A capella group visits NIC

It’s not often that Coeur d’Alene has international award-winning musical groups that have been featured on network television shows. It’s even rarer when that group happens to be a nine-member all-male a cappella group.

On Saturday November 16, the group Vocal Point performed at the Schuler Performing Arts Center to an enthusiastic and completely sold out audience.

Members in the crowd roared with enthusiasm as nine identically dressed singers took to the stage and performed an eclectic choice of popular songs, mixing complex harmonies with beatboxing all set to energetic choreography.

The group took the audience of a vocal odyssey through pop music. They performed their own unique renditions of songs from the Four Seasons and Elvis Presley to modern hits from artists such as Adele and Phillip Phillips, as well as including some of their own original material.

Vocal Point hails originally Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, getting its start in 1991 after a number of students banded together in order to sing a contemporary form of a-cappella. Since then the group has toured extensively and released a number of albums.

All of the singers are members of Church of the Latter Day Saints and have performed an extensive length of missionary work for their church. The dedication to their faith was present throughout the entirety of performance, opening with a prayer and on occasion, playing an inspirational-style hymn.

The group has won a number of awards for its work including first prize in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in 2006. Most notably, Vocal Point was featured on the third season of NBC’s “The Sing Off” in 2011 where they would eventually come in fifth place.