Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents Total Vocal with Deke Sharon in Review
Deke Sharon, Conductor, Arranger, & Creative Director
Distinguished Concerts Singers International
Special Guests: Shelley Regner, Backtrack Vocals, Michael Criso & Filip Rušin, Vocal Percussion
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, NY
April 12, 2025
Lovers of a cappella flooded David Geffen Hall this weekend, as Total Vocal with Deke Sharon drew crowds both onstage and in the audience to celebrate their 10th anniversary. The presenters, Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY), blended multiple choruses into their Distinguished Concerts Singers International – and with the addition of guest groups their numbers easily topped 400 performers.
The forces were divided roughly in half, with a larger contingent of young children in the first half (as young as age eight, we were told), and it was awe-inspiring; nothing was quite as inspiring, though, as watching the leader of the a cappella revolution, Deke Sharon, bounding onto the stage, as if with a pogo stick made of pure musical energy. For those unfamiliar with the name Deke Sharon (is there anyone?), he has been a driving force behind the craze for a cappella singing here in the US and around the world for the past few decades. He is an arranger, conductor, singer, producer, and all-around Pied Piper, drawing new generations back into the time-honored a cappella tradition through concerts, movies, and television, particularly The Sing Off on NBC and the three Pitch Perfect movies.
The first chorus launched into a welcoming opener with Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast (Alan Menken), and it abounded with spirit, complete with showy leg kicks toward the end. As ever, Mr. Sharon gave illuminating commentary between works (which, synchronized with any shifts of staging, made the transitions feel seamless), and to introduce the next song, Flowers by Miley Cyrus, he announced that it they would sing it in tribute to the group Sweet Honey in the Rock, which has performed with sign language since the 1970’s – “decades ahead of their time” as he noted. Sure enough, this chorus signed while singing Flowers, and it was moving to behold.
A more rap-like feel was up next with Purple Reign, the featured ensemble for My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark/All I Do Is Win (Fall Out Boy, DJ Khaled), from Pitch Perfect 2. Their singing and movement had a primal energy that matched their bright red costumes (and they won my unofficial “best group title” award for the pun on Purple Rain).
More sensitive harmonizations came next from The Overtones from Illinois. In a departure from the printed program, we next heard Jim Steinman’s Total Eclipse of the Heart. As the evening boasted so many soloists, including many unannounced but very worthy ones, it would be a daunting prospect to single out all individuals within the groups – and this one listed ten – but suffice it to say that it was an “all for one, one for all” kind of evening.
As a surprise addition to the printed program, we then heard Run to You (a song by the Pentatonix, a group having much history with Deke Sharon), sung winningly here by Squad Harmonix from California (originally scheduled to sing Bridge Over Troubled Water, which was omitted). Squad Harmonix achieved a hallowed tone in the close-harmony introduction and gave it just the sensitive coloring I look for in a cappella singing.
The 1980’s hit Jessie’s Girl (Rick Springfield) followed, bringing out a group of young male singers from high school. It added a coming-of-age spark of fun. On a more serious note, Blackbird (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, 1968) came next, hearkening back with feeling to the Civil Rights era.
Mr. Sharon then introduced their special guest ensemble, New York’s own Backtrack Vocals, as a group in which each member “is a superstar in their own right” – and we got a good display of why. They are all strong singers with plenty of flair. They first sang Beethoven Medley (arr. Andrew John Kim), and the sound reminded this listener a bit of the days when the Swingle Singers were popular doing entire classical works with scat syllables. Here we had only excerpts, but they were in a clever mashup of the Fifth Symphony, Für Elise, and the “Moonlight” Sonata – with a reggaeton beat. They will surely be part of the inspiration for the next generation of a cappella youngsters. They continued with This Is Me from The Greatest Showman (Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, arr. Andrew John Kim & Nicky Brenner), given particularly haunting harmonizing in the introduction before breaking out into a rousing beat.
The full choral forces closed the first half with Be Kind byZac Abel, and it was prefaced with Mr. Sharon’s words on the importance in life of kindness and respect. He added that the beauty of a cappella singing is “show, don’t tell” what people can do when they work together – and they did just that. The youngest members truly shone in this song, taking some terrific solo turns. It should be mentioned that a lot of what gave much of the first half rhythmic superb job. Equally stellar in this role for the second half was Filip Rušin.
The second half got off to a fun start with the second chorus blasting out Music for a Sushi Restaurant by Harry Stiles, almost as delightful as the hilarious program notes on it (among others) by Mr. Sharon, saying that it is about “flirting and falling in love over a plate of sushi. Or at least I think it is. If not, it makes absolutely zero sense.” The Stiles song was followed by another guest group, Googapella (from California), singing Guy I Used To Be (Lawrence, arr. Graham Toben), and the soloist Ricky Jacobson must be mentioned here, as he really carried the song – along with vocal percussionist Divya Mouli Jacobson. Still more fine singers came on to give performance of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, a moving song that they did very sensitively.
Another warm introduction from Mr. Sharon was made for the next special guest, Shelley Regner, who gave a passionate showstopping rendition of Somebody to Love (Freddie Mercury); the show, however, did not stop! SoundCrowd from Canada came on to sing a swinging version of Friend Like Me from Aladdin (Alan Menken) – one of highlights of the evening – and on its heels was I Could Write a Book (Richard Rogers, Lorenz Hart), with none other than Deke Sharon himself as soloist. He dedicated it to his wife and gave it a knockout performance, complete with dazzling mouth trumpeting.
The fuller chorus took on Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb), which segued well to Just the Way You Are/Just A Dream from Pitch Perfect (Bruno Mars, Nelly) before the final guest ensemble, A.K.A. Crescendo from Croatia, came on for Rain On Me (Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, arr. Dora Štefković Kanjer). They’ve been in other Total Vocal concerts and were excellent here, as expected.
To close the program, we heard the infectious refrains of I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2), and many in the audience clapped along. Speaking of participation, Deke Sharon invited anyone interested in joining the a cappella troops to email him. It seems he won’t rest until the entire world is singing in harmony, and he may very well succeed. He listed from the stage all the ways to contact him, including his email: deke@dekesharon.com. If this concert couldn’t recruit the masses, what could? It was simply a perfect pitch (or is that Pitch Perfect?).
A winning encore of The Lion Sleeps Tonight sent many in the audience dancing and singing together. It was hard to fight back tears, being reminded once again how miraculously music can bring complete strangers together, where so much else fails.
In addition to all the abovementioned performers, the chorus included the Nashville Community High School Senior Jazz Choir, Williston High School Vocal Jazz, Ram Voices Of Hillcrest High, Baton Rouge Chorus Of Sweet Adelines, International, Lakehouse Music Academy Singers, Keiki Kani Choir, Pop Chorus, My Pop Choir Canada, Affinity Female Voice Choir, Revv52, Vocal Synergy, Vocal Academy@ St. James, The Iona University NightinGAELs, and RJR A Cappella. Happy 10th anniversary to Total Vocal with Deke Sharon!
