These young men put on quite a show. I didn’t recognize many of their songs, but a young woman behind me with a beautiful voice did (I learned she’s studying voice at Nazareth), and she was singing along perfectly when audience participation was solicited.

Next, we were invited by our friends Betsy and Rick to Straight No Chaser’s concert at the Auditorium. I’ve been a fan of their “12 Days of Christmas” for years. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s a YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Straight No Chaser (SNC) is 9-men strong, including one outstanding beat boxer. It’s funny that each group had to explain to the audience that they weren’t using any instruments or recordings, and both groups gave a demonstration of beat boxing to prove it – here’s SNC’s: https://youtu.be/fXM84RR85Lw (and yes, they allowed us to video them, as long as we hashtag the videos. I'll need to figure out what that means...)

Each half of the performance was introduced with a video featuring John Michael Higgins, and he was just as funny as he was as the misogynist emcee in the Pitch Perfect films. SNC has a great patter between numbers that is just as funny as some of their songs, like their Disney Medley. https://youtu.be/R3oYUzctWzo 

Many of the group’s numbers were familiar, but their tight harmonies and percussion made them wonderfully fresh. For their final encore, SNC treated us to something you rarely see these days – they put down their microphones, and sang unamplified, as in the good old days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH3B6V7cdzw

Neither of these shows was sold out, which puzzled me (many of the performances in SNC's tour are). However, I was glad, because it meant it wasn't impossible to get tickets, like it would be in some larger cities. In fact, Charlie's cousin from North Carolina came to visit for the weekend specifically to see Straight No Chaser - whodathunkit?

Curiously, despite the Pitch Perfect franchise focusing on a female group, most of the popular professional a cappella groups are all-male (or, like Pentatonix, have one token woman). Perhaps that’s because women’s groups do ‘drama’ better than men, but men’s groups have more vocal range and sound diversity (some of these guys sing as high as many sopranos) and are somehow just, well, funnier. Did someone mention Pentatonix? Any chance of them coming to Rochester? Part of the Eastman Presents series, perhaps? Or a way for The Vine at del Lago Resort to step up their game? I'd be first in line for tickets, and it would sell out, for sure...