Music performed a cappella, less commonly spelled a capella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term a cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for alla breve.
The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1970s and early 1980s. Thereafter they began to reach a wider American audience, appearing frequently on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the United States. In 1987, they were prominently featured as guests on the Emmy Award-winning ABC television special Julie Andrews: The Sound of Christmas.
Bella Voce is a Chicago-based chamber chorus specializing in classical a cappella music. It has been called "Chicago's premier professional chamber choir."
Collegiate a cappella ensembles are college-affiliated singing groups, primarily in the United States, and, increasingly, the United Kingdom and Ireland, that perform entirely without musical instruments. The groups are typically composed of, operated by, and directed by students. In the context of collegiate a cappella, the term a cappella typically also refers to the music genre performed by pop-centric student singing groups. Consequently, an ensemble that sings unaccompanied classical music may not be considered an a cappella group, even though technically it is performing a cappella.
The Cornell University Glee Club (CUGC), founded in 1868, is the oldest student organization at Cornell University. The CUGC is a thirty-nine member chorus for tenor and bass voices, with repertoire including classical, folk, 20th-century music, and traditional Cornell songs. The Glee Club also performs major works with the Cornell University Chorus such as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Handel's Messiah, and Bach's Mass in B Minor.
Deke Sharon is an American singer, arranger, composer, director, producer, author, coach, pioneer, and teacher of a cappella music, and is one of the leaders and promoters of the contemporary a cappella community. He has been referred to as "the father of contemporary a cappella" and "the godfather of a cappella".
The Tallis Scholars is a British professional early music vocal ensemble established in 1973. Normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers, they specialise in performing a cappella sacred vocal music. The founder and conductor is Peter Phillips. The group has released over 60 discs through its own label, Gimell Records. In 2013 they were elected to the Gramophone Hall of Fame. In 2023, to mark the group's 50th anniversary, Gramophone published a special edition of its magazine, dedicated to The Tallis Scholars.
The University of Michigan Men's Glee Club is an all-male glee club at the University of Michigan. With roots tracing back to 1859, it is the second oldest glee club in the United States and is the oldest student organization at the university. The club has won the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod on four separate occasions. Since 2018, the Club's musical director has been Mark Stover, who has continued to expand the Club's repertoire and arranged performances.
North Royalton High School is a public high school located in North Royalton, Ohio, United States, a suburban community in Greater Cleveland. Over 1,000 students attend the school. North Royalton is a member of the National Division of the Suburban League. The school colors are purple and gold and athletic teams are known as the Bears.
The Missa Salisburgensis à 53 voci is perhaps the largest-scale piece of extant sacred Baroque music, an archetypal work of the Colossal Baroque that is now universally accepted to be by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. The manuscript score of this Mass was rediscovered in the 1870s in the home of a greengrocer in Salzburg, Austria. It has been said to have narrowly escaped being used to wrap vegetables. In the late 19th century, musicologists, notably August Wilhelm Ambros and Franz Xavier Jelinek, attributed it to Orazio Benevoli, and argued that it had been performed in 1628; however in the mid-1970s, through modern methods of analyzing handwriting, watermarks, and history, Ernst Hintermaier "proved...definitely" that it was not by Benevoli. He also demonstrated that it must have been written for the 1682 commemoration of the 1100th anniversary of the Archbishopric of Salzburg. Hintermaier wrote in 2015 that the evidence rules out both Benevoli and Andreas Hofer, Biber's colleague, and concludes that "... the only possible composer of the Mass and the [companion] motet [for 54 voices, Plaudite Tympana] was Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber... both the sources and the stylistic analysis clearly point to Biber as the author of the works."
The Blenders are a vocal quartet based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival is an annual showcase and competition for a cappella groups of all vocal styles. The competition is organized into seven regional events across the United States, with each winning group advancing to the National Finals in San Rafael, California.
m-pact is an American pop-jazz vocal group based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in June 1995, the band is known for their award-winning vocal arrangements, recordings, and music videos. The name "m-pact" is meant to signify an agreement between the band members to always remain true to the musical and artistic vision of the group. This 'music-pact' began as 5-man ensemble in Seattle, Washington. Conceptually, the founders of m-pact sought to create a group which would combine the harmonic structure and arranging style of vocal jazz ensembles like Take 6 and the New York Voices with a powerful beatbox-driven vocal rhythm section found in groups like Rockapella and The House Jacks. The membership has changed over the years, and the sound of the group has fluctuated to reflect the unique voices of each iteration of the band. However, despite these changes, they have maintained a consistent artistic vision, and to this day they remain true to the original 'pact' of its founding members.
VocalEssence is a non-profit choral music organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Each year the organization presents a series of concerts featuring the 130-voice VocalEssence Chorus and its core group, a 32-voice professional mixed chorus called the Ensemble Singers, along with guest soloists and instrumentalists.
vocaldente are an a cappella quintet from Hanover, Germany.
The Columbus Gay Men's Chorus (CGMC) was formed in 1990 by five people. The non-auditioned chorus maintains the vision of its founding members to foster increased recognition, understanding and acceptance of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons.
Music of the Baroque is an American professional chorus and orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois.
The Oregon Repertory Singers (ORS) is a mixed vocal ensemble in Portland, Oregon, founded in 1974. The choir performs a wide range of works from all time periods and languages, although over the years a special emphasis has been placed on contemporary music of the Americas.
Schola Antiqua is a professional American early music ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois. The group specializes in pre-modern vocal music and is the 2012 winner of the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, an award that recognizes "outstanding contributions to historical performing practices." In 2006 and 2007, Schola Antiqua served as Artist in Residence at the University of Chicago, and the group currently holds an artistic residency at the Lumen Christi Institute. Schola Antiqua of Chicago performs mainly in Chicago but has also presented concerts around the United States and internationally. The choir is under the artistic direction of Michael Alan Anderson from the Eastman School of Music.
Washington, D.C., and its environs are home to an unusually large and vibrant choral music scene, including choirs and choruses of many sizes and types.
