Single-sex musical groups –such as the Boy’s Choir of Harlem tend to dominate the a capella scene. After Hours –UR’s most popular co-ed a capella group is an anomaly in that it is composed by male and female members. The theme of their upcoming concert, “No Sex Here,” not only pokes fun at After Hour’s co-ed composition, but also at the fact that our campus is, to put it cleanly, not Arizona State.
After Hours is performing their spring concert on March 29. The concert will include peformances from the Spartan Dischords from Michigan State — an all-male a capella group — and Rochester Institute of Technology’s Brick City Singers — another all-male a capella group.
After Hours will be performing a variety of music ranging from original compositions to selections from Radiohead, A-Ha, Engine Down and Vertical Horizon to several jazz performances.
“We have a large repertoire of music from ’60s rock, to pop, to hits that were popular in the ’80s, to a number of jazz songs,” senior member Lauren Golia said. “With so much variety, I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t enjoy watching one of our performances.”
The spring concert will differ slightly from the concert that After Hours performed in the fall. After Hours increased their membership to 18, so it may be difficult for the group to incorporate several new singers to the stage. “Most a capella groups have around twelve singers, so our singing will be noticeably louder and more musical,” Golia added.
After Hours, originally Charivari, was conceived as a jazz a cappella singing group back in 1998 by co-founders Sara Alterman and Mary Risley, who felt that it was time on the UR campus to make some noise. Bringing together a small group of friends, their small project soon took on a life of its own.
Charivari stood on the foundation that it was conceived — a group of buddies coming together in harmony. It combined this with the desire to break onto the college a cappella scene, creating a balance of relaxed melodies with a rowdy, yet professional, attitude.
After Hours have taken their show to the road throughout the East Coast in the past several years and will continue to do so later this semester. Last year the group travelled to Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts to display their talents. One week after their spring concert, After Hours will perform with the a capella group from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The group will also be performing at the Alumni Concert in April.
Members of the group stress that their performance is more than just a musical display. “The scenes that we are performing are really amusing,” senior member Ben Schroeder said. “We are basically making fun of the fact that there has been five relationships between members of our group in the last couple years.”
After Hours has worked arduously in the past couple weeks in preparation for their spring concert. “We normally put in about six hours of practice a week,” senior Vicki Shazi said. “However, in the past couple weeks we have put in around ten to ensure that we do our best on the 29th.”
Interaction with the crowd is extremely important to After Hours. The group feeds off the audience and looks to it as a source of enthusiasm.”We really play off the crowd and do our best to entertain them for the two hours that they are there,” Golia said. “If the audience really gets into it, that fires us up and makes us give even a better effort.”
Sadly, After Hours is composed mainly of seniors, so for many this will be their final spring concert. “Yes, it will be tough to say goodbye since we are such a close group, but we are all very tight and really looking forward to it,” Golia said.
Tickets for the show, which is being held on March 29 at 8 p.m. at Upper Strong Auditorium, are $5 per student.
Rybaltowski can be reached at mrybaltowski@campustimes.org.
