We are all of us singers, said Vocalosity director Deke Sharon — singers like the birds, crickets, and whales. Singing, he said, is the oldest art form, with communities joined together for millennia in times of celebration and struggle, music note by music note, through religious songs, bar songs, fight songs, all kinds of songs. For most of history, everyone sang. When the members of Vocalosity harmonize together on the Granada Theatre stage on Friday, November 11, at 8 p.m., Sharon feels his 10-piece a capella group will inspire audience members to find their own inner voice, as the internationally membered vocal group showcase their uniquely diversified and inventive style covering works from across pop music history.
Sharon is the contemporary a capella visionary behind the Pitch Perfect films and The Sing-Off series, which televises worldwide in the U.S., China, the Netherlands, and South Africa. He feels Vocalosity is in many ways the culmination of his previous projects, namely in their ability to bring the joy of a capella off the screen to a live stage. “A capella music is best live, and always has been, because it builds a connection between people,” he said. While most people have fallen in love with a capella through works like Pitch Perfect and YouTube sensations such as Pentatonix, “these are all on screens — Vocalosity brings an amazing all-star group into people’s hometown, and they feel the connection and power that the vocal music has.”
The group is known for their imaginative medleys, and Vocalosity is not simply content to sing a playlist. Instead, they build narratives, like a love story told through the lyrics Motown’s greatest hits, or telling a history of song from 10th century Gregorian chants to the Beatles. “Every set is different,” Sharon said of their concerts, which are choreographed by Stomp original cast member Sean Curran.