Alyssa VanPelt-Cathcart, Staff Writer
The SUNY Oneonta Co-Ed Acapella group hosted Coffee House on November 9th, 2024, in the Fine Arts Building on campus.
To start the event, the president welcomed everyone and introduced the first song. The first song was “Chim Chim Cheree” originating from the Disney classic, Mary Poppins. It was performed by their male ensemble.Their performance led to a very fun start to the event. The President mentioned that they only had two weeks to develop, practice, and perform an acapella rendition of the song. Extremely impressive as they were well-synced and cohesive.
The first solo performance was Jessica Davis who sang “Vienna” by Billy Joel. Davis did an amazing job of bringing in the same nostalgic pull that Joel has. Their second performance was Samantha Ferriera who sang “All I Ask” by Adele. Ferriera has such a rich voice which is suited to a music style such as Adele’s. Next was Quinn Hayes performing “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan while providing his own acoustic guitar. The fourth performance was by Haley Saunders who sang “Happier” by Olivia Rodrigo. Kai Allums was their fifth singer as he sang “The Ballad of Jane Doe” by Ride The Cyclone. Allums, despite having performed in the “Chim Chim Cheree” as one of the tenors or basses, he kicked off his singing in soprano. It was truly amazing to hear the full range of his voice. Ava Cancredi was their sixth soloist. Cancredi sang “Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall. Her voice had such a nice richness and a lot of energy. Additionally, her vocal additions of “yeah yeah yeah” flowed very naturally as she sang.
Hooked on Tonics performed as an entire ensemble. They sang “Think About Things.” The group kicked off the second half of the show with an energetic performance. Quinn Hayes led as the lead vocalist for the duration of the performance and TJ, a former member, provided the beatboxing. TJ has been assisting the Coffee House show as their DJ and sound support.
The seventh soloist is Brian Torna, sang “Blame It On Me” by George Ezra. Torna did a phenomenal job with his strong vocals and articulation. The eighth soloist was Aaron Tomasello who sang “Please Please Please” by Sabrina Carpenter. His performance of this song was cool to listen to as the original was done by a female singer, so his performance created a unique richness. His vocals were very clear and crisp during his performance allowing the emotion of the song to come through. Kat Shulman is their ninth vocalist who sang “Heart of Stone” from SIX: The Musical. Shulman gave an introduction of the song where she explained the historical aspect of Henry VIII’s wives. Shulman’s performance was able to capture the heartbreaking story of Jane Seymour. The tenth vocalist was Martin Lewis who performed an original song by himself titled, “Nobody Sticks.” Lewis performed this song of heartbreak to the accompaniment of him playing piano. The last soloist was Megan Bevilacqua who sang “Who Can It Be Now” by Men At Work. Bevilacqua had a fun interpretation as it was very jazzy.
The last song of the evening was sung by the whole ensemble. Unlike the first two ensembles, they performed “Say Something,” a very somber song. However, this allowed for a cozy conclusion. If anyone missed this performance, it has been posted to Instagram, @hookedontonicsoffical. It would be a pleasure for readers to visit their page.
That was excellent! I really enjoyed the whole event! I would like to say I’m so proud of my daughter Samantha. I was in tears of Happiness. I love you Samantha. Keep up the good work.