Purple, red and blue lights melted together behind a cappella group Orange Appeal. The group crooned a Coldplay song without accompaniment or direction.

Orange Appeal, dressed in black shirts and orange ties, ended its rendition of ‘Paradise,’ bowed and started to leave the stage. Liam Fitzpatrick, one of the group’s singers, grabbed the microphone to talk to the audience.

‘And now we have the beautiful and talented Mandarins,’ he said, pointing to the group of female students dressed in purple coming onto the stage.

A collection of a cappella groups performed at the ‘A Cappella for Trevor’ concert Saturday night. The concert featured five groups: Otto Tunes, Main Squeeze, Oy Cappella, Orange Appeal and the Mandarins. It was the closing event for the student-run ‘Life Gets Better Together’ Conference, and the proceeds benefited The Trevor Project, a suicide hotline geared toward LGBTQ teens.

Fitzpatrick and Deanna Payson, a senior political science major and singer for the Mandarins, founded the concert. The two met consistently since August to plan the conference. Eventually they formed a committee to make the discussion a reality, with Fitzpatrick serving as artistic co-chair and Payson as executive co-chair.

Each group at the concert wore a particular color, reflecting the message of LGBTQ diversity and the symbol of the rainbow. Some songsperformed were popular ones, such as the Otto Tunes’ cover of ‘I Won’t Give Up’ by Jason Mraz. Others were mash-ups of songs, such as Main Squeeze’s medley of ‘Dear Prudence’ and ‘Falling Slowly’ by the Beatles and The Swell Season.

The songs featured soloists and background vocals to create the illusion of instruments. There was also a theatrical element to the performances, with groups swaying, pointing, snapping and dancing.

The concert featured a lot of positive reinforcement from both the crowd and the performers. As groups left the stage, the occasional shout of ‘You guys rock!’ came from the crowd. At various points during the concert, the crowd members clapped along and pulled out their cellphones to wave in the air.

At the end of the concert, all five groups gathered onstage for a collaborative song. The groups belted ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry.

‘We chose that as our anthem for anti-bullying,’ Payson said.

As the concert closed, the audience immediately burst into applause. The message of the concert and the music kept students sticking around a little while longer to sing along to a recording of ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ by Journey.

‘We want people to stand up and say something,’ Payson said. ‘We want people to be empowered.’

cmdunder@syr.edu

Published on March 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Claire: cmdunder@syr.edu | @ClaireDunderman