Micappella headlines big solo concert here

After playing to overseas audiences for the past few years, home-grown vocal sextet Micappella will perform at the Capitol Theatre tomorrow

Micappella comprise (from left) Peter Huang, Eugene Yip, Goh Mingwei, Tay Kexin, Juni Goh and Calin Wong.
Micappella comprise (from left) Peter Huang, Eugene Yip, Goh Mingwei, Tay Kexin, Juni Goh and Calin Wong. PHOTO: UNIVERSAL MUSIC SINGAPORE

The last few years have seen home-grown a cappella group Micappella traverse the world, performing as far as Europe and the United States.

Tomorrow, four years after their last headlining show in Singapore, the group will do a solo show at the Capitol Theatre.

Juni Goh, the tenor in the sextet, says: "It's been a while since we had a public performance in Singapore. Every time we travel, people always ask us on our Facebook page, 'When is your local concert? You're always playing to German or European audiences.'"

In line with their increasing popularity among a cappella fans, tomorrow's performance will be their biggest solo concert here to date.

Goh, 31, says they sold out two nights, or about 500 tickets, at their last solo show at the Esplanade Recital Studio.

The Capitol Theatre show will seat more than 1,000 people and the tickets are close to selling out.

A big audience deserves a grand show, which the group promise.

Micappella also comprise leader and vocal percussionist Peter Huang, 34, soprano Tay Kexin, 29, alto Calin Wong, 31, bass Goh Mingwei, 31, and baritone Eugene Yip, 35.

  • BOOK IT / MICAPPELLA YOU AND I LIVE IN CONCERT 2017

  • WHERE: Capitol Theatre, 17 Stamford Road

    WHEN: Tomorrow, 8pm

    ADMISSION: From $48 for standard tickets. Go to tinyurl.com/y8nhvrr2

Yip says: "Back in the day, we never had bells and whistles in our concerts, it was usually straight-up. Whatever lights they had there, we would use. Whatever space they had there, we left it empty.

"But now, we are incorporating staging elements like lighting rigs and stage platforms and we have a creative director and lighting designer to aid us."

Vocally, fans will also be in for a treat. Yip adds: "We're putting together medleys that will bring the fans from the good old days of the old Micappella, all the way through to where we are right now."

Formed in 2009, the group became prominent in 2012 when they emerged as runners-up on popular TV singing competition The Sing-Off China.

Goh says: "Before the competition, we were more or less like any other a cappella group out there. We were just in jeans and shirts. We went to a performance and we would just stand there and sing and maybe the songs weren't as dynamic as they are now.

"We spent three months in China on the show and, after that, we took whatever we learnt and implemented it in our daily performance."

They have two albums - Here We Go in 2013 and last year's MICappella Reloaded. The latter, which had all original songs, won Best Asian Album at the US' 2017 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, while One Of These Days, a single from that album, topped the iTunes Mandopop chart.

Earlier this year, the group took the top prize at the international Moscow Spring A Cappella Festival and also shared the stage with K-pop boyband EXO at the Asia Song Festival in Busan, South Korea.

In August, their video of a medley of 23 official National Day Parade songs went viral on social media and was highlighted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Tay says: "We feel very happy we have so much recognition at a cappella-related competitions.

"For us, the next milestone will be to break the barrier and get people to see a cappella more as an artistic art form and we hope to win a Taiwanese or Chinese equivalent of a Grammy."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 03, 2017, with the headline Micappella headlines big solo concert here. Subscribe