2024 ICCA & ICHSA Wild Card Results

Dubbed “the next generation of a cappella specialist” by “Pitch Perfect” and “The Sing-Off” vocal producer Deke Sharon, Kari Francis is an avid vocalist, composer, and educator. Based in New York, Kari has shared the stage with Taylor Swift at the American Country Music Awards, collaborated with Imogen Heap in her “Earth” project concert series, and competed on Season 3 of NBC’s “The Sing-Off” with Kinfolk 9. Kari studied composition with Lei Liang and Chinary Ung at UC San Diego and conducting with Mark Scatterday and Brad Lubman at the Eastman School of Music. She taught musicianship classes through the Eastman Community Music School and was assistant conductor to the Eastman Women’s Chorus and the Amadeus Children’s Choir Chorale. Following her time at Eastman, Kari was a Conducting Fellow at the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. She directs “The Art of A Cappella” at CUNY Hunter College, an ensemble class dedicated to exploring, arranging, and performing contemporary a cappella music. In addition to her vocal projects, Kari has been an active lecturer and clinician since 2009. She routinely gives workshops on musicianship, arranging, and vocal percussion at music festivals and vocal camps across the U.S. Kari graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UC San Diego and holds an M.A. in music education from the Eastman School. Find her online at acappellaprofessor.com

Charnice Frazier has a long-lasting relationship with music and has been singing since she could speak. In addition to singing in choirs from middle school through college, Charnice was part of a chamber a cappella ensemble in high school called Infinity. Through this ensemble, she realized that she wanted a cappella to always be a part of her life. In the fall of 2012, Charnice joined James Madison University’s premier female a cappella group, Note-oriety, and served as business manager and president during her years with them. Along with leading the group, she arranged songs and helped record their award-winning album, Note-oriety. Charnice currently resides in Southern Maryland and is the choral director at Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf, Md. Outside of teaching, Charnice sings in D.C.’s newest all-female vocal group, The District, and is one of the group’s assistant music directors.

Kristine Gage received her B.A. in music from Saint Louis University and her B.M.E. in choral music education from Webster University. Her love affair with a cappella began in 2009 when she joined Beyond All Reason, an all-female group at SLU that she eventually directed. Not long after, Kristine co-founded the co-ed group, Decadence, and served as its music director. At Webster, she sang and toured with The Chamber Singers, a group featured at state and national conferences and in an instructional DVD produced by GIA Publications. After graduating, she spent a year singing with the all-female, semi-professional a cappella quintet, Jaded. She now teaches elementary music to students in grades pre-K through six at Patrick Henry Downtown Academy. Kristine currently represents the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA) as the ambassador to all high school, collegiate, and post-collegiate a cappella groups in the state of Missouri, and teaches musical theatre classes at COCA.

Candice Helfand-Rogers, a longtime Varsity Vocals judge, has been active in the a cappella community for decades. At Rutgers University, she sang with and music-directed Deep Treble, then went on to help found and direct ShockWave, leading the latter group to ICCA Finals in its first year. After graduating, she co-founded semi-professional a cappella group Restated (formerly known as The Red States) and served as its musical director for several years. She garnered multiple awards for her onstage and studio contributions to these groups as a soloist, arranger, and choreographer. In addition, Candice is a session singer whose voice can be heard in Universal Studios’ hit a cappella movies “Pitch Perfect” and “Pitch Perfect 2,” as well as in numerous ad campaigns. Candice now sings with several New York City ensembles, including Broadway Inspirational Voices and Ghostlight Chorus, as well as the choir at First Unitarian in Brooklyn where she is a section leader. She has also been a featured performer at venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Minskoff and New Victory Theaters. Outside of her musical endeavors, Candice is a journalist and an extremely proud mom.

Jon Smith is an arranger, performer, instructor, and recording engineer in London and currently sings tenor for the five-time Grammy-winning vocal group, The Swingles. He is Director of Vocal Arranging for The Vocal Company and the former music director of Hyannis Sound. Jon studied music at the University of Delaware, where he directed Vocal Point to ICCA Finals in 2014, leading the group to a 3rd place finish and earning his own Outstanding Arrangement award for the entire set. In addition to a cappella, Jon is a classically trained opera singer and is well-versed in many other genres, such as jazz and gospel. Jon is a coach for vocal groups all around the world. He has coached over 25 groups preparing for the ICCA, all of whom have received placements and/or special awards.

 

2024 ICCA Wild Card Judges

New Jersey-born and Nebraska-raised, Tehillah Alphonso is a Nigerian-American vocalist, pianist, music director, and Grammy-nominated arranger based in Los Angeles. A proud summa cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California, she received her B.M. in popular music performance from the Thornton School of Music and was named 2020 Outstanding Graduate, becoming the first Black woman in the pop program to achieve this award. As a full-time student at USC, Tehillah served as business manager and music director of USC’s premier a cappella group and five-time ICCA Champions, The SoCal VoCals. Her time in The VoCals led her to perform in venues such as the Staples Center, the Rose Bowl, Carnegie Hall, and many historic theaters in Los Angeles and New York. Upon graduating, she quickly made a name for herself in the session music industry, singing for a number of films and television shows and alongside notable artists including Lebo M., NIKI, Dan Wilson, Björk, Billie Eilish, and Olivia Rodrigo. She currently directs Pacifica Christian High School’s premier a cappella group and 2021 ICHSA Runner-Up, Wolf PACappella, and is a music director and arranger at A Cappella Academy.

Felicia François (she/they) fell in love with a cappella when she became a member of The UNCG Sapphires. After serving as director of that group, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with bachelor’s degrees in vocal performance and choral music education. They worked as a chorus teacher and private voice teacher for four years and went on to receive a master’s degree in speech-language pathology from Boston University. Felicia currently works as a speech-language pathologist with a specialty in voice rehabilitation and gender-affirming voice at the USC Voice Center. She is thrilled to be an ICCA judge once again and wishes the best to all of the competitors!

Monty Hill is no stranger to a cappella. A longtime fan of groups such as The Blenders and Rockappella, he always longed to be a member of one himself. After earning his degree in vocal music performance and education, Monty became a high school teacher and created three a cappella groups in his school, one of which eventually evolved into a fully credited class. He enjoys singing baritone for his own group, Ball in the House, as they travel across the country to spread the good news of a cappella!

Thomas Paster is the director of vocal music at Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale, N.J. He is the director of Highlands Voices, which was featured on Lifetime’s “Pitch Slapped.” The group has won the National A Cappella Convention (NACC) Championship, was named ICHSA Champion in 2014, and won the ICHSA Mid-Atlantic Semifinals numerous times. Thomas has been an adjunct professor of music at Kean University and William Paterson University and received his B.M. from Ithaca College and M.S. from the University of Scranton. Thomas is an active composer/arranger and writes arrangements for numerous a cappella groups. He is proud to be the N.J. rep for the A Cappella Education Association.

Peter Yang is a New York-based singer, a cappella producer, cellist, and actuary. His singing voice has been featured on the Amazon Original Television Series, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” as well as a national Panda Express commercial. He has toured throughout the U.S. and on cruise ships with professional a cappella group The Cat’s Pajamas. He also frequently performs in concert with Apocalypse Noir, a queer vocal band in New York City. He currently sings with NYC-based a cappella group, Blackout. He has produced award-winning albums for many scholastic and professional a cappella groups, garnering over 100 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award (CARA) nominations. He is a co-writer and producer for Davey K’s original children’s music, with their “8 Planets” video, amassing more than 5 million views on YouTube. Their most recent album, Storytime, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Children’s Music Album. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Peter was music director of The Octopodes.