A Cappella Live! Features Committed, The Filharmonic, Blake Lewis and Women of the World

The Borough of Manhattan Community Center Tribeca Performing Arts Center (BMCC TPAC), proudly presents four internationally recognized, contemporary a cappella ensembles on Sunday, March 8 at 3 p.m. at 199 Chambers Street.

This musical celebration from Columbia Artists includes the boy-band sound and moves of The Filharmonic; the rich harmonies of R&B legends Committed; chart-topping lead vocals and live-looping beatbox by Blake Lewis, and internationally-inspired songstresses, Women of the World.

Conceived and arranged by Deke Sharon, vocal producer of Pitch Perfect, the show is built on the classic Motown review tour model, A Cappella Live! Never before have four acts of this caliber been brought together on the same stage on the same night.

A Cappella Live! is guaranteed to appeal to all ages. Each group will perform their best-known hits, and will include large-scale production numbers featuring all four groups, and special surprises.

Reserved seating tickets are $35-40 and can be purchased online, by calling Ticketing Services at (212) 220-1460, or visiting the BMCC TPAC Box Office at 199 Chambers Street, Tuesday through Saturday, from 12 to 6 p.m.

Bios:

Committed is a Nashville-based, award-winning musical group of five talented young men. They emerged as the Season 2 champions of NBC’s hit musical competition The Sing-Off, which reached 9 million viewers weekly. Their album and Christmas EP led them to be nominated for a Grammy, Dove, Stellar and NAACP Image Award. For over a decade, Dennis Baptiste, Geston Pierre, Maurice Staple, Robert Pressley and Theron Thomas have traveled the world sharing their harmonies, teaching workshops and using their influence to make an impact in many communities.

The Filharmonic, an a cappella group of Filipino-American youngsters who were featured in NBC’S hit musical competition, The Sing-Off, has much to sing about. The 5-piece vocal group made the semifinals, joined The Sing-Off national tour, and were featured in the Universal Pictures hit movie, Pitch Perfect 2, then became a viral sensation after their Late Late Show appearances. In 2016, The Filharmonic brought their unique blend of hip hop, pop and 1990s nostalgia to more than 150 stages nationwide and was named the #1 college booked entertainment group of the year. They consist of vocalists Vj Rosales, Joe Caigoy, Trace Gaynor, Vocal Bass Jules Cruz, and Beat Boxer Niko Del Rey.

Blake Lewis first came to national attention as one of the most unique contestants ever to compete on American Idol, and long before that, as a teenager, he was well-known as “Bshorty” in Seattle’s a cappella, hiphop and rave scenes. With the release of his third album, Portrait of a Chameleon, Blake is taking things to a whole new level. The follow-up to the critically acclaimed Audio Day Dream — which sold 350,000 copies and spawned the Top 40 single “Break Anotha” — and Heartbreak on Vinyl, Portrait of a Chameleon runs the gamut from the reggae-tinged Nick Hexum co-write “She Gives Me Her Love,” to the horn-laden, funky-freshness of “Disco in Space,” to the poignant life-on-the-fringe cautionary tale “Not Today,” which was inspired by Blake’s mother, whom he considers his main inspiration.

Women of the World brings women musicians from across the globe onto a common platform to collaborate and create through the sharing of music, and to explore and celebrate the differences in ideologies and cultural tenets that exist for women all over the world. Ayumi Ueda, a Berklee College of Music alumna from Japan, joined forces with like-minded vocal artists, Giorgia Renosto from Italy, Annette Philip from India, Debo Ray from USA/Haiti to manifest this vision. Constantly searching for new genres to explore, the group has performed in 34 languages (and counting) including Bulgarian, Cuban, Ladino, Brazilian, Turkish, Kenyan, Haitian, Indian, Italian and Japanese music.

Deke Sharon (Creator) has been performing professionally since the age of eight, and as a child toured North America and shared the stage in operas with the likes of Pavarotti. Heralded as “The Father of Contemporary A Cappella,” he is responsible for the current sound of modern a cappella, having created the dense vocal-instrumental sound in college, and spreading it around the world. Deke produced “The Sing-Off” in the USA, Netherlands, China and South Africa, earning the highest ratings of any new, unscripted television show in the United States in 2009, and recognized as the third-highest rated show on NBC in 2010. In addition, Deke served as arranger, on-site music director and vocal producer for Universal’s Pitch Perfect, Pitch Perfect 2 and Pitch Perfect 3 starring Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson.