Marquette will host its very first a cappella group showcase at the Varsity Theater at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4.
The festival will feature a total of seven a cappella ensembles from around the Midwest, including Marquette’s own groups, The Meladies, The Naturals and Gold ‘n Blues. All are guaranteed to captivate music fans.
“The audience can expect high energy and a good variety of music,” said Cate Beauchamp, a founding member of the all-female group, The Meladies. “There will be seven different groups, so the audience is bound to get a little bit of everything.”
The Meladies is the newest of the three a cappella groups at Marquette, as it was established just two years ago.
“We created the group because there were both an all-male and a co-ed group at the time, but there wasn’t yet an all-female presence in a cappella,” said Beauchamp, a senior in the College of Engineering.
With support from Gold ‘n Blues, Beauchamp and friends were able to complete the a cappella triad and subsequently provide more of an opportunity for female vocalists around campus.
Beauchamp and The Meladies will be performing two or three contemporary pop songs, which should appeal to the massive projected turnout. Parents tickets already sold out, and student tickets will be distributed first come, first serve at the door Saturday. Considering that the show is free for Marquette students, she encourages them to take advantage of the privilege.
Since there was not an all-girls presence in a cappella before The Meladies, females were not offered the opportunity to sing a cappella on campus until the founding of Gold ‘n Blues.
“Gold ‘n Blues was established by a number of girls living in McCormick who wanted to create the chance for girls to get involved in a cappella at Marquette,” said Allison Jacobs, a senior in the College of Health Sciences and a member of The Gold ‘n Blues.
Similar to The Meladies, Gold ‘n Blues will be debuting two relatively modern-day pop songs in hopes of charming what is expected to be a young audience.
“The audience can count on a fun and entertaining show as well as new music,” Jacobs said.
While both the Meladies and Gold ‘n Blues are certain to deliver a captivating performance, Acatoberfest in its entirety would not be possible without the all-male group and “founding fathers” of a cappella on Marquette’s campus, The Naturals.
“The Naturals was created in 2003 as an offshoot of choir,” explained Nick Clerkin, president of The Naturals and a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences. “As a cappella grew bigger, more and more people from the choir decided to branch off into it.”
Clerkin, who helped create Acatoberfest, clarifies that even though the group was established in 2003, it was not until just three or four years ago that it was able to thoroughly establish its own individuality as a student-led group and build off of that identity.
A predominant figure in Marquette’s a cappella scene, Clerkin can attest to the extraordinary amount of talent audiences can experience this weekend.
“The audience can definitely expect a level of a cappella that has really never happened on this campus before,” Clerkin said. “The production will be phenomenal, and I think that people are going to be blown away by how professional the show is.”
All three Marquette-based a cappella groups will have individual shows this fall, as well as a Christmas concert in which all three will be collaborating. However, for Clerkin, the goal is to make an invitational such as Acatoberfest an annual event on campus.
