BRATTLEBORO — For the last 12 years, February's Friday Night Gallery Walk has included a show of talent that gives people one more great reason to come downtown whatever the weather may bring.
Taking the stage on Friday, Feb. 6, at 8 p.m., six regional high school a cappella groups will give a concert at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center in anticipation of Saturday's collegiate event at the Latchis.
Proceeds from this event support Brattleboro's In-Sight Photography Project.
The line-up for Friday evening includes Renegade, Shoulder Narrows, Xpressivo, and Spiralia, all of which are student-directed independent groups from the Brattleboro area.
In addition to the student-led groups, two high school ensembles will return to round out the show – the Brattleboro Union High School Madrigals, directed by Patty Meyer, and the Leland & Gray Rebel Clefs, directed by Ron Kelley.
An all-girls, student-run group, Renegade has members hailing from multiple high schools in the area, from Bellows Falls to Putney to Keene. They've been singing together since 2009.
Members include Anja Alden, Kia Bailey-de Bruijn, Zenani Beigle, Fiona Caton Field, Cassie Dunn, Molly Durling, Casey Greenleaf, Kristina Meima, Lila Shaw, Breanna Sheehan, and Susanna Strothman.
Shoulder Narrows is an all-male group from Brattleboro, founded in 2004. All members are high-school-age singers, including Zebariah Robert Hathaway, Clark Hamm, Ian Epstein, Jon Spanierman, Declan King, Liam Johnson, Rhys Glennon, Derrick Harnish, Zev Kazati-Morgan, Jack Alberico and Daniel Burdo.
Shoulder Narrows uses a combination of vocal bass, beatboxing, throat singing, and a large variety of syllables to emulate real instruments.
Xpressivo is a coed group started in 2012 at BUHS. They sing a variety of songs, and have a lot of fun rehearsing them. Xpressivo is Liam Johnson, Julia Waldron, Jackson Levengood, Garret Williams, Kaya Dean, Elijah Taylor, Wynona Meyer, Bonnie Hear, Breanna Sheehan, and Owen Toleno.
Spiralia is one of the two all-girl a cappella groups at Brattleboro Union High School. They have been around since 2007, and they sing everything from Billy Joel to Regina Spektor to Meghan Trainor.
The BUHS Madrigals is a group of auditioned singers that rehearses weekly at Brattleboro Union High School under the direction of chorus teacher Patty Meyer.
Students earn credit for this class and perform in a variety of venues, including school concerts, madrigal festivals, school assemblies, and town events. The Madrigals perform songs from many styles, including but not limited to madrigals from the Renaissance, from which they took their name.
Leland & Gray's Rebel Clefs is an auditioned singing group that meets weekly after school during the school year. Directed by music teacher Ron Kelley, they sing a wide variety of music, from 16th century madrigals to contemporary style a cappella.
Sopranos are Jasmine Domenick, Ashley Hescock, and Chloe Fawcett. The alto section is Susie Francy, Giannina Gaspero-Beckstrom, Madison Cannella, and Emma Urbaska. Singing tenor are Adam Culver and Superintendant of Schools Steven John as well as Ron Kelley. The basses are Nathaniel Van Osdol, Carl Judd-Wright, Gabrel Vanni-Phillips, and Sam Dutton. The group performs in Leland & Gray concerts as well as in other venues in the community.
“This concert is about high school kids raising money to help other high school kids,” said producer Dede Cummings, founder of the annual Friday evening event.
“Most of In-Sight's students rely on some level of support from the Scholarship Fund, and In-Sight boldly offers a 100 percent sliding scale so that no one who wants to take a photography class is ever turned away for lack of ability to pay,” according to In-Sight executive director Teta Hilsdon.