THE BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA
Keith Lockhart, Conductor
A COMPANY CHRISTMAS AT POPS
Wednesday evening, December 14, 2011, at 8pm
Symphony Hall
Boston, MA, U.S.A.
Presenting
ROCKAPELLA
Scott Leonard • Jeff Thacher • George Baldi • John K. Brown • Steven Dorian
1 I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day 00:00
2 Little Drummer Boy (Carol of the Drum) 01:39
3 Silver Bells (a capella) 06:33
4 Angels We Have Heard on High 09:36
5 Glow Worm/It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas 14:28
6 Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree 17:22
7 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town 21:58
A concert by Rockapella opens a window on practically the whole history of vocal music from vintage Mills Brothers through jazz and rock to current hip-hop. With the success of the TV smash Glee and active a cappella groups on many college campuses, there is clearly a hunger for exciting live vocal performance. The seemingly impossible full-band sound of Rockapella comes from just five guys with microphones. The current Rockapella lineup features Scott Leonard (since 1991/ high tenor, chief songwriter and arranger), Jeff Thacher (1993/vocal percussionist), George Baldi III (2002/bass), John K. Brown (2004/tenor), and Steven Dorian (2010/tenor). The group's latest CD and 20th recording. Bang, showcases thirteen original songs (with at least one composition by each member) and a bonus cover of Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk." Since the group's inception, there have been a dozen men who have belonged to Rockapella. In 1993 Rockapella had the foresight to upgrade with the powerful full-time addition of mouth drummer (and Berklee School of Music graduate) Jeff. As one of the pioneers of the form, he was the inventor of the use of special acoustic pick-ups that could capture his guttural throat sounds along with the brass-instrumentstyle "spitting" sonic effects captured by the hand microphones that are the trademark of modern "beatboxing." Another bonding element in Rockapella is that all of the singers are veterans of the Disney talent-development enterprise.
Naturally, Rockapella is a moniker that describes their artful meld of rock and a cappella. The group is best known in the United States as the innovative entertainers on 295 episodes of PBS's Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? The 10 million kids (and parents!) who tuned in weekly during its heyday from 1991 to 1996 have created a powerful fan base, and the show's theme song is still the group's most downloaded song. The group appeared early on in the PBS "Do It A Cappella" special hosted by Spike Lee. They have been guests on Whoopi Goldberg's TV specials, appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and have sung jingles for Folgers coffee, Almond Joy, and in custom promos for The Today Show. More recently, they branched out by performing with the Boston Pops Orchestra. For these performances, Scott helped to create special arrangements for both Rockapella and the Pops. The group originated as an a cappella quartet of Brown University graduates singing doo-wop on New York City street corners in 1986. Over the decades Rockapella has evolved into a high-energy concert performance troupe that travels the globe giving at least 80 concerts a year, appearing regularly in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Switzerland, and Germany.
#Rockapella